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Valhalla Villager: News, Rumors and Gossip


Heimdallr

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10 DBs is pretty standard -

Rhodes, Waynes, Alexander, Hughes, Newman, Hill

Smith, Sendejo, Harris, Kearse

Sherels made expendable by Hughes and/or Badet/Thomas making the roster. Newman can also play safety in a pinch. 

Edited by rpmwr19
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17 hours ago, solidvikingfan said:

 

That is a great deal for the Vikings! Should qualify for the veteran minimum cap benefit (Only $630k of salary counting against the cap).

Edited by Cearbhall
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3 hours ago, vike daddy said:

could Hill...?

Why do a lot of people want to move Hill to Safety?  He has the skill set to be our #2 CB and the potential to be another true #1 CB.  Its going to come down to if he can stay focused off the field

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17 minutes ago, Boda said:

Why do a lot of people want to move Hill to Safety?  He has the skill set to be our #2 CB and the potential to be another true #1 CB.  Its going to come down to if he can stay focused off the field

I think people need to hold off on expecting anything more from an UDFA than just making the team. 

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35 minutes ago, Boda said:

Why do a lot of people want to move Hill to Safety?  He has the skill set to be our #2 CB and the potential to be another true #1 CB.  Its going to come down to if he can stay focused off the field

Because we have a safety spot that needs to, or is going to need to, be addressed and we have a wealth of highly selected players at the corner position. 

I think a lot of people are just excited about Hill and want to see him find the field. 

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I’m just not ready to buy the hype on Hill. 

We saw Antonio Calloway get drafted in the 4th round. We saw Tyreek Hill get drafted in the 5th round. Joe Mixon got drafted in the 2nd round. 

If Holton Hill was truly this top 50 level prospect, I have to believe he’d have still been drafted. 

Now, I’m not saying that Hill isn’t talented, or talented enough to make the roster. I’m sure he is. But I’m not buying the idea that he’s #1/#2 cornerback that we got as an undrafted player. 

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Newman’s contract numbers mean they aren’t expecting him to play much, but he’s willing to come back in a backup role. 

He was really good in the slot last year. Unless he falls off considerably, or Hughes is exceptional in preseason, I think Newman will start at NCB week one. 

Newman got exposed a couple of times playing outside last year, so I wouldn’t mind seeing one of the young guys take his spot as the first backup off the bench if Rhodes or Waynes miss snaps. 

I expect them to start Hughes out as a slot CB and move Alexander outside as a depth guy there. 

My guess:

  • CB1/ CB2: Rhodes/Waynes
  • NCB: Newman —> Hughes when he’s ready
  • 1st off the bench to play outside: Alexander
  • 1st off the bench to play slot: Hughes —> Newman
  • Special teams mainly: Hill

 

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2 hours ago, rpmwr19 said:

Because we have a safety spot that needs to, or is going to need to, be addressed and we have a wealth of highly selected players at the corner position. 

I think a lot of people are just excited about Hill and want to see him find the field. 

I think Ant Harris can be the FSOTF, once they move on from Sendejo.

Harris was a UDFA who was projected to go in the 4th round except that he was considered too small. That’s a comparable pedigree (UDFA “steal”) as Hill. 

Harris has evidently gained weight (listed as 183 in his draft year and now 192 on the Vikings roster). He’s smaller than Sendejo but he’s not too small to play safety (Holton Hill is an inch taller and 4 pounds heavier). 

Harris has shown good ball skills and decent tackling skills downfield. He’s been less effective as an in the box player but not terrible there either. His coverage stats are considerably better than Sendejo’s, albeit in a smaller sample size. Overall, he’s well ahead of the curve of where Sendejo was after his first 3 years. 

The Vikings only additions to the safety spot since signing Harris were drafting Kearse in the 7th and drafting Tocho in the 7th and converting him from CB to S. Evidently they’re happy with their depth at this point. 

Harris might even be a dark horse to win the starting spot from Sendejo this year. 

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3 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Now, I’m not saying that Hill isn’t talented, or talented enough to make the roster. I’m sure he is. But I’m not buying the idea that he’s #1/#2 cornerback that we got as an undrafted player. 

It’s hard to tell from YouTube cutups but I don’t see Hill displaying the kind of man coverage skills he’ll need to play as a starter for the Vikings. He seems to be playing a lot of off man or zone coverages.

There are several plays where he closes quickly and makes plays on the ball, but there aren’t many clips of him mirroring receivers. He does make one nice play in man coverage on Ateman in the end zone but that’s one of the few. He has a couple of INTs that came on tipped passes or obviously bad throws, shows good awareness and hands but basically any corner should make those picks. His returns are impressive though, for what it’s worth. 

He has the length and size to play outside and he’s obviously athletic enough — not just the athletic testing, he moves smoothly. He’s a good tackler, very aggressive. But compared to Hughes, he seems like a complete project in coverage in Zimmer’s scheme, hard to know how it turns out. 

Assuming they do have other options at returner (Hughes, maybe one of the UDFAs like Badet or Boone), I hope they let Sherels go and use Hill on special teams while he spends a year trying to learn the defense. Could be a great CB5 next year once Newman’s done and might eventually be a CB3 if and when Waynes and Alexander move on. 

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