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It’s way, way too early to start assigning grades to players that have been selected in the 2020 NFL Draft, considering that they haven’t even set foot on an NFL field yet. However, a lot of people do that sort of thing anyway, so we wanted to give everyone an opportunity to see a sampling of them in one place.
The Vikings went to the cornerback well for a second time in the third round of this year’s draft, selecting Mississippi State standout Cameron Dantzler. What do the experts think of the selection? Let’s find out.
Chris Trapasso, CBS Sports
Grade: B+. Tall, skinny but ultra-feisty corner who flashes in zone and press. Ran slowly at the combine. Natural ball skills. Vikings smartly double up at cornerback early in this draft.
Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News
Grade: A. The Vikings remain smart about replacing both Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes with another perfect fit for Mike Zimmer’s scheme, joining first-rounder Jeff Gladney. Dantzler (6-2, 188 pounds) has nice size and uses his hands and hips to be disruptive against receivers downfield.
Eric Edholm, Yahoo! Sports
Dantzler is a lean, high-cut cover man who can press effectively and has a different body type than first-rounder Jeff Gladney. We like Dantzler’s aggressive nature, but he might need to be a bit more technically sound for Mike Zimmer’s liking once the pads go on. Dantzler’s 4.63 combine 40 hurt his stock, but it felt like that number didn’t reflect his athletic ability. Another fine pick from the Vikings here. Grade: B+.
Walter Cherepinsky, Walter Football
A- Grade. Cameron Dantzler has great size to him (6-2, 195) who played very well at times against elite competition. He was inconsistent as well, but I imagine Mike Zimmer saw the tools and was intrigued by how he could develop Dantzler. It could be argued that Dantzler could’ve been chosen 20 or so picks earlier, so this is good value.
As more of these grades roll in, we can add them here. And, as always, you can feel free to weigh in with your own grades and commentary on the selection of Cameron Dantzler.