The Vikings are certainly going to be in the cornerback market soon. In addition to having Patrick Peterson and Chandon Sullivan set for free agency, Minnesota is moving on from its other primary corner in 2022.
Minnesota is waiving Cameron Dantzler, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. This will create $2.7MM in cap space for the team. While the move sheds a Mike Zimmer-era investment from the roster, it will intensify the Vikes’ need at this premium position. Dantzler started nine games for Minnesota last season, playing the boundary role opposite Peterson.
Although Dantzler had started 26 games for the Vikings from 2020-22, the team has a new defensive coordinator (Brian Flores) in place. It also needs to continue clearing cap room ahead of free agency. Despite this transaction and the releases of Eric Kendricks and Adam Thielen, the Vikings are still more than $6MM over the cap as of Friday afternoon.
One season and that $2.7MM number — Dantzler’s 2023 base salary — remains on the contract. Because he is not yet a vested veteran, Dantzler will only hit free agency if he passes through waivers. It will be interesting to see if a team will cut into its pre-free agency budget to take a flier on the former third-round pick.
Given the Vikings’ struggles on defense during Ed Donatell‘s lone season in charge, it is unsurprising the team is making changes. Pro Football Focus graded Dantzler outside the top 60 at corner last season, but the Vikings relied on him despite drafting Andrew Booth in the second round. Booth eventually suffered a season-ending injury, but he was unable to overtake Dantzler before the setback. Dantzler also battled injury issues, missing seven games. He spent time on IR due to a high ankle sprain late in the season.
With Booth coming off injury and Dantzler, Peterson and Sullivan unsigned, the team will need to turn its attention to the corner spot in free agency and the draft.
Thanks for your part in making the Vikings league-worst defense.
O’Connell needs to take accountability for keeping Donatell around all year when it was obvious to everyone drawing a breath that he should have been fired by week 5. O’Connell is not the answer. 13 wins were smoke and mirrors and Jefferson. Flores will be the head coach in 2024.
On one hand I was hoping he’d be able to turn things around but on the other hand he was greatly outplayed by the great Duke Shelley. I’m very interested in seeing who the corners will be next year, can’t be much worse than the ones from this past year.
Man, as much as Zimmer loved and coveted corners, he was damn lousy at picking them!! It appears as if the one solid corner / DB / hybrid that he and Spielman drafted….Kearse, they choose not to resign. Seriously?