After a rocky two seasons to start his career, Vikings cornerback Mackensie Alexander came to play in his third season with the team. He finished with career highs of 43 tackles and four sacks with 10 passes defended while starting six of 15 games.
Per Pro Football Focus, Alexander finished with a player grade of 78.2, a mark that ranked 17th among cornerbacks last season. It’s also an improvement of more than 20 points from the 2017 season.
His performance landed him on ESPN’s “Players Who Leveled Up” list.
Here’s what Courtney Cronin wrote about Alexander:
Alexander admittedly got out of his own way this season and stopped fighting the idea of playing in the slot after so many years of collegiate success as a physical outside cornerback. After dealing with injuries in the preseason, Alexander took hold of his role from Week 2 onward and showed strong signs of improvement, allowing 40 catches on 59 balls thrown in his direction (and 9.6 yards per catch).
Alexander hopes he can repeat that performance in 2019, which will be a contract year.
