Undrafted Minnesota Vikings rookie cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn wasted zero time making an impression on the team's coaching staff on Day 1 of rookie mini-camp on Friday.
During Friday's practice session, Vaughn snagged an impressive interception in a drill that, according to The Athletic's Alec Lewis, even resulted in a pat on the helmet from Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell. Lewis also shared even more details about the sequence involving Minnesota's rookie defensive back.
"Maybe the most impressive play of the day occurred on the left sideline, as Brosmer tried to layer a pass into a pocket in the defense’s zone coverage. Zemaiah Vaughn, an undrafted cornerback from Utah, leaped and secured the interception.
Afterward, defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones and even O’Connell patted Vaughn on the helmet.
Could Minnesota Vikings rookie CB Zemaiah Vaughn be the next undrafted player to make the team's final roster?
Before we get ahead of ourselves and start spewing potentially outlandish takes about Vaughn already challenging for a notable role with the Vikings defense next season, let's remember that this play took place during the team's rookie mini-camp.
The quarterbacks and their receiving targets in these camps have almost zero chemistry since they all just joined the team, so a lot of times, the defense is able to take advantage of these situations.
This isn't an attempt to take away from anything that Vaughn did on Friday, but some context just needs to be mentioned in order to temper expectations.
Helping out the young Minnesota defender, though, is the fact that he's now part of an organization that has developed a reputation during the last few years, and throughout its history, of finding impact players who went undrafted.
Of course, there are the obvious success stories like John Randle and Adam Thielen, but recently, guys like Ivan Pace Jr., Ryan Wright, NaJee Thompson, and Taki Taimani were all able to do enough in their first years with the Vikings to earn a spot on the team's final roster despite going undrafted.
Whether Vaughn can do the same remains to be seen, but he's certainly off to a great start in his career with Minnesota.