Vikings Cornerback Who Ranks Dead Last at Position: It’s ‘Us vs. the World’

Bashaud Breeland

Getty Bashaud Breeland has struggled in his first two games as a Viking but is not down on the team yet.

Minnesota Vikings cornerback Bashaud Breeland is the only player on the roster with a ring.

The 29-year-old corner helped the Kansas City Chiefs reach the past two Super Bowls, including their Super Bowl 54 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in 2020.

Breeland joined the Vikings with the same ambitions. Amid an 0-2 start to the season, several Vikings leaders have maintained that the team still has the potential makings of a contender, including Breeland.

“I love when adversity hits,” Breeland tweeted after Sunday’s heartbreaking 34-33 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. “It either makes u or break u and if I know this squad how I think I do breaking ain’t a (sic) option. Us vs the world.”

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Breeland is becoming a leader in the locker room as the second-most veteran cornerback behind Patrick Peterson.

However, he needs to clean up his game if the team hopes to improve upon its record the rest of the season.


Pro Football Focus Ranks Breeland Dead Last at Cornerback

As the dust settles on Week 2, Breeland ranks as the worst cornerback in the NFL currently. His 29.3 position grade by Pro Football Focus ranks 102nd out of 102 cornerbacks graded.

Breeland has allowed nine receptions on 12 targets for three touchdowns and a near-perfect passer rating of 156.3 when targeted this season. He’s also missed six tackles.

There are encouraging signs coming from Breeland.

Five of those missed tackles came in a Week 1 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, where Breeland posted a 26.0 overall that game. He improved in Week 2, posting a 62.5 overall grade against the Cardinals. He didn’t get burnt by a Cardinals wide receiver as he did against Ja’Marr Chase in Week 1, but the Vikings still expect much more from Breeland.

He signed with the team this offseason to a one-year, $4 million contract. Before the 2021 season, Breeland had allowed the second-lowest completion percentage (50.7%) of any cornerback in the league since 2017.

Breeland posted a 72.9 PFF coverage grade last season and appears to still have plenty left in the tank despite an abysmal start to the season.

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Vikings Secondary Grades

Breeland’s poor performance over the first two weeks of the season is likely a symptom of the defense as a whole.

Patrick Peterson is the highest-graded Vikings cornerback (53.6) and ranks 73rd currently. Mackenzie Alexander follows with a 42.0 overall grade that ranks 94th.

Safety Xavier Woods ranks fifth with an 81.9 overall grade through two weeks, followed by Harrison Smith, ranked 45th with a 63.3 overall grade.

It’s only two weeks into the season and considerable improvements have already been made between Week 1 and Week 2 for a revamped Vikings defense that hadn’t played a single game together before the regular season.

The return of Anthony Barr and Everson Griffen, who were both out with injuries on Sunday, should help the defense improve after giving up 840 yards in two games.

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