Cornerbacks

[RandyMoss84]

Now we have Gladney, Dantzler, Hand, Hughes, and Hill so any guesses who will be starting and playing nickel?

[Maelstrom88]

No clue. I'd guess Gladney and Hughes start but I think it will be wide open in camp.

[VikingsVictorious]

No clue. I'd guess Gladney and Hughes start but I think it will be wide open in camp.

I think you're right. I think Dantzler will beat out Hill for other spot.

[fiestavike]

I would guess Hill, Boyd and Hughes to start the season, with injuries allowing younger players to sniff the field and possibly take advantage of the opportunity.

[allday1991]

Do we think our CBs will be a strength this year? Will they be a top 5 pass defense maybe even top 10? We have a lot of draft capital spent at CB since Zimmer took over, they better be good. I believe (if my count is right) we have taken 7 dbs in the first two rounds of the draft since we have had zimmer as a head coach. I feel quite uneasy about this position and hope it all turns out. I just cant believe the amount of draft picks at CB and we are still in this situation, its like the 49ers having dline problems after stacking up with first rounders on the line. We should have more to show.

[Maelstrom88]

Do we think our CBs will be a strength this year? Will they be a top 5 pass defense maybe even top 10? We have a lot of draft capital spent at CB since Zimmer took over, they better be good. I believe (if my count is right) we have taken 7 dbs in the first two rounds of the draft since we have had zimmer as a head coach. I feel quite uneasy about this position and hope it all turns out. I just cant believe the amount of draft picks at CB and we are still in this situation, its like the 49ers having dline problems after stacking up with first rounders on the line. We should have more to show.

Well half will be rookies so it depends on how quickly they can learn.

[S197]

I would guess Hill, Boyd and Hughes to start the season, with injuries allowing younger players to sniff the field and possibly take advantage of the opportunity.

This seems most likely. I think Hughes may need to play slot.

[allday1991]

Do we think our CBs will be a strength this year? Will they be a top 5 pass defense maybe even top 10? We have a lot of draft capital spent at CB since Zimmer took over, they better be good. I believe (if my count is right) we have taken 7 dbs in the first two rounds of the draft since we have had zimmer as a head coach. I feel quite uneasy about this position and hope it all turns out. I just cant believe the amount of draft picks at CB and we are still in this situation, its like the 49ers having dline problems after stacking up with first rounders on the line. We should have more to show.

Well half will be rookie's so it depends on how quickly they can learn.

That's the scary part. Even then is Hughes proven? is Hill proven? We know first year players especially under Zimmer have limited roles there rookie season. I've also found many times that our coaches ability to judge where a player is at isn't the greatest, the best example that comes to mind is Diggs. If I remember correctly we had a late injury at WR and Diggs stepped filled in at the start of the 4th quarter against the Jets. He put up 100 yards in a quarter against Darrelle Revis (he was abit old at that time however was shutting down our wrs to that point), it blows my mind with the struggles we were having at WR at the time and we literally have a guy on the bench that can 1 vs 1 one of the best corners of the decade and he isn't playing. In the end I hope they progress and we get the right players on the field. Prove me wrong Zimmer!

[Maelstrom88]

Well half will be rookie's so it depends on how quickly they can learn.

That's the scary part. Even then is Hughes proven? is Hill proven? We know first year players especially under Zimmer have limited roles there rookie season. I've also found many times that our coaches ability to judge where a player is at isn't the greatest, the best example that comes to mind is Diggs. If I remember correctly we had a late injury at WR and Diggs stepped filled in at the start of the 4th quarter against the Jets. He put up 100 yards in a quarter against Darrelle Revis (he was abit old at that time however was shutting down our wrs to that point), it blows my mind with the struggles we were having at WR at the time and we literally have a guy on the bench that can 1 vs 1 one of the best corners of the decade and he isn't playing. In the end I hope they progress and we get the right players on the field. Prove me wrong Zimmer!

Yeah it makes me wonder how aggressive Zimmer and the defensive staff will be early on. How much will we blitz? How much cover 1 or zero will they play? At least we have two veteran safeties.

