In 2023, the Minnesota Vikings struggled to find consistent CB depth behind Byron Murphy, their only bona fide starter. While Akayleb Evans was the starter across from Murphy for most of the season, his end-of-year struggles got him benched in the final game. It’s an open question whether or not he will take back his starting role heading into 2024. The Vikings saw the need to supplement their CB room, adding Shaq Griffin in free agency, taking Khyree Jackson in the fourth round, and augmenting that move by adding the highest-rated CB and one of the best overall UDFAs in Dwight McGlothern.
McGlothern started his college career at LSU, playing under current Vikings’ DB coach Daronte Jones. According to Alec Lewis at the Athletic, Jones played a role in connecting McGlothern with the Vikings. Amid staff changes, McGlothern left LSU for Arkansas, where he played for two years before declaring for the draft.
As a fourth-year senior, McGlothern will be 22 for the entire 2024 season, making him one of the youngest players the Vikings added this offseason. Only first-round picks J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner are younger. McGlothern’s youth is an asset, but Minnesota will have to hope that he fills out his big frame and athletic profile. At 6’1 5/8″, McGlothern is tall for a corner. However, he only weighed 185 lbs. at the NFL Combine, and has 30 1/2″ arms, which are short for that height.
In some cases, players will drop weight to run faster at the combine. However, McGlothern ran just a 4.47-second 40-yard dash at that weight, and his other drills were worse. As it stands, he’s an athletic outlier for the NFL level, and not in a good way:
Arm length matters until it doesn’t. I learned that the hard way when evaluating the 2022 CB class. Historically, there have been very few CBs with sub-31″ arms that have been successful in the NFL, as shown below:
Trent McDuffie went on to become an All Pro in his second season, and he’s one of the best corners in the NFL. It’s a good reminder that athletic testing and size thresholds don’t mean everything.
So, what does McGlothern’s tape say about his game? McGlothern was PFF’s highest-rated coverage player among all CBs in 2023, although he only really played 203 coverage snaps in about 7.5 games. I was able to watch four games of his: against Alabama, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss in 2022, and against LSU in 2023. McGlothern wore No. 3 during the 2022 season and No. 2 during the 2023 season, in case he is difficult to find in some of the clips.
Press technique
McGlothern showed a really nice skill in press — the ability to stay patient and match receivers’ releases without using his hands. Despite the name, which suggests chucking receivers with your hands, press coverage starts with the feet. You can’t turn your hips too early or opponents will exploit that and get you to flip the wrong way, instantly creating separation. McGlothern is patient and doesn’t need to put his hands on receivers every time he presses. Instead, he regularly turns and runs with them in coverage, like in the plays below:
Still, McGlothern has work to do with his hands in press. When he decides to chuck receivers, his hit rate is inconsistent. The play below is a great example, where McGlothern is late with his swipe and misses entirely, leading to huge instant separation for the receiver, Brian Thomas Jr., who was a first-round pick in the 2024 draft.
This issue also manifested in 2022, like on the play below:
Still, McGlothern had some pretty significant impact when his punches landed. On the play below, he severely disrupted the timing of the route.
When it hit, he could force receivers into the sideline, and even out of bounds, making them ineligible on the play.
McGlothern’s patient feet are a nice start to his press technique, but he needs to grow in his punch timing and consistency. If he can do that, he will be proficient in press technique at the NFL level.
man coverage
Part of Minnesota’s defensive overhaul is likely to include more man coverage. The Vikings almost never ran man coverage last year, which was a significant departure from Brian Flores’ modus operandi. McGlothern was exposed to a significant amount of man coverage at Arkansas, often paired with aggressive blitzes and no deep safety help. Those plays felt a lot like what Minnesota wants to do.
When you look at the compilation against press above, McGlothern clearly has the speed to keep up with most NFL receivers, but that speed fell short on a couple of reps against LSU, a team with two blazing fast, first-round WRs in Thomas and Malik Nabers. On the play below, Arkansas is running a quarters concept, which means that McGlothern has MOD coverage, or “Man Outside and Deep.” While technically a zone call, this is a press-man rep, and McGlothern simply doesn’t have the speed that Thomas does.
While the lack of elite top end speed may limit his true upside, improved punch in press should help McGlothern cover receivers better on those routes. More concerning was his inability to stick with inside-breaking routes while covering players in man. He was often late to react to in cuts and unable to recover when he was late, like on the play below:
Here is a compilation of plays where McGlothern got beaten on in-breakers:
The thing is, McGlothern has the movement skills to stick with in-breaking routes, like on the play below:
I also believe McGlothern has the movement skills necessary to be a quality man corner. He has a number of great examples of throttling down and closing on curl routes, like on the play below against Isaiah Bond, who is very fast and considered one of the top WR prospects for the 2025 draft:
McGlothern shows these flashes on tape, including another play against Malik Nabers below, where he was in good position but Nabers made a nice contested catch. Here’s a compilation of nice turns with curls or comebacks, including the Nabers play:
McGlothern definitely needs to improve his patter recognition as a player in man coverage. However, if he’s able to develop that skill, he appears to have the movement skills to be an effective man-coverage player.
zone coverage
The ability to read and cover curls also shows up in zone for McGlothern, like on the play below in off coverage. It shows great click and close ability to tackle Brian Thomas:
McGlothern shows a clear ability to process multiple responsibilities on a play, like on the below rep where he chucks a WR to hopefully disrupt the route, moves to cover the RB in a zone, and then peels off of that to help pursue the scrambling QB.
