4 reasons why the Vikings will be better in 2020 than last season
By Dustin Baker
Minnesota’s cornerback play can’t get worse
Incessant chatter entering the recent Vikings offseason involved the word “rebuild.” The team regressed in defensive third-down percentage from best-in-the-NFL during 2018 to a ranking of 19th in 2019. That’s quite the cliff dive.
But the two following statements can exist in the same realm and be equally as true: The Vikings took a significant step backward in third-down percentage in 2019. Minnesota was also the fifth-best team in the league from a points-allowed perspective.
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has set a gold standard for defensive third-down performance, and anything that does not closely mirror the benchmark is panned as bad.
This is what happened in the 2019 season. Cornerbacks Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes inexplicably played poorly (especially Rhodes) and the first downs flooded in.
Soon after Minnesota lost to the San Francisco 49ers and concluded their playoffs hopes, Rhodes and Waynes left the team.
The only place to go from here is to achieve at least modest improvement. Minnesota will feature third-year cornerback Mike Hughes as its main attraction with rookies Jeff Gladney and Cameron Dantzler as a supporting cast.
The cornerback performance will upgrade in 2020, and with that, so goes the rest of the defense.