What’s Going On With Cam Dantzler?
K. Joudry
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Minnesota Vikings sophomore corner Cameron Dantzler raised a few eyebrows following the Seattle win. His tweet seemed to hint at some discontent with his current role on the team:
Dustin covered the topic over at Vikings Territory, noting that Dantzler has since deleted the tweet: “The timing of his now-deleted tweet was suspect. Minnesota just authored its first win of the season, a resounding feat because the franchise had previously failed to defeat Russell Wilson on seven straight occasions. Yes, seven. That changed on Sunday as the Vikings rallied from a 17-7 deficit, suffocating the Seahawks in the second half en route to a 30-17 win.”
I’ve been among those pushing for Dantzler to get a shot to play over Breeland. I was OK with Zim giving the nod to the vet heading into the year, but Breeland has been Minnesota’s worst player overall. His pass coverage has been completely absent, leading to him being the worst-ranked corner on PFF. Take a look at what PFF said in their game recap: “Breeland didn’t fare any better, as he gave up nine catches on nine targets for 102 yards, a touchdown and seven first downs.”
Why not give Dantzler a shot?
If you hop over to Pro Football Reference, you’d see that Dantzler has only played 34 snaps all season. 18 of those snaps have comes on special teams. Last week, I argued that he ought to get the chance to start Week 3. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. At this point, what do we really have to lose with starting Dantzler? It’s not like his play could be much worse.
Of course, I don’t see what’s happening behind closed doors. Who knows, maybe Zim is pissed off about Dantzler’s tweets? Maybe he has caused different issues. All I can see is that we’ve got a promising sophomore corner who fans, by and large, are enthused about. Coming off a strong rookie season, we were all hoping for a nice second season. He hasn’t gotten the chance to show he can be our CB2.
The Vikings are currently allowing more than 400 yards of offense per game. Teams are averaging 290.3 passing yards against us. This problem goes beyond just Breeland, but he has consistently allowed teams to pick up completions, many of them for long plays.
It’s been great to see Kirk Cousins play so well. Danielle Hunter has looked incredible, and Everson Griffen is looking explosive. Alexander Mattison performed admirably in relief of Cook, and Justin Jefferson had a great Week 3. K.J. Osborn still looks like a solution at WR3, and Greg Joseph rebounded well. Let’s keep the positivity going by getting improved play from our secondary.
Giving Dantzler the shot to start is a good first step.
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