After a tumultuous 2019 where Holton Hill served two four-game suspensions, the Vikings cornerback has a chance to be a big contributor on a new-look Minnesota defense.
Hill was listed as a starter on the Vikings unofficial depth chart. With Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander all departing in free agency, Hill is all of a sudden one of the more experienced cornerbacks on the roster.
Pro Football Focus thinks Hill has a chance to be a breakout player on the Vikings. Here’s what the outlet said about Hill:
“Hill enters the 2020 season as a likely starter for the Vikings after Trae Waynes, Xavier Rhodes and Mackensie Alexander departed this offseason. He has only three starts in his NFL career, but he exceeded expectations by posting coverage grades above 80.0 in two of the three outings. In his two years on the field, Hill has produced a 73.0 coverage grade on just over 300 coverage snaps. He’s allowed under a yard per cover snap in that span, which is impressive for a former UDFA.
Some of his best work has come in tight coverage, where he brings physicality and allowed just two of 16 targets to be caught while forcing eight incompletions. Minnesota needs multiple of the young corners on its roster to step up in 2020, and Hill looks like he can fulfill that.”
If Hill steps up, Mike Hughes is decent in the slot and Cameron Dantzler is a quick study, I think the cornerback group might actually be better than in 2019. None of those are givens, though. We’ll get a good glimpse into the group come Sunday.