Is Luke Kuechly Onto Something With The Vikings Secondary?
Last week, Vikings Twitter was debating the merits of Luke Kuechly’s claim that the Minnesota Vikings will have the best secondary in 2022.
In Kuechly’s mind, the Vikings have some serious potential heading into 2022: “I think when you talk about young guys coming into the league, I think the one important thing is where do they learn from and who do you learn from. You learn from two guys that have played at all-pro levels for such a long time in Patrick Peterson and Harrison Smith. I’m excited to see young with some old.”
He goes on to praise specific players: “Patrick Peterson, great ball production. Harrison Smith, kind of a two-way player, can play in the run game but has also had great ball production in his career with interceptions and forced fumbles.”
When he played, Kuechly was one of the very best NFL players. Not just among linebackers, players as a whole. He was sensational, and we ought to respect his opinion.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to envision a scenario where the Minnesota Vikings actually do have the best secondary. Patrick Peterson and Cameron Dantzler are currently the top two corners. If this was six years ago, then we’d have reason to be really excited. Peterson used to be among the NFL’s preeminent players, and many fans think Dantzler has the capacity to be a really good corner. Even if both exceed exceptions in 2022, it’s hard to envision them being among the league’s best corner tandems.
I won’t quibble with the Harrison Smith praise. Smith is excellent, and he’ll one day find himself in the Hall of Fame. I expect him to be among the NFL’s best players in 2022.
From there, it’s a lot of young fellas. Lewis Cine, Camryn Bynum, and Andrew Booth Jr. are being assumed as not only great contributors, but tremendous starters. Bynum, in fairness, is a sophomore, and we do have some evidence that he can excel given that he played last season. Nevertheless, we don’t know how he’ll do with increased playing time. Cine and Booth, while promising, have never played an NFL snap. They could be excellent; they could be awful. We’ll need to wait to see. Rookies commonly disappoint, so we can’t guarantee anything.
At the very least, I expect the Minnesota Vikings secondary to be improved. Ed Donatell’s system is one that will likely help. The pass rush, moreover, ought to show considerable improvement. These factors point to progress, we just need to see by how much.
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