Daily Norseman
It would be awesome if it happened
There are going to be a lot of intriguing battles to keep an eye on when the Minnesota Vikings head to Training Camp here in about five weeks or so. One of the most interesting will take place at the cornerback position, where a host of young players will be vying for playing time and spots on the depth chart. After a solid rookie campaign, one of those young players has gotten some recognition from the folks at Pro Football Focus.
PFF has compiled their All-Breakout Team for the 2024 season, and among the cornerbacks on the squad is Mekhi Blackmon, who is looking to take the next step forward for the purple this coming season. Here’s what they had to say about Blackmon in their commentary:
The former USC Trojan had a nice rookie campaign, posting a 71.8 PFF coverage grade after joining the Vikings as a third-round draft pick. He allowed just 28 receptions and had a combined nine pass breakups and interceptions from 329 coverage snaps in 2023.
While the Vikings will be looking to older vets like Byron Murphy and Shaq Griffin to provide leadership in the cornerback room, Blackmon has the talent to supplant both of them atop the team’s depth chart this season. He played sparingly early on last season but got some opportunities late on and made the most of it until the Vikings’ defense collectively ran out of gas at the end of the year.
Having Blackmon continue on his upward trajectory and provide the sort of coverage skills that he displayed in 2023 would be a very nice development for Brian Flores’ defense. With some help from the pass rush, Blackmon should have some more opportunities to take advantage of in 2024 and could wind up being a piece for the Minnesota defense to build around in the long term.
