If there was ever a year to be starved at wide receiver and cornerback, it was this year.
With Stefon Diggs leaving for Buffalo after a blockbuster trade and the Vikings three starting cornerbacks either released or departed in free agency, the 2020 draft offered a chance for replenishment. Six each of corner and receiver were taken in the first round, and the Vikings contributed one of each, taking pass-catcher Justin Jefferson with the 22nd overall pick and corner Jeff Gladney with the 31st pick after a trade-back with the San Francisco 49ers that netted them two more Day 3 selections.
Jefferson gives Adam Thielen a much-needed right-hand man that can operate from the slot or the outside. Gladney offers Mike Zimmer’s secondary another potential starter along with Mike Hughes and Holton Hill heading into the 2020 season.
“We didn’t want to reach for a player when the receiver was coming down to us,” Zimmer said on a Zoom call after the first round. “We feel good about that. We liked him and had a grade on him. As it worked out in the end of the first, we had a couple corners, two or three corners on the board that we liked.”
It would have been surprising for Zimmer to let the first round go by without selecting a corner, a position he’s taken three times in the first round in his seven drafts with the Vikings.
His selection of Mike Hughes in 2018 was seen as a luxury pick at the time, but he wound up filling in for injured teammates and recording a Pick 6 in his first career game. The Vikings hope — rather, need — Gladney to have a similar impact early in his career after losing 16 combined years of experience between Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander. Perhaps that’s why they chose one of the most seasoned corners in the draft. Gladney redshirted his first season at TCU before playing in 44 games over the next four seasons. He’ll turn 24 years old before the upcoming season is done.
“With all the experience I gained more knowledge than I ever thought I would gain,” Gladney told reporters. “Just over the years, processing just got way faster. Knew the playbook like the back of my hand, and shoot, I basically knew the offensive playbook by then.”
With the 31st pick in the 2020 #NFLDraft the Minnesota Vikings select… Jeff Gladney! Corner back from TCU!
He is the 3rd most valuable CB since 2018
And had 77.4 passer rating when targeted
Tough. Physical. 😈 #Vikings #SKOL pic.twitter.com/fBDx01LTCC
— PFF MIN Vikings (@PFF_Vikings) April 24, 2020
Scouting reports on the 5-foot-10 Gladney describe him as “feisty,” a “pitbull,” a “junkyard dog” — in other words, a defensive back that plays larger than his size. Zimmer loves aggressive corners. He’s said in the past he’d rather have to say ‘Whoa’ than ‘Go’ to a young defensive back. Alexander, a second-round pick in 2016, was cut from a similar cloth but might’ve had too much “go” to him. The Clemson product struggled with with coachability in his early years and left for Cincinnati as a free agent in March. There’s no telling whether Gladney possesses any of the same bite-back, but according to Zimmer he doesn’t appear to be one to back down.
“When we called him, [we] get him on the phone and he said, ‘Been waiting for you guys to call,'” Zimmer recounted. “That’s part of the things that you like about him is he’s a competitor and wants to be out there and go.”
General manager Rick Spielman said the Vikings were impressed by Gladney’s 33-inch arm-length and 80-inch wingspan, which expands his frame. He cited Gladney’s analytics as a red-zone stopper, while Pro Football Focus reported that Gladney caused incompletions on 36 of 46 contested catches over the last two seasons.
“Gladney fit every single trait we were looking for from a physical standpoint,” Spielman said.
Gladney might’ve had visions about lining up at future practices across from college teammate, receiver Jalen Reagor. But the Philadelphia Eagles took Reagor one pick before the Vikings were on the clock at No. 22. Instead Minnesota took Jefferson, the LSU product who is as good at hauling in contested catches as Gladney is at breaking them up. Pro Football Focus considered him the top contested-catch receiver in college football last year.
With the 22nd pick in the 2020 #NFLDraft the Minnesota Vikings select… Justin Jefferson! Wide receiver from LSU!
He had:
92.3% contested catch rate which ranked 1st in the draft class
147.9 passer rating when targeted
86.7 receiving grade in 2019#Vikings #SKOL
— PFF MIN Vikings (@PFF_Vikings) April 24, 2020
That particular skill goes a long way towards replacing Diggs, the contested-catch wizard that routinely evoked the best out of his rotating cast of quarterbacks.
Jefferson can also play out of the slot, where Diggs thrived. He recorded nearly all of his 1,540 yards last season lining up inside and catching passes from No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow. Jefferson’s 111 receptions tied for most in the nation.
“Coach Joe [Brady] definitely came in and worked with us on different ball drills and eye coordination drills,” Jefferson said of his adjustments as a junior. “Just work on those every single day and just really focus in on our hands and our reaction time and all those different things to become a better receiver. It helped me tremendously throughout the season, and you can tell it changed throughout my sophomore to junior season.”
Being a first-round pick, Jefferson isn’t quite the underdog story of Diggs, the fifth-round pick, or Thielen, the undrafted free agent. Jefferson’s draft status is more likely to draw comparisons against first-round Vikings receivers of the past like Laquon Treadwell, Cordarrelle Patterson and Percy Harvin. But he nonetheless has an unexpected backstory as a lightly-recruited high school player in Louisiana that earned a late scholarship offer to play for the Tigers. After a breakout junior season, Jefferson was a national champion and a pro-ready prospect.
“Definitely didn’t think that this would be coming,” Jefferson said, “and just to be in this situation, not a lot of people can say that they have been drafted or even been in the first round.”
The NFL’s truncated offseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic will test Gladney and Jefferson’s readiness. More than ever, the Vikings need their first-round picks to contribute immediately. In a normal year, teams use rookie camp, OTAs, mini-camp and training camp to work the kinks out of their new draft class, but with offseason practices turning into virtual meetings, the Vikings need their top two picks to be quick studies.
Both were chosen to fill clear needs at vital positions. On paper, a successful first round for the Vikings.
UPDATE: A previous version of this story misidentified Jefferson’s college coordinator.
