Vikings Still Considering Addition of $30 Million Cornerback

GETTY Denver Broncos corner Ronald Darby makes a play.

The Minnesota Vikings have spent the last two summers aggressively pursuing upgrades to their secondary, yet the unit is still producing as many questions as answers.

Among the most pressing of those questions is whether the Vikings need to spend some of their remaining $10.6 million in 2023 salary cap space to add depth to a defensive backfield that surrendered the second-most passing yards (4,515) to opposing offenses last season.

The short answer: If you believe in Akayleb Evans, no. If you don’t, then probably yes.

Minnesota remains clearly on the fence in this regard 11 days after veteran CB Ronald Darby auditioned for the potential role on August 3.

Judd Zulgad of USA Today’s Vikings Wire on Monday, August 14, attempted to suss out the team’s true position, taking into account the overlapping context of free agent meetings with offensive guard Dalton Risner and running back Kareem Hunt.

Bringing in potential free agents is nothing new for the Vikings, but the reports of these three talking to the team are interesting because they are well-known names. The common thread with the trio is that they all play positions at which the Vikings probably aren’t as deep as they would like.

The Vikings also are young at cornerback and Darby, who is 29, could add some valuable experience. Darby suffered a torn ACL in Week 5 of last season with Denver.

Ronald Darby Has Proven Himself Complete Cornerback Over Successful 8-Year Career

GettyCornerback Ronald Darby, formerly of the Denver Broncos.

Darby has played eight seasons in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos.

The cornerback finished second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting in 2015, won a Super Bowl ring with Philly two seasons later and most recently signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Broncos in 2021. Denver released Darby on March 10 in favor of clearing $9.6 million in salary cap space.

Darby was particularly expert at defending the run during his five regular season appearances in 2022, earning an elite rush-defense grade of 86.5 from Pro Football Focus. He graded out solidly in coverage at 66.3 and finished the year with an overall player grade of 71.1 in limited action.

Darby has been a quality cover corner over the course of his career. He has held opposing quarterbacks to collective completion percentages of 54.3% or below in each of the previous three seasons and has only allowed a collective QB rating above 86.7 once in the last five years, per Pro Football Reference.

Vikings CB Akayleb Evans Has Risen to Starting Status Almost by Default

GettyCornerback Akayleb Evans of the Minnesota Vikings.

If the Vikings decide to roll the dice on Darby in the coming weeks, he should have a chance to earn a starting spot at CB alongside Byron Murphy Jr. To do so, however, Darby will need to beat out Evans who has spent the majority of training camp taking snaps in the No. 2 starter’s spot.

Minnesota selected Evans in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. Despite missing seven games during his rookie campaign due to multiple concussions (he entered NFL concussion protocol on three separate occasions last season), Evans appears clearly to have surpassed Andrew Booth Jr. on the depth chart.

The Vikings selected the injury-prone Booth in the second round of last year’s draft, several picks before Evans. However, Evans’ physical attributes appear to be a better fit in the more aggressive scheme of Minnesota’s new defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

As a result, Booth is jockeying for playing time this preseason with rookie third-rounder Mekhi Blackmon and free agent acquisition Joejuan Williams.