Biggest concerns for the top five Vikings rookies from the 2020 NFL Draft

Top concern about Jeff Gladney:

Size

The Vikings had to get a cornerback in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft and they moved down to the 31st overall pick and took TCU’s Jeff Gladney.

Gladney is a fiery competitor who loves to hit. He has very good ball skills and he comes with a ton of experience having played in 44 games for the Horned Frogs in his college career.

Gladney was very productive and he totaled 146 tackles, 1.5 sacks, six tackles for a loss, five interceptions, and 37 pass breakups in college.

With his experience in press coverage, he’ll be in line to start for Minnesota and head coach Mike Zimmer this September.

As good as Gladney was in college and can be in the NFL, the major concern about him is his size. Gladney is just 5-foot-10, which puts him at a distinct disadvantage against just about every receiver in the NFL that he’ll match up against.

Gladney is well under 6-feet and that could also limit how the Vikings can use him. Instead of lining him up outside, he may be forced to stay in the slot, where he’s more likely to go against a receiver who is more his size.

Technique and timing can make up for a size disadvantage, but teams will test him plenty in year one and put a big receiver across from him as often as possible until he can prove, like Yoda once said, that, “size matters not.”