A former Tennessee Vols standout lands with the Minnesota Vikings in a new mock draft from Pro Football Focus draft analyst Trevor Sikkema.
Sikkema has the Vikings selecting Tennessee cornerback Kamal Hadden with the No. 157 overall selection (round five) in the 2024 NFL Draft.
From PFF: The Vikings have already invested some in their defensive back room. Veteran Harrison Smith is back again for 2024, with the rising Camryn Bynum playing next to him. They also have Lewis Cine still waiting in the wings to take over a starting spot at some point. At outside cornerback, Byron Murphy Jr., Akayleb Evans, Mekhi Blackmon and Andrew Booth Jr. are all in place. However, if Minnesota has the chance to draft a cornerback with the potential to push for a starting spot someday, they could look to do so here.
Hadden's college football journey is a winding one. He was not much of a reliable cornerback before the 2023 season but, before suffering a shoulder injury, recorded a 90.4 coverage grade. He's 6-foot-1 and 197 pounds with an ideal size-speed combination for the NFL. His footwork fundamentals and tackling still need work, but we saw flashes of impactful coverage ability from him this past year.
Hadden had a breakout season in 2023 before an injury against Alabama prematurely ended his season. Before the injury, Hadden graded out as one of the top cornerbacks in the nation.
Hadden isn't getting a lot of draft love, likely due to the injury he suffered in 2023. But if he slips to the later rounds, he has the potential be one of the biggest steals of the draft. Hadden has NFL athleticism and he played well in the toughest conference in college football while dealing with plenty of outside noise (which shows he has confidence, a must for an NFL cornerback). He has all the traits that an NFL team could want in a cornerback.
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