Vikings Say “No Thanks” to Experienced Cornerback
The Minnesota Vikings have struggled at the cornerback position this decade. In the recent offseason, the club re-signed Byron Murphy Jr. and added Jeff Okudah and Isaiah Rodgers. Those three are expected to form the starting trio, but behind them, the rotation is a concern.
Vikings Say “No Thanks” to Experienced Cornerback
After the final preseason game, the Vikings axed Keenan Garber and Reddy Steward, and they continued to reduce the roster by shipping Mekhi Blackmon to Indianapolis. The former third-rounder has not developed into the starter everyone expected he would after a promising debut season.
On Tuesday, the club also axed undrafted rookie Zemaiah Vaughn, leaving only Ambry Thomas and Dwight McGlothern on the depth chart behind the top three.
Thomas, however, also landed on the chopping block. The man who gained some starting experience in his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers couldn’t earn a spot on Minnesota’s 53-man roster, Adam Schefter, ESPN’s newsbreaker, reported.
McGlothern only played a handful of snaps in his rookie season, so at least keeping the veteran in the building could’ve made sense.
Thomas entered the league in the 2021 draft and was a third-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers. He spent his collegiate days at Michigan, playing in the secondary alongside Joshua Metellus, a well-known commodity in the Twin Cities. Noteworthy is that Thomas opted out of the 2020 season and was still selected as a third-rounder in 2021, demonstrating that there is undoubtedly some talent.
In the pre-draft process, he was measured at nearly six feet, and he ran a 4.4 40-yard dash. Thomas appeared in 12 games in his debut season, and he started five of them. He was a rotational defender, playing 333 defensive snaps and 101 on special teams.
As a sophomore, Thomas was demoted and played only 47 defensive snaps in 15 games that year. In 2023, however, he once again played in 15 games and logged about half of the team’s defensive snaps (481). That season, he received a solid PFF grade of 71.5.
Last preseason, Thomas suffered a broken forearm and was placed on IR. In December, once he was seemingly healthy, the 49ers released him, and the Colts claimed him off waivers. After failing his physical, he signed with Minnesota’s practice squad and later accepted a futures deal from the Vikings.
So what’s the plan now? There must be a new signing or trade coming in the near future, with only four cornerbacks on the roster.
Si.com’s Will Ragatz wrote prior to the Vaughn release, “The Vikings are waiving cornerback Ambry Thomas, per Adam Schefter. The former 49ers third-round pick had an interception in the first preseason game. After trading Blackmon on Monday, the Vikings currently have just five corners on their roster. That’s a position where they’ll likely add.”
The Vikings have piled up a bunch of late-round draft picks in recent days, and those could (or should) be used to acquire help at wide receiver and cornerback.
Minnesota moves on without Thomas. He could be a practice squad candidate, though.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.