Why the Slide?: Cameron Dantzler, CB, Mississippi State
By Charlie Campbell, @draftcampbell
Six years ago, we started a series of articles on why certain prospects went undrafted. In that series, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out why their organizations passed on drafting a given player, and/or, what were the reasons for other teams to pass on that prospect. We got a lot of positive reader feedback about the series, so we decided to expand in the genre to investigate why some prospects slid in the draft. Four years ago, we started the Why the Slide? series, and this year it is back. Feel free to email me requests for Why the Slide? and Why Undrafted? at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.
The 2020 NFL Draft was known to be a quality year for cornerback talent, and one of the players who scouts felt could be a good value pick was Mississippi State’s Cameron Dantzler. In speaking to some sources at the end of the year, they felt that Dantzler could be a late first-round or early second-round pick. Their reasoning was Dantzler having two good seasons of tape from taking on a tough schedule of future NFL receivers in the SEC West. Dantzler surprisingly ended up sliding well into the third round.
In speaking to team sources, there were two reasons for Dantzler’s slide: size and speed. Some teams really soured on him after he ran a 4.64-second 40 at the combine. Dantzler (6-2, 188) also is very lean, and his skinny frame had evaluators worried about him holding up in the NFL. Thus, Dantzler moved down draft boards after the combine, and he was hurt by the lack of April workouts available to run faster 40s before the draft.
The Minnesota Vikings ended Dantzler’s slide, which was a very good landing spot for him. The Vikings lost a trio of veteran cornerbacks this offseason and badly needed some youth at the position. TCU’s Jeff Gladney was taken in the first round the Vikings, but they need another corner to go with Gladney and Mike Hughes. Teams play their nickel defense in about 70 percent of their snaps, so a third corner is a starter. Gladney and Hughes have the ability to slide inside to the slot while Dantzler plays on the outside. On top of a depth chart set up for him to compete quickly, Dantzler landed with a good coaching staff and he could fill out his frame with some time in a pro strength and conditioning program. Dantzler has a lot of good tape from college, including when he took on elite receivers like Jerry Jeudy and Ja’Marr Chase. It would not shock me if he ends up being better than Gladney and is a steal for Minnesota from the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
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