Vikings select...Mike Hughes, CB, UCF

[CriminalMind]

If Newman legit hangs around this year, I'd start training Hughes on boundary CB, knowing Newman & Mack can do slot CB duties

But I'd still train him on slot duties cuz injuries can happen anywhere. I don't know if Newman is staying so they are definitely gonna make him learn n or should I say perfect both

[Klomp]

I honestly don't even care what his role will be in 2018. That has no bearing on whether it was ultimately a good pick or not. Remember how good we were all feeling after the 2012 season? 

[Krauser]

The most valuable resource in the NFL is a highly productive player on a rookie contract. Finding stars for cheap (Diggs, Hunter for recent Vikings examples) makes your team better. Getting 1st round picks to produce on their rookie deals (Rhodes, Barr, Floyd and Teddy when they were healthy) makes your team better. 

They have Hughes on a rookie deal for 4 years, with an option for 5. If he spends the first 2 years of that on the bench, because Alexander is the NCB and Rhodes and Waynes stay healthy and start outside, that will be a poor use of the value of that contract. 

The pick makes zero sense if they were satisfied with where Alexander is as a major contributor. I was willing to give him a chance, because I thought he wasn't that bad and was still developing, but the coaches reduced his snaps later in the year in favor of Newman and now the GM has spent the team's most valuable draft pick since Alexander himself was drafted on day 2 in 2016 on another CB. 

Some people wanted to draft a corner in order to expedite moving on from Waynes, but he got his option picked up as expected, and now Newman's back too. 

There are enough snaps to go around for 4 CBs, but not 5. Who's the odd man out? I can't imagine they're not even expecting Hughes to play as a rookie. 

[vikingsrule]

I'd guess Alexander is the odd man out if Hughes is decent enough at slot CB. Alexander isn't as important on ST as Hughes potentially is.

that 2016 draft class isn't looking good.

[whitehops]

30 minutes ago, Krauser said:

If they're keeping Hughes exclusively outside, and they're happy with Alexander as the starting nickel, why the hell was CB the 1st round pick this year?! 

That's a recipe for Hughes playing basically not at all except on punt returns (Jeff Badet wins the WR6 spot and does KRs). 

There's no path to Hughes starting as an outside corner before 2020, as long as Rhodes and Waynes stay healthy. 

Only way drafting corner that high makes sense is if they're not happy with Alexander as a starting nickel currently, or as a long-term prospect. It's not like they drafted another more typical slot corner later in the draft, or as a UDFA (Hill isn't a typical NCB). 

Hughes has prototypical size (compact build), movement skills (more quick than fast, good jumper) and ball skills (very good hands) to be an excellent nickel corner. God help me if they don't at least try him in that role in preseason this year. 

i meant they're keeping him exclusively outside in year one, then convert to slot in year two. alexander barely played in year one and waynes didn't play much more than that in his first year either. i'm not sure how they would rely on hughes to play many snaps at slot in year one when he has almost no experience there. zimmer said in the past that he regrets trying to teach either waynes or alexander (can't remember which one) both outside and slot positions at the same time which is why i think it will apply here. 

so, assuming they keep him exclusively at one position in his rookie year, he either stays on the outside and backs up waynes/rhodes and only plays if one gets injured or needs a breather. if they teach him to play slot then he is sitting behind alexander and newman and likely has even less of a chance of seeing the field.

he could come into training camp and blow zimmer away by how quickly he's able to pick everything up but based on our recent picks i'd say hughes plays very little this year, whether it's at slot or outside.

 

EDIT: just thinking about it a little more, newman has to retire after this season and alexander can be cut at little financial consequence next offseason (though they'd likely keep him for depth) so it would definitely appear as if they plan for hughes to start at slot in 2019, which means they would likely want to start converting him to slot ASAP. newman and alexander can back up the outside if necessary this year. i just don't see how hughes sees the field much this year at slot, but that's not what this pick was about. it's all about the future and the league is starting to target the slot more, so getting a (first round?) quality corner in that position is more important now than ever.

[Krauser]

OK, you only want him to learn one position. Fair enough. 

How about we make that one position the position where his competition is very old (Newman) or not very good (Alexander) instead of the position where his competition is in its prime and playing really well (Rhodes, Waynes). 

I don't think it matters too much where a corner played before, it's not like Zimmer isn't going to break down all their old habits anyway. 

Hughes should be able to become a very good slot corner. They need a slot corner. I hope they teach him the position. He doesn't have to play much as a rookie, but they should at least give him the chance to learn and compete for those snaps. 

[whitehops]

yeah it looks like i was editing my post the same time you wrote yours. hughes at slot makes a lot of sense, i'm just not going to be expecting him to play much at all this year, that's all. he's learning a new position, the one that zimmer has said is the most difficult in his defense to learn.

[gopherwrestler]

Why are we acting like these guys are only trained as outside or inside corners. I’m 100% sure they are being taught to play the left, right, or inside. Just some stand out at do better at certain positions. 

There is no way they are going to take Hughes and not teach him to be a slot corner. He will also be taught how to play outside in this system. 

It’s seriously like trying to say the coaches are only going to coach Cousins on handing the ball off and not Pass the ball. 