McGlothern also has a feel for the spacing of plays. Below, he’s able to end up at the correct depth to eliminate the crossing receiver’s route while keeping his eyes in the backfield:
McGlothern can also use zones to bait QBs. On play below, he initially works deep with the vertical route, and it fools the QB into throwing the out-breaking stick route. Because he kept his eyes on the QB, he was able to jump the pass and get an interception on Jayden Daniels, one of just four the second-overall pick threw in 2023:
I felt that McGlothern’s best plays came in zone coverage. He may end up finding his best fit in a zone scheme where his instincts allow him to make plays. If the Vikings continue to build on the zone coverages they innovated in 2023, McGlothern could become a significant asset to the team.
ball skills
Statistically, ball skills were a big plus for McGlothern. He intercepted an impressive seven passes in his two seasons at Arkansas, and also broke up 11 passes in 2022, which was tied for eighth in the country, per PFF.
Those ball skills definitely show up on tape. The most impressive display was a play where McGlothern lost initially but was able to make a great catch on a tipped pass.
McGlothern does a good job of finding the ball in the air and knocking it down. One of my favorite reps in that regard was the play below, where I don’t agree with the DPI that was called on him:
Still, there was a bit of a concerning trend on some of the PBUs where McGlothern would get beat, and a poor throw would lead him back into the play. The ability to locate the ball is great, but I’d like my CB to be in a little better initial position like on plays like the below:
McGlothern is also a little late to contact defenders and can get grabby when opponents try to make their breaks, like on the play below. You can see contact beyond five yards on a number of the plays shown above. This is a rule enforcement difference between the NFL and NCAA, where college is significantly more lenient. It’s a learning experience for almost all young CBs, and one McGlothern will also have to go through:
Here’s a compilation of McGlothern PBUs and INTs from the games I watched:
McGlothern’s ball skills and ability to find the ball in the air are definitely a plus. He might need to improve his coverage skills a little to unlock them, but with development he might become a ball hawk in the NFL.
run defense/tackling
I was initially uncertain, but McGlothern’s tackling grew on me as I watched his game. He will attempt to blow up screens and isn’t afraid to put his body on the line. He showed the willingness to aggressively pursue screens, like on the play below. McGlothern may not have made the tackle, but his angle slowed down the RB and allowed the pursuit to make the tackle for no gain short of the sticks.
Here’s a compilation of some tackles from McGlothern:
McGlothern also showed a knack for finding the football as a tackler. He forced three fumbles at Arkansas, and you don’t normally associate corners with forcing fumbles. Here’s a nice play against Ole Miss:
Still, there were a couple of what I would call business decisions from McGlothern, like on this play. I’m not asking a corner to go all out against the run on every play, and McGlothern showed enough willingness to attack the run that I’m not concerned about it. However, I don’t want a play like this to pop up at the next level:
When taking on blocks, opponents overpowered McGlothern a few times with his small frame. On the play below, he gets pancaked.
Still, McGlothern understood positionally where he needed to be. He didn’t let runs get outside of him, and made a couple of nice plays setting the edge of the defense, below:
McGlothern could probably use a tuneup to his tackling technique. He tends to go low and does not always wrap his opponent. This generally worked in college, but there were misses like on the screen above and on the play below. He’ll go against better athletes in the NFL, so having solid tackling technique is imperative.
As a tackler, I like McGlothern’s willingness to come forward and his understanding of where he needs to position himself to help create a sound defense. His technique could use a little improvement, and he will get better at executing his run defense assignment if he can gain strength as he transitions to the NFL level. However, the results were a very strong 6.8% missed tackle rate over his two years at LSU. That rate would have ranked tied for 56th out of 496 qualifying players in the 2023 season, per PFF.
summary
Dwight McGlothern has strong instincts as a player, with a knack for reading opponents in zone coverage and great ball skills. From a technical perspective, he has the baseline footwork down in press but needs to improve his timing to become a quality press-coverage player. McGlothern’s lack of length may be an issue here, as he might struggle to make meaningful contact with his hands if receivers are able to create space in press. He shows willingness to make tough tackles, and understands his role as part of the whole in run defense. McGlothern could stand to improve his tackling technique.
McGlothern is inconsistent in single coverage. He regularly shows quickness that helps him cover curls and quick breaking vertical routes, but he struggles to either anticipate or stick with routes that break inside in man coverage. McGlothern’s overall athleticism may limit his upside as player, as he got beaten relatively consistently by faster opponents. He also has a tendency to get grabby or make contact in situations that are penalties in the NFL, which he will need to shore up.
For the Vikings, McGlothern seems to fit in as he enters a room of players teeming with questions. The hope is at least a couple of players will be able to improve their skills and prove they deserve to make the team and even potential start or see significant snaps. If McGlothern can make the improvements Minnesota’s staff will ask of him, he has the potential to see playing time in his first year. But that’s not a lock, and with the depth of competition at the position, it’s probably more fair to view him as a practice squad candidate in his first season.
