Four Vikings who shouldn’t be handed their starting job in 2023

Cameron Dantzler – CB

When NFL free agency starts Cameron Dantzler will be the old man in the Vikings’ cornerback group. Everyone else is a second-year player and a quick look-see at the depth chart would lead one to believe that Dantzler will be one of the starters in Brian Flores’ revamped Vikings defense.

While that could come to pass, Dantzler needs to earn the job in camp. He has been extremely up and down in his career with the Vikings. In some games, he looks very good with tight coverage and laying big hits. Then there are days where he gets beaten routinely or is missing tackles.

He has also been injury-prone missing five games as a rookie, three in year two, and seven a season ago. The Vikings need to have an open competition when it comes to their starting cornerbacks. They already have two high picks from a year ago on the team in Andrew Booth Jr. and Akayleb Evans, and will likely add another with one of their first two picks in 2023. They are also likely to have last season’s sensation, Duke Shelley back.

Flores needs to let these guys battle it out every day in practice and in the preseason games and then figure out the depth chart from there. Dantzler is a solid player but can’t just be given a starting job next season due to his inconsistency and inability to stay healthy.