Vikings second-year cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. didn't see the field on defense in any of the team's first four games and played just four snaps in Week 5, so it was surprising to see him get 26 snaps against the Bears on Sunday.
Rookie Mekhi Blackmon, who has been ahead of Booth on the depth chart since training camp, wasn't injured. This was just a case of a player earning a role with his performance in practice, according to defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
"You know, he's done a really good job in practice," Flores said on Wednesday. "We'd kind of seen that over the course of two, three weeks. And Mekhi had been playing well, too. But we just felt like 'Hey, let's give Andrew an opportunity.' I thought he did a nice job with his snaps throughout the game. Made some good tackles, coverage was competitive. So he did some good things."
Booth was targeted twice in coverage against the Bears, breaking up a pass and allowing a seven-yard completion. He also had two tackles.
It'll be interesting to see if Booth continues to play ahead of Blackmon on Monday night against the 49ers. Behind top cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., starter Akayleb Evans is dealing with an oblique strain but expects to play against San Francisco.
It's just one game, but it would be big for the Vikings' much-maligned 2022 draft class if Booth — a second-round pick out of Clemson that year — can start to carve out a role for himself in Flores' defense moving forward.
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