https://www.vikings.com/news/charles-demmings-focus-faith-freestyle-rap-training-camp-2026

Charles Demmings' Keen Focus, Faith & Freestyle Rap Making Impression at Vikings Camp

EAGAN, Minn. — Chuck Demmings is putting on a masterclass in mindset.

The Stephen F. Austin product also is impressing with his physical tools, making plays on the ball during Vikings Training Camp at a clip that seems ahead of schedule for a fifth-round rookie from the FCS ranks.

At least once every practice so far, No. 20 (Demmings) has been around the ball – and it's not by mistake.

"I really think about it as a snowball effect, you know, 'How much better can I get?' " he told media members after Saturday's first practice with fans. "What I do right now or the rep that just passed is not enough. Execution, it has to be at an all-time high. The mental, it has to be at an all-time high – and not even [just] that, fellowship when I'm on the sideline, making sure I'm being a great teammate, not just a great player. And so trying to do that and being really intentional about that, that has helped not only me as a person but my style of play when I'm on the field, just to go out there and execute at an elite level."

Minnesota's cornerbacks room added an absurdly good athletic profile in Demmings. The 163rd overall pick is 6-foot-1, weighs 193 pounds, vertical jumps 42 inches and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds.

His separating trait, however, is his attitude. It was apparent once he was drafted and inspired with words like, "My passion and my 'why' is to hear God and express His heartbeat" and "I feel like I could run to Minnesota right now," on a video call with local reporters. Demmings has amplified his zest since.

"He's always leading us [in] a prayer every single day," veteran CB Byron Murphy, Jr., commented Monday, when he also hyped Demmings' ability to freestyle rap. "He's just one of the guys that comes in and asks questions and all those types of things. But it's been a good, fun time having him in the room."

"He's also a rapper, so it's good to hear his songs, too," said Murphy, adding the energy among the corners never stops. "He's probably one of the best rappers I've heard in a long time — as a football player, not a regular artist, but he's been freestyling in the locker room I'm like, 'Chuck, that's you?' "

Markedly, Demmings' body is in phase with his mind.

Offering a look between his ears, Demmings shared he's incentivized to "treat every moment like it's a game day, like I'm preparing for a game. Like me coming out here right now (Saturday), I treated it like it was the Super Bowl because I don't want to get into the Super Bowl or get into preseason versus the Giants or Week 1 versus the Packers for it to be that. When I'm out here [I tell myself], OK, we're playing the Giants this rep. OK, we're playing the Packers this rep. OK, now we're in the Super Bowl this rep. How am I gonna come back? How am I gonna gauge this bad rep and turn it into a great play this next rep?

"That's the thing about [Defensive Coordinator] Brian Flores," Demmings continued. "He only has one standard, and he doesn't shy away from it. He holds everyone to the same standard, and so that not only pushes the team but pushes us individually to hold each other up to that same standard."

Of the strides he's taken as a pro, Demmings returned to an unrelenting effort to improve.

"If this is my best, my best is not enough. And so, thinking back to the draft and being where I am now, you have to get better," Demmings said. "Every day is an opportunity to come out here and not only just [perform] my best, but make somebody else better because whether I'm going against Justin Jefferson or Jauan Jennings, he's expecting me to go 100% so he can get the best work possible; so he can get the best rep and get the best improvement out of this possible. So, it's not just me out there, you know, [my teammates are] counting on me to play my best, too, and so that's one thing I learned being in the NFL."

All the lessons Demmings is storing by guarding Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Jennings, among others, are conceivable, but there's nothing overwhelming about his practice assignments — at least, not in his eyes. Everyone he deals with, regardless of status, is nameless and faceless. Just someone to try to stop.

"It's never about the guy across from me. It's all about me," Demmings stated. "Knowing myself is better than knowing my opponent — you know, how I can't let him speed up my tempo. I can't [think] Oh, that's Justin Jefferson out there. No, that's a receiver out there. It's all about me at the end of the day. And being a cornerback, that's how you've got to think out there, man, because it's one of the hardest positions in the game. So, you can't let who you're going against affect how you play because then that's me not trusting my technique. That's me not executing at the level I know I can.

"First things first, having confidence in myself," Demmings emphasized and embodied. "I mean, that's what helped me go out there and just perform the way I do. It's never about them – always about me."

And, obviously, the 10 players on his side.

Demmings is keenly focused on being a dependable 1/11th of the defense when he's out there.

The crux of football — teamwork — aligns perfectly with Demmings and his servant's heart. Playing the game isn't that different than working his first job as a dishwasher or starting a lawnmowing business with his pops when he was 15, going on 16 years old, he said this spring. Those experiences and more, like his mom making Demmings and his siblings pay her 75 cents to dry their clothes when they were young — not for a lack of resources, but to teach them the value of the dollar and benefits of hard work — instilled selflessness, commitment and initiative. And, those lessons outside of the game carried over.

"He's a very confident individual, high energy, great teammate, hard worker," Flores said Monday of Chuck D. "In those individual drills, you'll see him working his footwork, hand placement. And then he tries to apply those in the group setting, in the team settings. So he's done a good job so far and just continued to improve on a daily basis. Obviously, we've got some really good receivers, so he gets a lot of good work against the guys we have on our roster. But he's off to a good start. And I actually just talked to that whole rookie DBs group, Tyreek [Chappell], Marcus Allen, D.A. (Da'Veawn Armstead).

"I mean, they're all doing a really good job," he noted about the rookie corners. "Had to shout them out a little bit today and just hopefully continue to grow, improve, and just take this thing one day at a time."