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The Minnesota Vikings raised a lot of eyebrows in this off-season / free agency period, when they hired ex-All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson. We discussed this on our weekly KDLM radio show, ‘The VikingsTerritory Breakdown’, in an attempt to break the Vikings’ (then) updated secondary depth / cornerback chart.
The VikingsTerritory Breakdown – Making sense of the beginning of agency
The main question that remained for us and until Friday was what the Vikings would do at the nickel site (and, of course, who will replace the recently discarded Anthony Harris safely). Well, don’t ask yourself anymore … Me? Because the Vikings allegedly agreed to the terms to bring former nickel slave Mackenzie Alexader “home”.
Alexandre left the Vikings (and what was supposed to be better terms) for a year according to the type of proof of that with the Bengalis. However, he never had a relationship with the coaches in Cincy and had a nationally covered disagreement with coaches there when he left the team to search (and find) his missing father.
Alexander started in 10 of the 13 games he played for Bengals.
According to ESPN.com:
‘Alexander’s advanced metrics were in the middle of the pack, among others who play mainly with slotback cornerbacks. According to the NFL Next Gen Stats, Alexander had a completion rate of 68.4 when he was the closest defender, which was 2% worse than expected. He also had a 45.6% coverage success rate, just below the league average for cornerbacks in qualifying slots. ‘
Alexander has extraordinary advantages in the slot machine position against another free agent, as he obviously played his first four seasons under the system / thumb of coach Mike Zimmer. Although he also reportedly (or presumably) had problems with Zimmer (considering the above and the fact that he was one of the few veterans to play in the 2019 Bye mini of Week 17, when the other veterans started to rest in the Wild round Card in the playoffs), he brings familiarity to a complex system and should be able to return to the role he has played in the past two seasons in Minnesota.
If the 27-year-old Alexander is able to return to his 2018 level (which seems reasonable), he will provide a massive update to the junior who now has his field coach at Peterson, two promising young corners at Cameron Dantzler and Jeff Gladney , and the former first-round player chooses Mike Hughes to start. Hughes was limited by injury, but with Alexander’s return it is safe to say that the secondary game of the Vikings’ ad campaign has arrived.
With the addition of Dalvin Tomlinson, Michael Pierce’s opt-out, some choices in the draft to find an advantage (hopefully) opposite Danielle Hunter and the healthy return of Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks, this Vikings defense is looking very stellar ( on paper) now. If they can find a left tackle that acts in the Draft, with the addition of another ex-cardinal in Mason Cole at the guard post, and the elite level close to the attack.
Wait. I will stop.
In the end.
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