Back in the 2020 season, the Vikings opted to keep things modest for Justin Jefferson to begin his NFL career. The Vikings rookie at WR was tasked with filling Stefon Diggs’ cleats. Best to bring the young lad along slowly.
But then reality hit.
Bisi Johnson had been working as the WR2 behind Adam Thielen until injury ruined the chance at being able to do so. Jefferson got tossed into that Week 3 Tennessee Titans game. Fireworks went off and Jefferson has never looked back.
Right now, the Vikings don’t have a young star in the building who is likely to get to that Jefferson level. By definition, being a historic talent is exceedingly rare. But what of the enthusiasm for corner Charles Demmings? Can the young corner continue with his early momentum? Johnson couldn’t slow down Jefferson for long; maybe Demmings can do something similar.
Mr. Demmings stands at 6’1″ and weighs roughly 195 pounds. He thrives in press and offers 4.4 wheels. Getting him in the 5th Round was possible due to playing at a small school. Check out what Jeff Diamond had to say in the former GM’s analysis for Vikings Territory: “This fifth-round pick is making an impact with his physical coverage skills at training camp, He comes out of small school Stephen F. Austin but I’m impressed that he’s not intimidated in his first NFL camp which we saw when he put a big hit on vet WR Jauan Jennings in practice this week.”
Diamond’s sense of the depth chart: “Demmings could push vet free agent signee James Pierre for the third corner or at least become the fourth corner who gets play time in certain defensive schemes and in the event of injury to the other corners.”
A final insight from the former GM: “He’s a 4.4 guy with good size at 6-1, 193 pounds who can run with wide receivers and should be able to play the run. Demmings will get good battle testing trying to cover the Vikings talented WR corps in camp and he’ll be worth watching when he plays a lot in preseason games. He should be another special teams standout. There have been a lot of late-round corners who wound up being great players. Perhaps Demmings can be such a player.”
Perhaps, indeed.
An NFL corner cannot have thin skin. Making a mistake is exceedingly obvious, so much so that even casual fans can see the gaffe in real time. Whoever is out at corner therefore needs to be a high-compete player who doesn’t lose confidence after losing a rep.
Demmings still has a long way to go before arriving at that spot, but he’s been raising eyebrows. The clip directly above features Thor Nystrom offering his early assessment of Demmings, noting that the rookie is getting some run with the first-team defense. That’s not a small detail, folks.
Getting worked in among the starters isn’t reason to throw a celebratory parade. Nevertheless, that’s a good update since it suggests that he’s not buried on the depth chart. The CB4 gets work with the 1s, not the CB10.
The Vikings haven’t had a true CB1 since Xavier Rhodes. Back in 2017, Rhodes could get tasked with lining up across from the other side’s WR1 and win the day. That’s of immense value since it helps to tilt the numbers advantage back towards the defense. Charles Demmings is a long way off from proving to be that player. In fact, he’s very unlikely to get there. Most 1st-Round corners don’t get to a similar level of Rhodes, who was an All Pro and Defensive Player of the Year candidate. What’s not uncertain, though, is that getting that guy — a true island corner — is of immense value.
Adding somebody such as James Pierre means inserting a hurdle into the competition. The plan involves the young fella developing slowly while the elder statesman gets the job done in the immediate. Pierre is basically a roadblock in front of the rookie’s playing time. Does Demmings slow down at all as he speeds toward Week 1? Or, perhaps, does Demmings keep gathering speed as he bursts through the corners ahead of him?
Demmings, 23, gets back to work later today at Vikings training camp.
Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.
Vikings Rookie Charles Demmings Keeps Hype Going
