Reason 1: A veteran presence
The 2023 Vikings will enter the season with one of the youngest cornerback rooms in all of the NFL. As it stands, Byron Murphy Jr. and Joejuan Williams have the most experience, entering the league back in 2019. Williams, however, has only started two career games in four seasons.
Currently, the projected starters on the outside for the Vikings are Andrew Booth Jr. and Akayleb Evans, along with Murphy covering the slot.
Booth struggled in limited action last season, along with injuries that kept him off the field for the majority of the 2022 season.
Evans entered the 2022 season healthy, and he played the role of future Hall-of-Famer Patrick Peterson's understudy to start 2022. Booth, Evans had his share of injuries as well. Evans suffered three concussions with Minnesota last season, the third of which Evans suffered in Week 13 against the New York Jets, and that essentially ended his rookie campaign.
Ahkello Witherspoon has had his fair share of injuries in his career as well. In the two seasons Witherspoon donned the black and yellow, he missed a total of 21 games. However, when Witherspoon has been able to stay healthy, he has been more than serviceable for any defense he has been a part of.
Witherspoon has played in a total of 60 games in six seasons, 47 with the 49ers and 13 with the Steelers. He has experience playing in both man and zone coverage schemes, as well as playing both on the outside and, in limited instances, in the slot.
Adding Witherspoon to a young core of Vikings corners could pay dividends as the season moves along. With injury concerns regarding both Booth and Evans, Witherspoon could step into the starting lineup, and the transition would be seamless.
Witherspoon could even contend with Booth and Evans for one of the two starting spots come training camp if Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and company pounce at the opportunity to sign him.