Vikings Secondary

The NFL’s most efficient tackler at the safety position in 2018 was none other than Minnesota Vikings’ Harrison Smith, missing just four of his 86 tackle attempts en route to a position-high 21.5 tackling efficiency. He missed just one tackle on his 406 run-defense snaps and three on his 571 snaps against the pass.

New York Giants’ Curtis Riley, on the other hand, would likely hope to forget his tackling performance in 2018. The fourth-year Fresno State product missed a position-high 23 tackles across his 988 defensive snaps this past season, giving him the lowest tackling efficiency (3.9) among the 74 NFL safeties with at least 400 defensive snaps played.

Riley, however, made up for at least some of his tackling woes with his play in coverage. He didn’t allow a touchdown in coverage all season long and logged four interceptions this past season, fueling his second-ranked passer rating allowed (39.5) among safeties.

Though he played just 602 defensive snaps and attempted 42 tackles, Vikings safety Anthony Harris finished tied for third in tackling efficiency (21.0) among qualifying safeties in 2018. But, perhaps more impressive is Harris’ passer rating allowed in coverage, as he led all safeties with 250-plus coverage snaps played in passer rating allowed at 24.0. He allowed just 13 receptions for 52 yards and logged three interceptions from 13 targets across 324 coverage snaps.

Both Riley and Harris allowed low passer ratings in coverage from a low target volume...

After Hughes tore his ACL, however, Alexander. . .who had finally decided to embrace the role of slot corner rather than resist it. . .stepped up in a huge way. The folks from ESPN have identified one player that “leveled up” for each team in 2018, and Alexander was the selection for the Vikings. Here’s the case made by ESPN Vikings writer Courtney Cronin:

Alexander admittedly got out of his own way this season and stopped fighting the idea of playing in the slot after so many years of collegiate success as a physical outside cornerback. After dealing with injuries in the preseason, Alexander took hold of his role from Week 2 onward and showed strong signs of improvement, allowing 40 catches on 59 balls thrown in his direction (and 9.6 yards per catch). Alexander’s instinctual, heads-up play allowed him to break up eight passes and be a key part of the Vikings’ third-down blitz package (on which he contributed four sacks). The young corner shined brightest late in the season; in six of the Vikings’ last seven games, Alexander allowed 10 or fewer passing yards while playing at least half of the defensive snaps in each game, per Pro Football Focus.

Alexander was a real force in the second half of the season, as Cronin details. Frankly, you could make the case for him being the best defensive back on the squad after the halfway point. When the Vikings took Alexander in the second round in 2016, he was viewed as a steal, but his struggles in 2016 and 2017 made it difficult to project his trajectory going forward.

With a defensive backfield as strong as Minnesota’s is, it will be interesting to see how the team will handle the corners going forward. Xavier Rhodes fought injuries all year in 2018, and though Trae Waynes has developed nicely, there are still those that don’t exactly believe in him. Add in the return of Hughes and the solid play of Holton Hill from his rookie campaign, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more talented group of corners anywhere.

Alexander is going into the final year of his contract in 2019, so if he wants to be a part of the Minnesota defense in the future, he’s going to need to pick up where he left off in 2018.