5 defensive prospects for Vikings to watch at the 2023 Senior Bowl

Kyu Blu Kelly – CB (Stanford)

Cornerback is a pretty huge need for the Vikings so it appears on this list twice. Kyu Blu Kelly is a nice-looking corner prospect with long arms and excellent ball skills. A good week down in Mobile could shoot his stock upwards, so Minnesota will be watching his every move.

His excellent ball skills were mentioned above, and that isn’t because he has a lot of interceptions, in fact, he has a jarringly low number in his career at Stanford with just three. What he is excellent at, is going up and finding the ball and knocking it away from the would-be target.

Kelly is a very willing tackler who flies to and through the ball carrier. He plays with a ton of energy and his overall speed is excellent. He excels at press coverage and is physical at the line with his receiver.

The only real knock on Kelly is his propensity to gamble on a route, which can get him burnt at times. The lack of production is also a little baffling. When watching how this guy plays one would expect better overall numbers in the interception, sack, and pass breakup categories.

While that may be a little disappointing, Kelly would be a welcome addition to the Vikings’ cornerback room, and a guy who could see himself come off the board in rounds two or three with a solid week of practice.