By Chris Schad
Coming into the 2015 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings had a massive hole at starting cornerback. With Xavier Rhodes starting to secure one side of the field, they needed to find someone on the opposite side in order to slide Captain Munnerlyn into his natural slot position.
The signing of veteran Terence Newman provided some insurance in case the chips didn’t fall their way in the draft, but head coach Mike Zimmer made sure that he got a long-term option by selecting Michigan State’s Trae Waynes with the 11th overall pick.
“Everybody says that I love corners, but I also love good football players.” Zimmer said at a press conference last night. “I thought that [Waynes] can help us in a lot of different ways.”
The primary way that Waynes can make an impact is his size and athleticism. He stands at six feet tall and ran a 4.31 forty-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. That will come in handy as the strong receiver corps in the NFC North got stronger on Thursday night with the Chicago Bears adding West Virginia’s Kevin White.
“I think his overall game is the combination of everything.” Zimmer said of Waynes. “It’s hard to find 6-0 corners nowadays. There’s a few in this draft, but to get big corners that can run and have good change of direction are hard to find.”
Although Waynes has massive potential, there are some areas of his game he’ll need to work on. His physicality can be both a strength and a weakness, especially with the strict coverage rules in the NFL, but it’s something that general manager Rick Spielman thinks can be worked out.
“I know Coach Zimmer, George Edwards and Jerry Gray take great pride into getting those guys.” Spielman explained. “Just the example of how far Xavier Rhodes came in a year, and how far he came from a technical standpoint. [Waynes] is more than willing enough and tough enough in run support, but the biggest thing is the athletic traits are there to fit well in this scheme. The overall package was everything that we were looking for.”
Waynes will enter a camp battle this August at a suddenly deep corner position for the Vikings. With the addition of Newman, the coaches can wait until Waynes is ready to start and also use the services of Josh Robinson in a backup role.
“I’m a competitor and I hate losing.” Waynes said to NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks. “I’m going to compete [to start Day 1], and if I don’t [start], I know the competition will make me better as a whole.”
The newest Viking also was looking forward to working with Zimmer as the defensive backs guru that has revived the careers of several cornerbacks and helped mold one of the greatest of all time.
“He’s a DB guru.” Waynes explained. “He coached up Deion [Sanders]. If he can make me half the player that Deion is, I think we will be pretty good.”