[fiestavike]

That's the scary part. Even then is Hughes proven? is Hill proven? We know first year players especially under Zimmer have limited roles there rookie season. I've also found many times that our coaches ability to judge where a player is at isn't the greatest, the best example that comes to mind is Diggs. If I remember correctly we had a late injury at WR and Diggs stepped filled in at the start of the 4th quarter against the Jets. He put up 100 yards in a quarter against Darrelle Revis (he was abit old at that time however was shutting down our wrs to that point), it blows my mind with the struggles we were having at WR at the time and we literally have a guy on the bench that can 1 vs 1 one of the best corners of the decade and he isn't playing. In the end I hope they progress and we get the right players on the field. Prove me wrong Zimmer!

Yeah it makes me wonder how aggressive Zimmer and the defensive staff will be early on. How much will we blitz? How much cover 1 or zero will they play? At least we have two veteran safeties.

They did draft a lot of CBs with limited agility, but good size, speed, explosion, and aggression. Someone shared an article earlier about using more of a Cover 3, Seattle style defense this year, and I think there is at least some evidence in the draft profiles of their corners that this is the direction they may be planning to go.

[RandyMoss84]

Thank you all for your insight, it is interesting what you all thought

[Texas Vike]

Yeah it makes me wonder how aggressive Zimmer and the defensive staff will be early on. How much will we blitz? How much cover 1 or zero will they play? At least we have two veteran safeties.

They did draft a lot of CBs with limited agility, but good size, speed, explosion, and aggression. Someone shared an article earlier about using more of a Cover 3, Seattle style defense this year, and I think there is at least some evidence in the draft profiles of their corners that this is the direction they may be planning to go.

Agreed; and he brought in Dom Capers as a "Senior Defensive Assistant" and, in conjunction with that hire, has said that he is exploring new defensive ideas. I think that is commendable and I can't wait to see what it means.

The other major sea change I sense in Zimmer: It had always seemed to me that Zimmer was very emotionally connected to Xavier Rhodes. I base that off of years of observations, but especially what I saw when my son and I visited training camp last summer. Zimmer spent a lot of time talking to Rhodes on the sideline. It seemed that Rhodes was nursing an injury and Zimmer was kind of pampering him. Xavier just seemed like a favorite child, so I was fearful that it would be really hard for Zimmer to accept what we were all seeing clearly: that Rhodes had lost a few steps, and was not playing up to his contract. The other in-person Vikings event I'd been to was the MPLS Miracle game. Throughout that second half, as NO slowly made their comeback, Xavier was losing his poop as Michael Thomas continually schooled him. He had several emotional flare ups on the sideline. I was surprised at how out of control he was, and you could see how mentally it messed with him to be getting beaten by this young dawg.

This is all to say, that I'm really pleased to see that Zimmer is showing signs of evolving, both scheme-wise and with personnel.

[J. Kapp 11]

Yeah it makes me wonder how aggressive Zimmer and the defensive staff will be early on. How much will we blitz? How much cover 1 or zero will they play? At least we have two veteran safeties.

They did draft a lot of CBs with limited agility, but good size, speed, explosion, and aggression. Someone shared an article earlier about using more of a Cover 3, Seattle style defense this year, and I think there is at least some evidence in the draft profiles of their corners that this is the direction they may be planning to go.

This is a great observation. You can tell a lot about what a team is going to do schematically by what kind of players they employ. Last year I made this same observation about the offense when we hired Kubiak and drafted agile, athletic, slightly smaller linemen, which seemed to portend the outside zone scheme we eventually used.

These guys seem like prototypical Cover 3 corners. Gotta believe this fact, plus the hiring of Dom Capers, may be an indication we’re going to play some 4-3 under with Cover 3. We’ll see!

[PurpleTears]

I was watching some highlights of Dantzler. He reminds me of Mertin Hanks when he played for the 49ers. God I hope he wont mimic that dance. I always thought he would one day snap his neck doing that.

[Pondering Her Percy]

I was watching some highlights of Dantzler. He reminds me of Mertin Hanks when he played for the 49ers. God I hope he wont mimic that dance. I always thought he would one day snap his neck doing that.

hahaha yeah dude I remember that.