Vikings shouldn’t pick fifth-year option over Mike Hughes

As well as approaching the 2021 NFL Draft, we’re quickly getting to the point where the Minnesota Vikings (and 31 other teams that don’t matter as much) have to make a decision on whether or not to pick the fifth year option. on their first-round picks in the 2018 NFL Draft. Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press says the Vikings have already come to a conclusion.

Tomasson says the Vikings shouldn’t pick the fifth-year option with their 2018 first-round pick, cornerback Mike Hughes. The option would cost the Vikings around $ 9.7 million, but would only be fully guaranteed in the event that Hughes was injured to the point that he could not pass a physical exam at the start of the 2022 championship year. that this news comes out now, they have until the beginning of May to formalize their choice.

Injuries have been the biggest part of the problem for Hughes in his career. Things started out well for him with a pick of six in his first NFL game against the San Francisco 49ers at US Bank Stadium, but it hasn’t been so great since. He only played six games in his rookie season before tearing an ACL, and he only played four games last season. He managed to play 14 games in 2019 but missed the playoffs with a neck injury.

With the Vikings not supposed to pick Hughes’ fifth-year option, he enters the final year of his rookie contract and faces a year of “proof” in 2021. If Hughes plays up to his potential and can actually stay on the pitch, maybe he can land a decent second contract for himself, whether it’s with the Vikings or someone else. For now, however, you can’t blame the Vikings for making that choice if that’s, ultimately, the conclusion they came to.