Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman cast a spell on Vikings fans and Minnesota sports media. The self-proclaimed cornerback guru wanted you to believe that teams can never have too many corners, and that front offices should continue to replenish their organization’s cornerback room with serious investments by way of the draft. Give credit to the third-best head coach in franchise history, along with its former general manager, because their witchcraft is still working even after they’re no longer occupying the big chairs at TCO Performance Center.
With the draft just a week away, the football world is fully entrenched in draft mode. In Minnesota, that’s just code for Which corner should we take in the first round?
Admittedly, it’s no secret that I don’t believe in spending top resources on cornerback, especially in the draft. It’s one of the flukiest positions in sports, and this need the Vikings have a cornerback is greatly overblown. Have we since forgotten that Minnesota addressed these depth issues at cornerback in last year’s draft with second- and fourth-round selections in Andrew Booth Jr. and Akayleb Evans? And with the free-agent addition of Byron Murphy, the Arizona Cardinals’ former second-round pick? Why do the Vikings need to make yet another substantial investment at the position?
Despite my deeply rooted conviction about the position and the overblown hysteria about Minnesota’s need for another corner, Alabama defensive back Brian Branch‘s potential fit in Brian Flores‘ defense simply can’t be ignored.
But before we dive into Branch, a quick look around the league will show you that there’s little to no correlation to winning by continuously re-investing in the cornerback room.
Excluding the Vikings from this exercise, 13 teams made the 2022 postseason. Of those 13 teams, six allocated only a single Day 2 draft pick for their top-four cornerbacks. Those teams were:
- Los Angeles Chargers (2021 second-round pick Asante Samuel Jr.)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (2021 second-round pick Tyson Campbell)
- Cincinnati Bengals (2022 second-round pick Cam Taylor-Britt)
- New York Giants (2021 third-round pick Aaron Robinson)
- San Francisco 49ers (2021 third-round pick Ambry Thomas)
- Philadelphia Eagles (traded their 2020 third- and fifth-round picks for Darius Slay)
The Seattle Seahawks made the playoffs with a cornerback room comprised of 2022 fourth- and fifth-round picks in Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen. They signed Michael Jackson to their practice squad in 2021, and inked Justin Coleman to a one-year deal before 2022.
The Kansas City Chiefs (Trent McDuffie, 2022) and Baltimore Ravens (Marlon Humphrey, 2017) made the playoffs while allocating only one Day 1 pick for their top-four corners.
That’s nine of the 13 playoff teams from 2022 (again, excluding the Vikings from this exercise) that made either zero Day 2 investments, one Day 2 investment, or one Day 1 investment for their top four cornerbacks. And four of those nine teams reached the AFC and NFC Championship games.
So forgive me if I push back ever so slightly on this misconception that the Vikings’ defense will be in shambles unless they spend another Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a cornerback later this month.
However, there is something to be said about rule-breaking behavior. In February, I wrote about how both the Eagles and Chiefs strayed from conventional wisdom with Philadelphia’s excessive resource allocation to its front four and Kansas City’s reliance on 12- and 13-personnel on early downs. And in my piece, I posed the question of what the Vikings could do for their own version of breaking the rules in 2023.
And Brian Branch. could singlehandedly be the Vikings’ rule breaker.
On the surface, Branch is listed as a safety. And the natural immediate reaction to the Vikings spending first-round picks in consecutive years on SEC safeties is WTF? Let’s not forget that Cam Bynum was one of four NFL defenders who played 100% of his team’s defensive snaps last season. And with Harrison Smith returning for 2023, safety appears to be one of Minnesota’s deepest positions.
But in the spirit of defensive coordinator Brian Flores‘ appreciation for players with flexibility, the former Crimson Tide defensive back would theoretically allow the Vikings to unleash a positionless defensive backfield. Last season, Branch played only 25 of 768 defensive snaps at free safety. Instead, he lined up as the nickelback on 569 snaps, which equated to 74.1% of his snaps. He also played 17.7% of his snaps from the box, to go with 14 snaps as an outside corner.
By inserting Branch into Flores’ scheme, the Vikings could theoretically roll with certain dime packages on obvious passing situations with Brian Asamoah as the lone linebacker, Murphy and Booth outside, Branch and Cine in the slot (or even put Cine as the nickel linebacker on third-and-longs), and Smith and Bynum as the two-high safeties.
Think of it like the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors spawning the new age of positionless basketball that’s spread its way throughout the NBA. Aside from Tim Connelly’s version of the Minnesota Timberwolves taking away Anthony Edwards’ floor-spacing and inserting a 1990s style big man to clog up the paint, of course. But that’s neither here nor there.
Over the past two seasons, Minnesota’s nickel corners in Chandon Sullivan and Mackensie Alexander had been the defensive backfield’s most glaring weak spots. In 2022, Sullivan allowed the highest passer rating when targeted amongst the Vikings’ starting corners at 108.5. In 2021, Alexander’s 117.1 passer rating when targeted was also the worst out of Minnesota’s starting corners. By inserting a lockdown positionless defensive back in Branch that excels as the nickel, the Vikings could seemingly turn a weakness into a major strength overnight.
No, the Vikings absolutely don’t need to spend another Day 1 or Day 2 draft pick on your run-of-the-mill cornerback. But on the off chance Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Kevin O’Connell, and Flores feel like breaking some rules of their own, Branch is mighty enticing as a player who could add an incredible amount of flexibility for Minnesota’s new defensive coordinator.
