Vikings roster preview: A summer standout, is Dwight McGlothern Minnesota’s next great undrafted find?

As we head toward a new season, Inside the Vikings is looking at each member of the 53-man roster to recap their 2023-24 season and look ahead to the upcoming campaign. Today, we focus on cornerback Dwight McGlothern. Check out our past stories on each member of the offense , the punter competition , kicker Will Reichard , the interior defensive linemen , the edges , inside linebackers , safeties and cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore , Byron Murphy Jr. , Shaquill Griffin , Akayleb Evans and Fabian Moreau .

Last year, the Minnesota Vikings came out of the NFL Draft with six selections — two of whom have already shown a lot of promise — but also scooped up an undrafted linebacker by the name of Ivan Pace Jr. Pace, of course, quickly became a starter for the Vikings and put together a fantastic season that has already firmly established his place as part of Minnesota’s future.

This spring, the Vikings landed another player who wasn’t expected to go undrafted in cornerback Dwight McGlothern. After a great summer, McGlothern hasn’t only made his case for a roster spot but also created excitement that he could be the next great undrafted free agent find, like Pace was.

The man nicknamed “Nudie” has certainly left an impression on coaches.

“Dwight’s been, basically every other day or so, you feel like he’s making a play, significant play like that,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said after last weekend’s preseason game in Cleveland, where McGlothern returned an interception 91 yards, just shy of the end zone.

“Nudie’s done a real nice job. We liked a lot of things about him as well coming out,” defensive coordinator Brian Flores said earlier this month. “Ball skills would be the first thing that comes to mind. He’s a guy who’s just got a knack and a feel for being around the ball when it’s in the air. Obviously, he’s got the height and length and speed but the instincts are the thing that jumped out to me and the staff.”

The Vikings had a little inside information on the 6-foot-1 corner, who sports a nearly 75-inch wingspan, because defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator Daronte Jones was on the LSU staff when McGlothern played there in 2021 before he transferred to Arkansas. Still, McGlothern was phenomenal in 2023 and wasn’t a secret.

Pro Football Focus graded him as the best overall cornerback in the FBS last season, giving him a 91.3 overall grade that was just ahead of Quinyon Mitchell, who was drafted 22nd overall by Philadelphia. Additionally, PFF gave McGlothern a 91.8 coverage grade (1st), 85.1 pass-rush grade (13th), 65.4 run defense grade and 85.7 tackling grade (10th-best). Pretty crazy that he didn’t get drafted, right?

Here’s a closer look at his numbers and ranking among all other FBS corners who played at least 300 snaps last season:

• 1 missed tackle, equaling a 3.7% missed tackle rate (9th-lowest),
• 1 forced fumble (T-28th-most),
• 12 catches allowed (T-15th-fewest) on 25 targets (T-27th-fewest),
• 48% reception rate allowed (T-59th-lowest),
• 132 yards allowed (T-19th-lowest),
• 30 yards after catches (T-10th-lowest),
• 2 touchdowns allowed (outside top 200-most),
• 3 interceptions (T-26th-most),
• 4 pass breakups (T-156th-most),
• 51.2 passer rating allowed (34th-lowest).

Additionally, McGlothern seems like a perfect fit for Flores’ defense. Not only did he excel in zone coverage last season, earning the second-best zone grade from PFF, but he did so in man coverage, too, earning the 18th-best grade. That should be a huge selling point on a team that lacks really any other good man coverage corners, outside of the newly signed Stephon Gilmore.

It should be noted that injuries, including a concussion and turf toe, limited him to essentially 7.5 games in 2023, but that production is still pretty remarkable.

So, again, why did he go undrafted? That part is a little unclear.

Perhaps the smaller sample size due to his injuries last year made some scouts not believe in his production; maybe others had concerns with his technique or fit; and maybe his athletic testing scores turned teams off — his 5.98 relative athletic score, which was mostly tanked by poor vertical and broad jump measurements, certainly didn’t rank highly. That being said, that's a lot of production to not even take a late-round flier on, yet nobody did.

Fortunately, it appears to be the Vikings’ gain. He's still on the roster bubble but, like Pace, could McGlothern make an immediate impact if he makes the team?

The Vikings won’t need him to start, barring injury, as the top three corners are set. However, they all have some concerning injury history over the past few years, so the team’s depth is almost certain to be pressed into a bigger role at some point.

The fact that the Vikings desperately need more young and team-controlled talent at corner should further solidify McGlothern’s case for making the team, but his playing time in 2024 will likely come down to the health and play of the veterans in front of him and the coaches’ trust in him.

If he gets a chance, the 22-year-old seems like he could be ready to hit the ground running. However, even if he doesn’t have a huge role this season, McGlothern already seems like another great undrafted free agent find by the Vikings and one who could have a bright future in Minnesota.