Assessing Current Cornerbacks & Open Avenues

Peterson has started all 167 regular-season games he’s played, totaling 29 interceptions and 96 passes defensed. The three games he missed because of a hamstring injury suffered at Carolina last season were the first he had ever missed because of an injury.

Dantzler is by far the most experienced corner on Minnesota’s current roster with 17 starts and 25 games. He’s had some great plays, as well as some critical lapses but could benefit with a clean slate as he heads into his third pro season and second full offseason program (his first was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

Boyd has played mostly on special teams in 41 games, but he has made six starts in his first three seasons.

After appearing in 14 games as a rookie in 2020 and gaining experience in the slot, Hand appeared in just nine games in 2021, because Minnesota brought back Mackensie Alexander on a one-year deal and because of COVID-19 protocols.

Nickerson has appeared in 25 total games over the past four seasons, including four with Minnesota in 2021.

Adofo-Mensah said the Vikings are evaluating the players who were signed or drafted by previous Vikings leadership through a lens of, “If everybody is their best self, as they mature in their careers, what can that be? What does that mean when we have them?”

“We’re ongoing with that. We like some of the youth we have. We think guys have a chance to play well,” Adofo-Mensah said. “This is going to be a little bit of a different scheme, so it’s not exactly relatable to what they were doing previous to now, and also, yeah, you’re open.

“You have avenues. Free agents are there. The draft is there,” Adofo-Mensah added. “We’re excited about what we have, what we like, what we have, everywhere else around them. And again, in this defense, a lot of the things that we do are designed to help the cornerbacks on the outside. So that’s kind of how we’ve approached this, this time.”