What if I told you that this class had a player who looks to be a perfect match for Mike Zimmer at cornerback? At 6’4″, 205 lbs, Israel Mukuamu can press opposing wideouts and has the upside to pair with Cameron Dantzler on the outside and allow Harrison Smith to go back to his more natural position closer to the line of scrimmage.
Also, I’d be remiss if I forgot to tell you that he will be around until Day 3 when the Minnesota Vikings have a whole arsenal of picks.
Heading into last season, Minnesota almost completely overhauled their cornerback room. The Vikings cut Xavier Rhodes and let Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander walk in free agency. In the offseason, they added Dantzler and Jeff Gladney through the draft. They also expected Mike Hughes, their first-round pick from three years ago, to take a significant step up after his last two seasons were cut short by injury.
Last season, Hughes’ health woes continued. The neck injury that ended his season in 2019 appeared to resurface, cutting his 2020 short. While his fill-in, Chris Jones, performed valiantly. But he showed either an unwillingness or inability to tackle, which proved to be a downfall of the defense on more than one occasion.
Many fans remember Tony Pollard‘s 42-yard touchdown run in Week 11. Jones had the opportunity to make the tackle, but instead, he half-heartedly put his hand on Pollard, allowing the second-year back to run free for the score.
[videopress cW4PVqcc]Although the Vikings have already added Patrick Peterson and brought back Alexander after a year with the Bengals, they would be wise to potentially grab more depth in the secondary given Gladney’s legal situation and Hughes’ injury history.
First of all, Mukuamu has shown he is both a very willing and capable tackler — already an improvement over Jones.
Based on measurables alone, he appears to be a match made in heaven for Zimmer. Mukuamu looks like a bigger, taller version of Dantzler — he has two inches and 17 pounds on him. His size makes him the prototypical long, rangy Zimmer cornerback. He’s the ideal type of press-coverage corner the coach loves to have at his disposal. Mukuamu likes to play his taller guys on the outside and kick smaller guys like Glandey or Hughes inside to keep up with the traditionally smaller, shiftier operators in the slot.
His height makes him a perfect corner to play in press-man coverage, where Mukuamu can jam the wideouts on the line before they set their route up. This technique disrupts the quarterback’s timing, forcing him to either make a quick throw or hold on to the ball longer, which allows the pass rush time to get home. Although he struggled at times with quicker pass-catchers, his insane length makes up for this, and he was able to use his broad wingspan to record nine pass breakups in 2019.
Mukuamu has experience playing press coverage from his time at South Carolina. Under former coach Will Muschamp, he and projected first-round pick Jaycee Horn played press-man and Cover 3. The main knock on Mukuamu is that most people don’t believe he has the requisite athleticism to play press-man or even man-to-man without safety help over the top. They either think he will have to move to safety, a position he has also played in college, or play in a Cover 2 or 3 scheme. However, I believe that with the return of Danielle Hunter and the progression of his former teammate D.J. Wonnum, Mukuamu won’t have to stick with opposing wideouts for very long.
You might be wondering why a corner of this size and ability would potentially last till Day 3. Before this season started, Mukuamu was projected to be a first-round draft pick by most credible outlets. He suffered a hamstring injury that he tried to fight through, and he also dealt with coaching instability on a Gamecocks team that fired Muschamp halfway through the season. His pro day didn’t help his case: Fellow corner Jaycee Horn flashed the potential to be the first corner taken off the board with a 4.39 40-yard dash, while Mukumau wasn’t even able to run the 40 with his hamstring injury.
Given Mukuamu’s unprecedented height and notable wingspan, he can make up for his alleged lack of athleticism by using his size to undercut throws and create more pass breakups. And Mukuamu doesn’t only rely on size and natural athleticism to make plays. He has also proven to be a very cerebral player who can read offenses, almost running the same route as the wideouts he’s guarding.
One play that stands out is from a matchup against Florida. He saw the running back motion out behind the wideout and immediately read it as a screen pass, shed his block, and blew up the play in the backfield.
[videopress tqIs9z21]Mukuamu’s nose for the ball and his ability to create turnovers excites me the most. The Vikings’ defense struggled to create turnovers this season. Whether the lack of pass rush or the inexperienced secondary was to blame, that needs to change for them to turn things around next year.
Mukuamu recorded four interceptions in 2019, three of which came in South Carolina’s upset win over Georgia, where he seemed to anticipate quarterback Jake Fromm‘s every move. This skill set would be very useful for Minnesota — they had no interceptions from their cornerbacks until Week 13.
[videopress sLEYTXpi]Given Minnesota’s depth in the cornerback room, Mukuamu would not likely see much playing time in his first year, outside of some plays on special teams. Sitting for a year could help him adjust to the NFL and study under Peterson to refine his technique in Cover 3, which the Vikings want to run.
Despite some of the weaknesses people see in Mukuamu, I see a solid cornerback with a high ceiling who could potentially make impact plays as most teams transition their base personnel groupings to include three wideouts. Given Zimmer’s reputation as a cornerback whisperer and Mukuamu’s rare intangibles and need for coaching, this is potentially a perfect match. I wouldn’t be surprised if GM Rick Spielman uses one of his late-round picks on a corner who can help round out a young defense and potentially be a stalwart for years to come.
