Getty The Athletic's Chad Graff suggested the Vikings trade for Dolphins cornerback Noah Igbinoghene.
The Minnesota Vikings should be in the market for a cornerback with the Nov. 2 NFL trade deadline a week away.
Veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson suffered a hamstring injury in Week 6 that was reported initially as cramping. It proved to be much more severe. He landed on the team’s injured reserve list the next day.
While Vikings fans are optimistic Peterson will be healthy by Week 11 when he is eligible to be activated off the list, hamstring injuries are notoriously finicky. Peterson’s injury could ail him beyond the required three-game stint.
Miami Dolphins All-Pro cornerback Xavien Howard has been the de facto top corner fans have called the Vikings to acquire.
However, The Athletic’s Chad Graff doesn’t see a trade for Howard happening and instead named another Dolphins cornerback in a “realistic” trade that would help the Vikings’ playoff chances.
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Vikings Linked to Noah Igbinoghene
In a recent fan mailbag piece, Graff addressed the Howard rumors and how the Vikings are not in an ideal position to make a move for him.
Howard is probably too expensive for the Vikings,” Graff wrote. “The Vikings have a little more than $5 million in space, while Howard’s 2021 cap hit is $15.1 million.
“Even if the Vikings found a way to create the necessary cap space, I’m not convinced they’re looking to make more than simple depth moves (ones similar to trading Stephen Weatherly). I’m not sure that this is the team that’s worth giving up significant assets for high-priced players to try to take a stab at the Super Bowl.”
Graff suggested that a more realistic move the Vikings could make within the next week is to add depth at cornerback to ensure that the team will have some experience if Bashaud Breeland or Cameron Dantzler were to miss time. He found Dolphins cornerback Noah Igbinoghene to be a fitting player that would help fortify the cornerback corps for years to come with the majority of the secondary on one-year deals.
From Graff:
Vikings get: Noah Igbinoghene
Dolphins get: 2022 fifth- and sixth-round picks
Here’s a more realistic trade I’d like to see the Vikings make: send picks in the fifth and sixth rounds to the Miami Dolphins — not for Howard, but for Noah Igbinoghene. The cornerback was taken with the 30th pick in 2020, one spot before the Vikings picked Jeff Gladney.
But Igbinoghene’s time in Miami hasn’t gone as planned, and he’s been a healthy scratch in all but two games this season. The proper value for him would probably be a fourth-round pick considering C.J. Henderson (the No. 9 pick in that draft and also a cornerback) went for a third-round selection and a depth tight end and because former Vikings first-round pick and cornerback Mike Hughes went for a sixth-round pick. Igbinoghene’s situation is somewhere between those two, and his trade value would probably be as well. But the Vikings don’t have their fourth-round pick, which was sent to the Jets for Chris Herndon before the season began, so we packaged two Day 3 picks instead.
Because Igbinoghene is still on his rookie deal, the Vikings could fit him under the cap with ease, and he’d also give them a cornerback under team control for multiple years, which would be useful since the only corners the Vikings have signed through 2023 are Cameron Dantzler and Harrison Hand.
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Igbinoghene Inexperienced but Athletic
Igbinoghene’s first-year struggles in 2020 were a product of inexperience — both in age and position.
The Auburn product was the youngest cornerback in the 2020 draft class, playing the entirety of his rookie season at the age of 20. He had only played cornerback for two seasons after being recruited as a wide receiver out of high school.
But what Igbinoghene lacks in experience, he makes up for in athleticism. Posting a 4.48 40-yard time that tested in the 71st percentile of his draft class, Igbinoghene possesses the speed and agility to stick with receivers and strength to be a menace at the line of scrimmage.
Igbinoghene didn’t see consistent playing time while buried in a deep cornerbacks core in Miami. When he did see the field, he was often unprepared and showed a lack of instincts, given his limited playing time at the position.
He’s a first-round athlete that needs development at a position that happens to be Mike Zimmer’s forte, which could be intriguing with the potential to have Igbinoghene on a rookie contract through the 2024 season.
The only caveat is Zimmer coaching for his job in 2021 and needing talent at cornerback now. However, late-round draft capital has even lesser value for the Vikings brass.