5 players Minnesota Vikings will miss most in 2020

Former Minnesota Vikings Player No. 5: CB Mackensie Alexander

Nickel cornerback Mackensie Alexander was an interesting player for the Vikings. He progressed very slowly and, after his first two seasons, he looked lost on the field, was extremely grabby in his coverage and it looked like he was going to be a bust.

More from Minnesota Vikings News

• Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North
• Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take
• 6 Vikings who (maybe) won’t make the 53-man roster in 2023
• Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022
• Vikings have reportedly begun extension talks with T.J. Hockenson

Then in year three, the light came on and Alexander blossomed into a solid nickel corner.

The Vikings will miss Alexander’s experience. As mentioned earlier, their group of cornerbacks this season is very young with limited game action on their resumes. What they could miss more than Alexander’s experience this upcoming season is his ability to blitz. Alexander was one of the better blitzing cornerbacks in the league. He registered four sacks in 2018, and while he only had half a sack last year, he was dinged up and not used in that role as often.

Alexander is a player whose best football looks like it is still ahead of him. In his last two seasons, he had 81 total tackles, eight tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, 15 pass breakups and an interception. It took him a while, but the light came on and at just 26 years old, he has a lot of very good football left in him.

The Bengals only signed him to a one-year, $4 million dollar deal, and if the Vikings’ young corners struggle this year, they’ll be kicking themselves for not offering that type of deal to Alexander themselves.