If the Minnesota Vikings are still interested in grabbing a cornerback with the No. 12 overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, they’ll be happy to know that Derek Stingley Jr., a two-time first-team All-SEC defensive back, has been cleared to work out at LSU’s Pro Day on Wednesday.
Stingley only played in three games in 2021 with the Tigers after a Lisfranc injury knocked him out of commission.
Instead of returning to school for his senior year, he declared for the 2022 NFL Draft in hopes of getting his professional career started sooner rather than later.
His talent is undeniable on the football field, especially if we’re talking about the 2019 version. He blanketed receivers as a freshman, finishing the season with 15 pass deflections and six interceptions. Opposing quarterbacks learned fast and in a hurry that throwing in his direction had dangerous consequences.
That was before good old Murphy’s Law reared its ugly head. “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
And it all went wrong for Stingley.
He missed three games during the shortened 2020 season at the height of the COVID pandemic. Then he missed 10 more games and suffered the Lisfranc injury as a junior. Granted, there were still flashes of the freshman that took the college football world by storm, but there was also a clear regression on his part.
Teams are going to want to see if there are any lingering effects from his injury. Is regression the main storyline here, or was the slippage solely a matter of him not being on the field consistently enough.
If a team like the Vikings feel strongly about the latter, he’d make a solid addition to their defensive backfield.
They brought back Patrick Peterson and signed Chandon Sullivan away from the Green Bay Packers. Cameron Dantzler should also be in the mix next season.
The desperation to draft a corner isn’t nearly as strong as it was at the start of free agency, but if that urge still exists, Stingley is still a name to keep an eye on.
