Vikings rookie is becoming undeniable, continues making strong case for Mr. Mankato award
It’s becoming a constant throughout the course of Minnesota Vikings training camp that Charles Dmemings is making a big play.
Training camp has been fascinating for the Minnesota Vikings through nine practices, and we are seeing some themes begin to develop.
The biggest conversation topic with the Vikings stems from the quarterback competition. Kyler Murray feels to be comfortably in the lead over J.J. McCarthy, but both have had good days during the course of the competition. Even so, the former is still viewed to be the frontrunner.
Charles Demmings is the star of training camp
If you look past the quarterback competition, the top performer will likely be unanimous: cornerback Charles Demmings. He’s been on fire since the fourth practice of training camp when he got his first reps with the first team in 7-on-7 drills. In those, he hung with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
On Saturday, Demmings didn’t just continue his solid play; he was borderline dominant with multiple pass breakups.
As a fifth-round pick, you don’t want to overreact to a single-day play. It’s important to keep looking at the entire body of work. That will give you a more accurate representation of who the player is.
After the first seven practices, including the first two in full pads, I wrote about Demmings and how he’s putting together an impressive training camp.
“I know it sounds irresponsible to say a fifth-round pick could be a star. I don’t care anymore because what we’re seeing is repeatable, and he’s repeating it. Demings has unbridled confidence, a good body type at over 6-foot-1 with 32” arms, and he’s staying in Jefferson’s hip pocket during camp. Jefferson hasn’t taken a step back or lost anything. Demings is just going toe to toe with him. He might just be a dude, and the Vikings may have found a massive steal in the fifth round. That is a non-zero possibility.”
No matter who is in front of Demmings, he is finding a way to shine, even calling the opponent nameless and faceless. As we continue to go into the depths of training camp, it’s still a week away from the preseason opener against the New York Giants. If he can continue repeating what we’ve seen in practice during live game action, the discussion may start turning to whether or not Demmings should start.
He’s also in line to win the Mr. Mankato award, which goes to the breakout performer for anyone who is a third-round pick or less and has less than 100 snaps on either offense or defense. As a fifth-round pick this past April, Demmings certainly fits the bill.
