Cameron Dantzler Could be the Best Pick of the 2020 Draft Class
Kirby O'Connor
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Of course Mike Zimmer and the Minnesota Vikings were excited to get Jeff Gladney in the first round of the draft, but they really struck gold taking Dantzler out of Mississippi State in the third. The Vikings have only had one practice in pads so far this season. So, trying not to get ahead of ourselves, but Cam Dantzler is looking like the best Vikings, and perhaps the NFL’s best, rookie of the 2020 class.
Plenty of Opportunity
Standing at six foot two inches, Dantzler is tied for the tallest cornerback on the Vikings roster with third year man Holton Hill. Hill, who is entering his third season as a pro, and his first opening the year as a likely starter, will likely play one of the Vikings outside corners vacated by the departed Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes.
Jeff Gladney was inactive today and has been taking snaps in the slot role with the starters and outside with the second team. Although he’s not directly competing with the higher drafted Gladney for first team snaps it seems, it’ll be tough if they somehow both end up fighting for an outside position if either Hill or Mike Hughes moves to the slot, Hughes being the more likely choice.
Hughes, who like Hill is looking to have his first NFL season after being sidelined with a torn ACL in his rookie season, subsequent nagging issues last season, and a broken vertebrae which sidelined him for both the Vikings playoff games last season. Hughes has the highest expectations to live up to as he was the Vikings top draft pick who spent his first two seasons doing virtually nothing, which is nothing new, but is still frustrating.
Any way you slice it, Dantzler seems to be at least the fourth cornerback on the depth chart, a position that should afford him plenty of opportunity with how many cornerbacks NFL defenses use in any given week. If this was a couple seasons ago, Dantzler would likely be waiting behind many established veterans and perhaps would not progress because of it.
Sticking with Thielen
It’s only one highlight, but Dantzler’s pass breakup on a ball to Adam Thielen was incredibly encouraging in his first real NFL practice. Thielen is one of the NFL’s best deep threats, certainly not as fast as the likes of Tyreek Hill, but Thielen’s ability to get a clean release on the NFL’s best defensive backs makes Dantzler’s play that much better.
His spider graph is not great, but in fairness, he seemed to be battling with some injuries. After the combine, in an unofficial pro day, unofficial because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented a traditional one, Dantzler reportedly ran a 4.38 40-yard dash, which would have tied him for the fifth fastest time of this NFL Draft class. It also would have made him faster than Thielen’s 4.45 ran at the regional combine he attended out of college.
Dantzler was given a ton of credit for playing well with his hands at Mississippi State, and carries it over to this practice rep. Not only does he do a great job of getting his head turned around to the ball in plenty of time, something that the Vikings corner have not done well the past few seasons, but that timeliness in his head turn gives him the opportunity to get his hand in the right position to knock the pass away. The only thing he didn’t succeed in doing in this play was catch the ball himself, but you always need some room to grow.
The Mike Zimmer Factor
There’s a reason that Mike Zimmer is known as a cornerback whisperer. His highly drafted cornerbacks rarely bust. You could argue the point of Trae Waynes and Xavier Rhodes given their relatively short lived peaks, but the fact is that for a couple years, they were one of the best cornerback duos in the league with Rhodes in particular being the best shutdown corner in the NFL.
That bodes well for Dantzler, a guy who seems like he’s either going to boom or bust in the league. He wasn’t drafted high enough to say that if he is an average NFL corner he’s a bust. However, he has a much higher ceiling than that and he seems to be the perfect fit for Zimmer. He’s tall, long, and handsome, wait, I mean he moves fluidly.
Dantzler isn’t afraid to challenge anybody physically, he’s a bit thin, but I suspect some time with Danielle Hunter should help him bulk up. Either way, he’s got the willingness to throw himself into tackles, something that doesn’t come naturally to a lot of defensive backs. His technique will need to be refined, but Zimmer is a master at getting his corners to not miss tackles.