Tag: Mekhi Blackmon

Stock up, Stock down for Vikings in win vs. Saints

The Vikings held off the Saints for a big NFC victory. Saivion Mixson looks at who’s stocks rose and whose stocks fell in the pivotal win.

The Minnesota Vikings held off the New Orleans Saints for a crucial 27-19 victory at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Vikings ended up holding off a fiery comeback attempt after starting quarterback Derek Carr went down and backup Jameis Winston lit a spark under the Saints offense.

While he also helped extinguish the flame with two late turnovers, the Vikings showed some issues that may have seen some stocks drop.

On the flip side of the coin, the explosive first half that allowed the Vikings to jump out to a 24-3 halftime lead helped some stocks rise.

In this exercise, we outline both sides of this proverbial coin, as we see whose stocks fell and whose stocks rose after this vital victory.

Snap count analysis from Vikings 24-10 win vs. Packers

The snap counts from Sunday’s game show how much Brian Flores trusts his starters

The Minnesota Vikings found a way to beat the Green Bay Packers on the road by a score of 24-10. It was a hard-fought victory that also brought some tragedy with the Vikings losing quarterback Kirk Cousins for the season with a torn Achilles tendon.

The game brought a lot of different elements. The Vikings defense was really impressive, forcing a three-and-out on the first four Packers possessions and stopped the Packers multiple times in Vikings territory from getting into the end zone. They had the Packers’ number throughout the game.

Offensively, they were firing on all cylinders before the Cousins injury, jumping out to a 24-3 lead. The snap counts tell the story of Sunday’s game and we break it down here.

Studs and duds from Vikings 24-10 win vs. Packers

The studs and duds from Sunday’s game were pretty obvious

The Minnesota Vikings find themselves 4-4 after a 24-10 win over the Green Bay Packers. They didn’t just beat them, but controlled the game.

The defense forced the Packers into a three-and-out on each of their first three drives and forced timely turnovers to seal their win.

Unfortunately, quarterback Kirk Cousins suffered a torn Achilles tendon and will miss the rest of the season with it. That raises a lot of questions about what they will do moving forward, especially for the rest of the season.

There is plenty of time to discuss the future but right now, it’s time to talk about the Vikings getting a big win at Lambeau Field. There were quite a few standout performances and we highlighted them in our latest studs and duds piece.

Vikings PFF grades on defense through 6 games

The Minnesota Vikings defense has some standouts and the Pro Football Focus grades showcase that

The Minnesota Vikings are a fascinating team.

Despite a 2-4 start, the Vikings have good underlying metrics and Pro Football Focus has the offensive line as one of the best units in the National Football League.

As we head into week seven, here are the PFF grades for each member of the Vikings defense.

Andrew Booth Jr. earned opportunity vs. Bears

Booth Jr.’s performance in practice earned him playing time against the Bears

Through five games, Minnesota Vikings cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. had only played in four snaps at cornerback. All of those came in week five after Akayleb Evans dinged up his knee.

Once week six came around, Evans was healthy but Booth played 26 snaps in the Vikings’ big dime package (three safeties, three corners) while rookie cornerback Mekhi Blackmon only played one snap.

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores spoke highly about Booth in his media availability on Wednesday.

“He has done a really good job at practice,” said Flores. “We’d kind of seen that over the course of let’s call it two to three weeks. And Mekhi had been playing well, too, but we just felt like hey let’s get Andrew an opportunity, and I thought he did a nice job with his snaps throughout the game. He had some good tackles, coverage was competitive.”

After a rough start to his career including a torn meniscus, Booth seems to be on the right track. He allowed just one catch for seven yards against the Bears and gained some valuable experience that is much needed.

Is this the precursor for his breakout? We will find out soon enough, but its a good sign nonetheless.

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11 days until Vikings season opener: Every player to wear No. 11

Currently worn by CB Mekhi Blackmon, 14 players have worn No. 11 for the Minnesota Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their 2023 regular season in 11 days at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 10.

From now until then, we will take a trip down memory lane and count each day by revisiting the players who have worn that specific jersey number.

Cornerback Mekhi Blackmon currently wears the No. 11 for the Vikings.