Coach Dalvin Cook on just passing routes and not coach him on running the ball. 

Its a system. If he stands out and learns the slot well and is succeeding, he will play in the slot. 

I realize technically they are different positions, but they are still played by the cornerbacks. The examples probably aren’t great, but it’s similar to Jaleel Johnson and the rest of the interior lineman being taught to play the 1 tech and 3 tech positions. 

[whitehops]

21 minutes ago, gopherwrestler said:

Why are we acting like these guys are only trained as outside or inside corners. I’m 100% sure they are being taught to play the left, right, or inside. Just some stand out at do better at certain positions. 

There is no way they are going to take Hughes and not teach him to be a slot corner. He will also be taught how to play outside in this system. 

It’s seriously like trying to say the coaches are only going to coach Cousins on handing the ball off and not Pass the ball. 

Coach Dalvin Cook on just passing routes and not coach him on running the ball. 

Its a system. If he stands out and learns the slot well and is succeeding, he will play in the slot. 

I realize technically they are different positions, but they are still played by the cornerbacks. The examples probably aren’t great, but it’s similar to Jaleel Johnson and the rest of the interior lineman being taught to play the 1 tech and 3 tech positions. 

the quote i was referencing is this: 

Quote

After a couple of long nights for Waynes in the Vikings' first two preseason games, though, coach Mike Zimmer said the team will scale back Waynes' responsibilities this Saturday against the Oakland Raiders. He won't play in the slot at all on Saturday, Zimmer said, and as happy as the Vikings have been to get Waynes some playing time, it sounded as though they now wanted him to focus on one thing.

"Maybe I was too overzealous in trying to get him to do too many things," Zimmer said.

http://www.espn.com/blog/minnesota-vikings/post/_/id/14885/trae-waynes-wont-play-nickel-this-week-mike-zimmer-says

i remember there being more detail in the press conference but that's the gist of it. 

 

and i think this is a more accurate analogy to hughes' situation: i'm sure latavius murray gets practice both running the ball and on passing routes, but just because he's getting practice on passing routes doesn't mean he's good enough at it to be used in a game. mike hughes has almost no slot experience so "watering down" his slot reps in practice doesn't bode well for his transition to that role. 

[vikesfan89]

1 hour ago, Krauser said:

If they're keeping Hughes exclusively outside, and they're happy with Alexander as the starting nickel, why the hell was CB the 1st round pick this year?! 

That's a recipe for Hughes playing basically not at all except on punt returns (Jeff Badet wins the WR6 spot and does KRs). 

There's no path to Hughes starting as an outside corner before 2020, as long as Rhodes and Waynes stay healthy. 

Only way drafting corner that high makes sense is if they're not happy with Alexander as a starting nickel currently, or as a long-term prospect. It's not like they drafted another more typical slot corner later in the draft, or as a UDFA (Hill isn't a typical NCB). 

Hughes has prototypical size (compact build), movement skills (more quick than fast, good jumper) and ball skills (very good hands) to be an excellent nickel corner. God help me if they don't at least try him in that role in preseason this year. 

Just because they picked up Wayne's option does not mean he'll be here in 2019.

I understand the thought process of letting him master one role first. Munnerlyn was a lot better once he could focus on slot

[vikesfan89]

I'm hoping Newman isnt needed to play much. 

[Flair Hay]

2 hours ago, Krauser said:

The most valuable resource in the NFL is a highly productive player on a rookie contract. Finding stars for cheap (Diggs, Hunter for recent Vikings examples) makes your team better. Getting 1st round picks to produce on their rookie deals (Rhodes, Barr, Floyd and Teddy when they were healthy) makes your team better. 

They have Hughes on a rookie deal for 4 years, with an option for 5. If he spends the first 2 years of that on the bench, because Alexander is the NCB and Rhodes and Waynes stay healthy and start outside, that will be a poor use of the value of that contract. 

The pick makes zero sense if they were satisfied with where Alexander is as a major contributor. I was willing to give him a chance, because I thought he wasn't that bad and was still developing, but the coaches reduced his snaps later in the year in favor of Newman and now the GM has spent the team's most valuable draft pick since Alexander himself was drafted on day 2 in 2016 on another CB. 

Some people wanted to draft a corner in order to expedite moving on from Waynes, but he got his option picked up as expected, and now Newman's back too. 

There are enough snaps to go around for 4 CBs, but not 5. Who's the odd man out? I can't imagine they're not even expecting Hughes to play as a rookie. 

My guess is Newman is the odd man out

[SteelKing728]

45 minutes ago, vikesfan89 said:

I'm hoping Newman isnt needed to play much. 

I'd be okay with him being the #5 this year honestly.

[Klomp]

3 hours ago, Krauser said:

They have Hughes on a rookie deal for 4 years, with an option for 5.

You're exactly right. He's on a rookie deal for 4-5 years. Not 1-2 years. He doesn't need to be starting quality right away in order to get a good return on the investment.

He also could provide immediate contributions on special teams, so he's not going to truly be stuck to the bench the first year or two if he's not getting first-team reps right away.

[Klomp]