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Time to Lend a Hand: A breakdown and vote of confidence on second year Vikings corner Harrison Hand

With the veteran Patrick Peterson out for what may be a significant number of games, more attention than ever before has been turned to the Minnesota Vikings Cornerback room. The two remaining constants are Mackensie Alexander, a slot specialist who is exclusively a nickel back, and Bashaud Breeland, who seems to be the top dog of the outside corners, perhaps to the chagrin of some fans. The next faces that likely come to mind are either Cam Dantzler, the skinny 2020 3rd rounder who got extensive play his rookie campaign in a heavily depleted defense, or Kris Boyd, the beloved locker room jokester who at this point is essentially the face of Vikings social media. Backup corner Harrison Hand might be the last person the casual Vikings fan would recall to mind, if they know him at all. And personally, I think this is a crime. I’m a big Harrison Hand fan and apologist, and it’s not because of his zen focus on well-being, self-love and mental health or his unique look, with his thick dreads, bullring piercing and beaded necklaces (although he may have a claim to being best-dressed Viking). Instead, I genuinely think the Kinesiology Major out of Baylor and Temple has a lot of untapped potential to be an excellent player and contribute in a big way to this defense, and the time seems ripe for him to do so.

After being drafted in the fifth round behind fellow corners Dantzler and Jeff Gladney, Hand was buried on the depth chart behind a multitude of other backs, but when both UDFA Holton Hill and the hapless Mike Hughes disappeared a few games into the 2020 season, a path to snatching some opportunity was opened to Hand.

After rewatching the vast majority of Hand’s 2020 snaps, I was impressed by his intelligence and broad skill set. Firstly, as an accomplished and willing special-teamer, he is a hard nosed gunner who does not hesitate to hit a man and make a play (He did just that in the only time he’s really been noticeable this season, when he laid out a walloping truck on a Bengals KR in the week 1 debacle). Hand is a hard tackler, and stout in run defense situations. A good example is the big tackle he makes in the admittedly meaningless week 17 Detroit game, holding the ascendant D’Andre Swift to a short gain.


Throughout 2020, Hand played a fair amount of snaps in a wide variety of coverages, showing shrewdness and good vision in zone coverage, and flashing promise in man-to-man press. In the Week 6 Atlanta game, he tips a pass up out of the paws of the hulking Julio Jones, which is nearly intercepted by a teammate, and a few games later he picks off Drew Brees for an interception of his own.


This is all well and good, but appearances can be deceiving, and Hand did commit his fair share of rookie gaffes. So what do the numbers say?


For the 2020 season, Hand came away with 17 total tackles and an interception, allowing 9 receptions on 14 targets. Physically, Hand measures up at 5’11" and 192 pounds, but he’s a fairly imposing guy for his size, with wiry strength and long arms. Pro Football Focus gave Hand the grades of 81.6 in Run Defense, 60 in Pass Rush scenarios and 62.4 in coverage. His overall player grade was a 65.8, second only to Dantzler among the Vikings CB group. All of this came on the sample size of 163 snaps.


To me, these numbers speak for themselves as a testament to Hand’s versatility and skill. But I wanted to look even deeper into Hand’s actual value as a roster asset.


To do so, I looked at the individual PFF grades of every one of the "starting" cornerbacks in the league for the 2020 season. For the purpose of this experiment, I defined the "starters" as the three players with the highest snap counts on each NFL team. I recorded the player grades of every one of these 96 cornerbacks, and then took the average. This number should give a fairly consistent idea of the skillset a player needs to be a starting-caliber corner in today’s NFL. The average came out to 61.9. Hand is graded at 65.8, projecting his pure skill and ability as equal to or greater than a majority of starting corners across the league. Admittedly, his sample size of snaps is a little smaller, but even so, this is a surprising statistic given that Hand is essentially still the CB5 on the depth chart.


So what did he do to not merit starting privileges in 2021? Actually, Hand was a shining star this offseason, wowing throughout OTAs and minicamp. As pointed out by Courtney Cronin of ESPN in a write-up this summer, Hand took advantage of the opportunities created by the absence of some of his teammates. Lining up both outside and in the slot, he came away with several interceptions, including a masterful snag in tight coverage of Justin Jefferson. Despite all of this, he slowly slid down the depth chart after the signing of Breeland and the eventual return to practice of Dantzler. It didn’t help that he’s been inactive multiple weeks this season due to a hamstring injury immediately followed by a stint on the COVID list.


But that’s all in the past. Right now, the Vikings are staring down a matchup with the Cowboys on Halloween night, who are bringing as fearsome a group of Offensive weapons as exists in the league. Patrick Peterson has joined the Injured Reserve, and Breeland’s play has been suspect at times. Dantzler is likely preparing for the role as starter opposite Breeland (even though he did give up a few big plays recently against Carolina in crucial moments). Kris Boyd will very likely be active as well, and due for some run, but he’s been dealing with a hamstring pull of his own quite recently. Hand will be preparing to suit up, fully healthy and active, after playing in only two games so far this season. I believe Hand is poised to be an immediate backup in the upcoming weeks, and that his chance of finally breaking out in an explosive manner is closer than ever before. For now, he’s still just a backup, but for a player as multifaceted and talented as Harrison Hand, it can really only be so long before he’s called on to lend a hand.


This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.