Andrew Booth Jr.’s conference call with the media after getting selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round was pretty unique. Most players don’t say that they understand why they fell out of the first round and they sure as heck don’t offer up that they have had multiple surgeries and struggled with injuries for years.
“I haven’t played healthy since like high school,” Booth Jr. said.
But Booth Jr. was trying to say that the football wounds of the past have healed and he can finally be the best version of himself.
“I didn’t do the combine or the pro day so I kind of made it hard for everybody to love me, I know everybody really, really liked me, but I was hard to love, though,” Booth Jr. said. “It was tough, like, because I know I’m more healthy than the guy that was on tape that going into these meetings everybody is putting up. Ten times better than the cat on tape. It’s just like, it’s kind of like a bad feeling because I know what it is now. I know my health, I know where it’s going to be.”
Booth Jr. went into detail about two core muscle surgeries — one that didn’t do the trick — and a quad injury that kept him from participating in the Combine and the Clemson pro day.
When GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah asked the medical team if Booth Jr. was healthy enough to draft, he added, “You sure?”
The Vikings have been through this before. Former head coach Mike Zimmer said that teams can never have enough cornerbacks, in part because they often get injured. Two of their recent draft picks Mike Hughes and Cam Dantzler struggled with injuries. Hughes suffered an ACL tear and multiple neck injuries that led to his early exit from Minnesota and Dantzler was out three separate times during his rookie season.
The risk is real and that was reflected in Booth Jr.’s draft stock. A source told Purple Insider that another NFL team had Booth Jr. listed as undraftable because of the injury concerns. But CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso said Booth Jr.’s talent makes him a worthwhile risk.
“He was my No. 11 overall player with the huge caveat that I don’t factor in injuries,” CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso said on the Purple Insider podcast. “This past season and earlier in his Clemson career, I thought Andrew Booth screamed first-round corner. To have the lightness in his feet, the explosiveness in his feet of a nickel corner with legitimate outside corner size and structure to his frame…that’s what’s so tantalizing about him as a prospect.”
By the numbers, Booth Jr. was one of the most effective corners in the country. Over the last three seasons, he was targeted 79 times and gave up 45 completions for just 6.3 yards per attempt, four touchdowns and five interceptions (per PFF). That equates to a 65.1 quarterback rating. Not to mention that college teams usually shy away from top corners and 79 targets in 979 college snaps isn’t all that many.
“The ball skills, there were a couple ridiculous interceptions where he finds the football, which I think is a key component to playing the cornerback position,” Trapasso said. “Andrew Booth has that in spades and the body control to contort and find the football above his head. He’s a truly special athlete that has refined quarterback skills.”
How good of an athlete? Well, that’s hard to say. With prospects who went to the Combine or participated in pro days, numerical comparisons can be made to check off the athleticism box and ensure that a player meets certain thresholds. In this case, the team has to use other methods of determining top speed and rely on the tape. At a position that takes a competitive nature, they also have to lean on Booth’s will to win against top receivers.
“His passion shows on the field,” senior football advisor Ryan Grigson said. “I feel like he really cares. And that really comes through when you watch his play. And when the ball’s in the air, he’s going to attack. Another really encouraging thing is if he does make a mistake, you can kind of pick up points in the film where he makes up for it. So he’s a really intense competitor and like the word dawg is thrown around a lot but you see a lot of that on film.”
Still, everything comes back to health. Even when Booth Jr. was asked to assess his own play, he talked about feeling like he could have been better in college if he was able to move the way he wanted.
“When you’re out there just like you try to trust your skills and your athleticism a lot, so when you’re injured you can’t really do that physically out there,” Booth Jr. said. “But like I said in a couple more weeks, at minicamp, I’ll be ready to go. And I feel great, my identity… lockdown just ferocious, very physical.”
If Booth Jr. is ready to roll, he projects to provide the Vikings with depth from the outset. Save for another move in free agency, they’ll enter 2022 with Patrick Peterson, Cam Dantzler and Chandon Sullivan as the projected starters. Behind them there’s limited experience. Journeyman Nate Hairston, who was added to the mix earlier in the offseason, is the only corner who has played 500-plus snaps in a season and that happened five years ago.
“Generally for the group, in this league, cornerback depth is important,” Adofo-Mensah said. “You need four good ones, at least. You need depth year-in and year-out. That position will get challenged. We’re excited to add to the competition we had in that room.”
They are hoping Booth Jr. can be more than just competition in the CB room, rather that he can emerge as the shutdown player they have been missing since Xavier Rhodes left for Indianapolis in 2020.
“To say the least I did play through injuries and that’s why I have a chip [on my shoulder] now,” Booth Jr. said. “Got a chip because I know who I am.”
