National analyst praises Minnesota Vikings position group many believe will be their biggest weakness with one popular name left out

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer praises Vikings cornerback group

Despite all of the questions that surround the cornerback room, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer spent the day at Vikings training camp practice and believes it could become a strength for the team.

"A hidden area that could become a strength for the team (in) Brian Flores is defense. They really like where they're at, at the corner spot. They bring back Byron Murphy on a three-year $54 million deal, and they add a couple of veterans. Isaiah Rogers, somebody that they view as a starting corner, and not everybody looked at it that way. A great story bouncing from the Colts (to) the Eagles, winning a Super Bowl last year, but he's somebody they're very, very high on. They expect him to be the starter opposite Murphy.

"And then they've got a reclamation project. They've done well with those here over the years, and Jeff Okudah coming aboard, they're trying to restore his confidence. But they see the same sort of size, speed, and length that made him a third overall pick five years ago. And if they can get those three guys playing at a high level, they feel going to be a lot faster at the corner position."

We've talked a lot about the Vikings being super high on Rodgers throughout the offseason, including Flores raving about him during mandatory minicamp.

"He's been on my radar since he was at UMass, a fast playmaker. I think he's one of these kind of late-round guys who found his way in the league in the kicking game. And got in some games and made some plays. I've always thought he was a good player and was ascending. And the opportunity presented itself that we could maybe acquire him. I was all in, and I'm happy we got him. He's been a great addition. He's got a great kind of football IQ and acumen. That's something that we stressed, really, throughout the group, at all levels, secondary, second level, and obviously D line. And I think it's just a great addition we talk about, you know, bringing guys in who as far as building a synergy within the group. How does this guy mesh with Murph (Byron Murphy Jr.) and Harry (Harrison Smith) and Telly (Josh Metellus), and he's just come in and done a great job from that standpoint."

If they end up getting exactly what they think they will from Rodgers, it will be a huge boost to the team. Outside of the obvious mention of Rodgers, there are two things that are intriguing about how Breer frames the discussion,with the first being overall speed.

Last season, the biggest issue the Vikings had at cornerback was a lack of speed. Stephon Gilmore and Shaquill Griffin both had really sharp minds, but could get taken advantage of when it came to man coverage down the field because they just weren't fast enough anymore. The entire idea with Rodgers and Okudah, along with their UDFA signing Zemaiah Vaughn, is to bring more straight-line speed to the conversation.

The other is that Breer didn't mention Mekhi Blackmon one time during his discussion. We've seen across the board that Okudah is getting the majority of the first-team reps at cornerback in nickel packages, but no mention of Blackmon is somewhat of a red flag.

There are still plenty of things to monitor over the course of the next few weeks, but cornerback is at the top of the list.