The football world has officially entered offseason mode. Fans will be tuning in to the NFL Combine in less than two weeks, followed by the excitement of the start of free agency on March 15. The offseason culminates in the draft during the final weekend of April before we enter the dog days of summer, where football fans in Minnesota will sit through the inevitable first-round playoff exit from the Wild and Timberwolves before bitching and moaning over the Twins.
This time of year, mock drafts are all the rage — despite the fact that NFL teams will address some of their more immediate needs in free agency six weeks before the draft. And what has seemingly turned into an annual tradition in Skoldierville, one particular position appears to be more popular than others in the first round by draft prognosticators.
By now you’ve probably seen a mock draft (or 12) that predicts the Vikings will select a cornerback with the 23rd-overall pick. After all, Patrick Peterson and Duke Shelley are no longer on the roster, and Minnesota’s defense ranked 31st in passing yards allowed in 2022. Since 2020, only the Tennessee Titans have allowed more passing yards (14,013) than the Vikings (13,701). It goes without saying that the Vikings need to experience substantial improvements with how they go about defending the pass.
Since 2015, the Vikings have gone overboard with allocating top resources to cornerbacks.
- 2015 — Trae Waynes was selected in the first round (11th overall)
- 2016 — Mackensie Alexander was selected in the second round (54th overall)
- 2018 — Mike Hughes was selected in the first round (30th overall)
- 2020 — Jeff Gladney was selected in the first round (31st overall)
- 2022 — Andrew Booth Jr. was selected in the second round (42nd overall)
Yet, despite using five different top-54 draft picks over the past seven years on corners, Minnesota still finds itself as a bottom feeder in defending the pass.
There has to be a different way to improve a pass defense than essentially throwing crap at the wall year after year in the draft and hoping that something sticks, right? Today we’re going to do a case study on the respective processes that three different organizations have as it pertains to cornerbacks and top picks in the NFL draft.
With Brian Flores being officially introduced on Wednesday as Minnesota’s new defensive coordinator, let’s start this exercise by exploring how Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots have gone about their business with corners in the draft. It’s worth mentioning that Flores spent 15 years as a scout and position coach under Belichick from 2004 to 2018 before taking the Miami Dolphins’ head coach position in 2019.
Since Belichick became the head coach in 2000, the Patriots have used just a single first-round pick on a cornerback. New England selected Devin McCourty 27th overall in 2010. Two years later, however, Belichick moved McCourty to free safety. Instead of relying on a cornerback room comprised of early draft picks, Belichick and his staff have consistently found impactful corners in undrafted free agents.
- Randall Gay started 14 regular season games from 2004 to 2007
- Leigh Bodden started 14 regular season games in 2009
- Kyle Arrington started 56 regular season games from 2010 to 2014
- Brandon Browner played the second-most coverage snaps by a Patriots corner in 2014
- Malcolm Butler was a second-team All-Pro in 2016 and started 48 regular season games from 2014 to 2017
- J.C. Jackson was a second-team All-Pro in 2021 and started 39 regular season games from 2018 to 2021
- Jonathan Jones has started 43 regular season games from 2016 to 2022
- Myles Bryant played the second-most coverage snaps by a Patriots corner in 2022
With an understanding that they can routinely pluck UDFA corners off the street and turn them into key cogs of his defensive machine, the Patriots have spent six different first round picks on defensive linemen under Belichick since 2000.
- 2001 — Selected future Hall of Famer Richard Seymour sixth overall
- 2003 — Ty Warren was selected 13th overall
- 2004 — 2012 first-team All-Pro and three time second-team All-Pro Vince Wilfork was selected 21st overall
- 2012 — Two-time first-team All-Pro Chandler Jones was selected 21st overall
- 2014 — Dominique Easley was selected 29th overall
- 2015 — Malcolm Brown was selected 32nd overall
This process of treating corners as role players instead of allocating top draft picks to the position has yielded 18 seasons (out of 23) where the Patriots have ranked top-10 in points allowed. Granted, New England has also signed via free agency and/or traded for marquee corners such as Asante Samuel, Aqib Talib, Darrelle Revis, and Stephon Gilmore throughout Belichick’s tenure.
Let’s switch gears and look at the 2022 NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. General Manager Howie Roseman has been with the Eagles since 2000 and the Pro Football Writers of America awarded him the 2022 NFL Executive of the Year. The last time Philadelphia selected a cornerback in the first round of the draft was in 2002 when they made Lito Sheppard the 26th-overall pick. Most recently, Roseman and Philadelphia addressed their cornerbacks by selecting Avonte Maddox in the fourth round in 2018, trading for Darius Slay before the 2020 season, and signing James Bradberry via free agency prior to the 2022 season.
Instead of dwelling on corners, Roseman decided to use his resources to build one of the best defensive fronts that the league has ever seen. By spending first-round picks on Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, and Jordan Davis, Roseman has always understood that great NFL defense starts up front, and not the other way around. As a result, the Eagles have ranked top-10 in points allowed on eight different occasions since 2002. This also includes six different trips to the NFC Championship game, three trips to the Super Bowl, and one Lombardi Trophy during that span.
A more recent example is the San Francisco 49ers. After the 2016 season, head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch inherited a defense that was dead last in both points and yards allowed. And since they took over in 2017, the Niners haven’t spent a single first- or second-round pick on a cornerback en route to building the league’s best defense (quite literally) from the bottom. Instead, Shanahan and Lynch have used four different first or second round picks on defensive lineman in Solomon Thomas, Nick Bosa, Javon Kinlaw, and Drake Jackson.
Despite not using a single first- or second-round pick on a cornerback since 2014 with Jimmie Ward, the 49ers have been a top-10 defense in points allowed in three out of the past four years — plus they have NFC Championship game berths in each of those three seasons.
To recap: The greatest defensive coach the league has ever seen, one of the best general managers of the 21st century, and one of the best offensive coaches currently working a sideline have all neglected cornerbacks with their top picks in NFL drafts. And they’ve each achieved overwhelming success, both defensively and as a whole, in doing so.
This begs the question: Since the NFL is the ultimate copycat league, why have the Vikings ignored these obvious breadcrumbs of success courtesy of the Patriots, Eagles, and 49ers and continued to drop first- and/or second-round picks on corners?
With Flores now in the fold, the Vikings currently have two of their top three decisionmakers — along with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah — that played a role in these processes deployed by the Patriots and 49ers. Let’s not forget, Adofo-Mensah was with Kyle Shanahan and Lynch in San Francisco for three years from 2017 to 2019.
Has the time finally come in Minnesota where the folks occupying the most important chairs at TCO Performance Center go in a different direction with a more proven blueprint by deemphasizing first- and/or second-round picks on a role-player position like corner? Especially when you compare how all three of the Patriots, Eagles, and 49ers prioritize their defensive fronts in the draft, is it a coincidence that the Vikings have spent the past three years as one of the league’s worst defenses? In case you forgot, Minnesota hasn’t used a first- or second-round pick on a defensive lineman since Sharrif Floyd in 2013.
