The Vikings will enter their Aaron Rodgers rematch decimated at cornerback. They placed Mike Hughes on IR Friday, and ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin reports the neck injury Hughes sustained in Week 6 has the rest of his season in doubt.
Neck trouble would be an automatic concern regardless of circumstances, but Hughes has a history with neck issues. He landed on IR before Minnesota’s playoff slate last season, and a belated report indicated the former first-round pick suffered broken vertebra in his neck. Hughes recovered in time for this season, but Friday’s report is certainly troubling for his NFL future.
Hughes has not been able to stay healthy as a pro. An ACL tear ended his 2018 rookie season after six games. He played 14 last season but has missed time this year. With 2018 first-round picks being the first to have fully guaranteed fifth-year options, it now appears a certainty the Vikings will pass on Hughes’ come May.
The Vikings did, however, make Hughes a key piece of their cornerback puzzle this offseason. They let Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander defect to the Bengals, doing so after cutting former No. 1 corner Xavier Rhodes. Minnesota drafted corners Jeff Gladney and Cameron Dantzler in Rounds 1 and 3, respectively, this year.
Dantzler, however, resides on the Vikings’ reserve/COVID-19 list. He will miss Sunday’s Packers tilt, leaving Gladney as the only healthy corner from the Vikes’ regular rotation. Holton Hill is also out with a foot injury.
As Vikings fans, we should be able to easily count this COVID season as a developmental season. Pierce opting out, followed by Hunter not playing, now Barr and Hughes being injured. We just haven’t stood much of a chance. Yes we should have won against the Titans and Seahawks and easily be 3-3 or 4-2 now, but with all these injuries we wouldn’t have stood much a chance in the playoffs. Now we can draft our future franchise QB and bring back everyone healthy next season and beyond.
Obviously Gladney and Dantzler were expected to struggle a bit in their rookie seasons. However, Hughes and Hill have been highly disappointing of late. Do you have faith in the abilities of any Minnesota cornerbacks? (You seem like an invested fan, so you would know better than I)
This may well be a lost season for the Vikings, but if they do keep Zimmer around (just signed an extension in the offseason and has a solid track record with them so I expect him to stay unless he wants to retire and go spend more time with his girlfriend) Vikes fans should feel confident that he will eventually get the young corners up to speed.
He’d been reluctant to play young corners much in the past for good reason.. he asks a lot of them and it takes time for them to understand what he wants to do on defense. Even highly drafted Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes didn’t see the field much earlier in their careers. – remember when he played 47 year old Terrance Williams over Trae?
Even when he was with the bengals, the young highly drafted corners didn’t get to see the field much early in their careers.
That’s a good point. I remember Leon Hall and Dre Kirkpatrick initially sitting out a bit in favor of veterans like Jonathan Joseph, Nate Clements, and even Newman himself!
Bring back Captain Munnerlyn.
Plus with Cousins being absolutely terrible, Vikings have a great shot at the 2 pick