Mike Wobschall (Vikings.com Blog) wrote an interesting blog breaking down the nickel back position.  Wobschall presumes the starting positions are locked in with cornerback’s Antoine Winfield and Cedric Griffin.  Now after that, he expects a “hotly-contested training camp battle” for the third cornerback position.

The “serious” contenders for the position look to be between conerback’s Marcus McCauley, Asher Allen, Benny Sapp, and Karl Paymah.  In the end, Wobschall ultimately expects Sapp and Allen to be in the mix when the regular season approaches.

Here is his breakdown of the four contenders:

McCauley: “He was a 3rd round pick in 2007 and had a nice rookie season, but then inconsistent play and injuries derailed him a bit last year.”

Allen: “Allen was a 3rd round draft pick this year and was a standout during his time at the University of Georgia. He doesn’t have prototypical Cover 2 CB size, but neither does Antoine Winfield.”

Sapp: “Sapp was an interception machine during training camp a year ago, and a similar performance this year in training camp may be enough to give him the nickel job full-time.”

Paymah: “Paymah was brought in from Denver as a free agent. He has good speed, lots of special teams experience and a big desire to transcend the role of a special teams player and become a regular contributor on defense.”

The long shots appear to be cornerbacks Charles Gordon (who is coming off a serious injury) and Marcus Walker (who is young and must compete hard to gain a roster spot).  Gordon showed much promise before his injury, and if he can bounce back, he could also join the list of “serious” contenders.

Tags: Asher Allen, Benny Sapp, Charles Gordon, Karl Paymah, Marcus McCauley, Marcus Walker