5 biggest turkeys for the Minnesota Vikings this season

Mike Hughes

It may be unfair to call Mike Hughes a turkey, as he’s very young and still eats at the kids’ table. The last few weeks though, he’s been exactly that. Hughes was forced into the starting lineup in Dallas and got picked on by the Cowboys. He was worked by Amari Cooper and gave up a lot of yardage to the Cowboys offense. He struggled last week against the Denver Broncos, again giving up lots of yardage and missing tackles he usually makes.

The upside for Hughes is that he’s still young and hasn’t had a full season under his belt yet. Despite getting torched in Dallas, he did have his fair helping of good plays to counter the bad. He is learning on the job and while he’s currently in a rough patch, he’ll get better from this as his head coach and mentor Mike Zimmer will see to that.

Another reason Hughes is a turkey is because of his unreliable hands. He has dropped a couple of interceptions this season. A couple of those he could have taken to the house and scored. What is worse than the dropped interceptions is the muffed punts. The Vikings want this kid to be their punt returner and even released Marcus Sherels to make it happen.

He does have the skills with his speed, and elusiveness to be a dynamite return man. The issue is those muffed punts he continues to have. A muffed punt can be the difference between a win or a loss, and with the Vikings still fighting for the Division title and a berth in the playoffs, they can’t afford to have Mike Hughes doing this.