With 11 days until kickoff, here’s a look at every player to wear No. 11 in a regular season game with the Vikings (via Pro Football Reference):

Akayleb Evans removed from practice after big hit

Not great for Akayleb Evans who has a history of concussions

The Minnesota Vikings could be dealing with another head injury to cornerback Akayleb Evans, as head coach Kevin O’Connell removed him from practice after a friendly fire hit from safety Josh Metellus.

Here is the accidental hit where Evans almost had an interception.

This looks extra worrisome for Evans as it could easily be a concussion. Metellus hit him up high and Evans missed the majority of the season with three concussions.

This was a frustrating practice for the Vikings secondary, as fellow cornerback Mekhi Blackmon left practice with an arm/shoulder injury.

We certainly hope for the best with Evans and Blackmon. If they have to miss anytime, the Vikings might be calling Ronald Darby, who they recently hosted for a visit.

Mekhi Blackmon leaves joint practice with upper-body injury

Not a great sight to see for the Minnesota Vikings

During joint practice with the Tennessee Titans, cornerback Mekhi Blackmon sustained an injury according to multiple reports. The injury has been described as an arm or a sholder. He has left practice and is being evaluated by team trainers.

Blackmon was drafted in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings out of USC. Blackmon was to be utilized on the inside as a nickel cornerback.

One of the knocks on Blackmon coming out of college was the fact that he was undersized. At 5’11” and 178 pounds, Blackmon’s physical style of play could leave him more susceptible to injury. However, that same style of play made him a perfect fit in new defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ attacking style of defense.

Blackmon has had a good camp so far as he has been consistently playing with the backup unit as a nickel cornerback.

Blackmon led the Pac-12 in passes defended in his last season at USC. 

It is currently unclear how severe the injury is and we will keep you posted on the severity when details are released.

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Jake Bobo vs. Mekhi Blackmon matchup to watch for Seahawks vs. Vikings

t will be interesting to see if Bobo can shake loose and build on the good work he did in last Friday night’s mock game.

The Seattle Seahawks and the Minnesota Vikings are playing a late preseason game tonight on the west coast, with kickoff at 7:00 p.m. Seattle time and 10:00 p.m. eastern.

Even though we probably won’t see much of the starters for either team, there are still some interesting matchups to follow. The one we’re hoping to see most features two rookies from a storied rivalry from the soon-to-be defunct Pac-12 conference: former UCLA wide receiver Jake Bobo for Seattle vs. former USC cornerback Mekhi Blackmon for Minnesota.

Seahawks: Rookie WR Jake Bobo

Bobo (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) is one of several highly-regarded undrafted free agent wide receivers on Seattle’s roster right now. While he is hilariously unathletic compared to the likes of DK Metcalf and Dareke Young, Bobo nevertheless excels in the fine art of getting open and head coach Pete Carroll has been raving about him nearly every time he speaks with the media during training camp. In college Bobo put in four years at Duke and then transfered to UCLA for his last year. In 13 games with the Bruins he totaled 57 catches, 817 yards and seven touchdowns in 2022.

Vikings: Rookie CB Mekhi Blackmon

Blackmon (6-foot-0, 175 pounds) tested far better athletically than Bobo, but he went through a similar journey as an amateur. He spent the first four years of his college career at Colorado, then he transfered to USC for the 2022 season. In 14 games with the Trojans he posted three interceptions and 12 pass breakups. Blackmon eventually was picked by Minnesota in the third round of the draft at No. 102 overall.

What to watch for: On paper Blackmon has the advantage here in everything but size. However, there’s far more to the game than measurables and pro day scores. It will be interesting to see if Bobo can shake loose and build on the work he did in last Friday night’s mock game (seven catches, 76 yards, one touchdown).

More Seahawks Wire stories

Seahawks initial 53-man roster projection going into preseason

Seahawks updated 90-man roster going into Preseason Week 1

Vikings vs. Seahawks: 4 storylines to watch Thursday night

Going into Thursday’s preseason opener against the Seahawks, our staff identified four storylines you need to keep an eye on.

On Thursday night, the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks will kick off on Thursday night at 9 pm central and the 2023 season will officially kick off. Going into the game, there are a few storylines worth watching, including the development of the cornerback position.

The first depth chart of the year was released on Monday and it showed us a few things. As we look forward to Thursday night’s game, our staff identified one player to keep your eye on earlier on Wednesday.

In this piece, our staff identified a storyline to watch during