Vikings plan to ease in No. 1 draft pick Hughes...

Had Bill Parcells found himself in the same position Mike Zimmer was in on Thursday night — as the head coach of a team with a defense good enough to propel the club to the NFC Championship Game — there’s a good chance he would have done exactly what the Vikings did with the 30th overall pick.
Zimmer said Friday “a famous old coach called me this morning” — and when Zimmer talks that way, it’s usually safe to assume he’s talking about Parcells — to give a thumbs-up to the fact the Vikings added Central Florida’s Mike Hughes to a cornerback group already headlined by two first-rounders.
“ said that one of the reasons he likes me is because he understands that you can never have too many cornerbacks,” Zimmer said. “There’s a commercial on TV right now where the lady asks this guy how many guns he needs, and he says, ‘Just one more.’ That’s how we feel about corners — just one more. So as many times as we can find guys that can cover around here, the more we want.”
There will be no rush to work Hughes into a major role in 2018, not with Xavier Rhodes manning the right cornerback spot and Trae Waynes playing on the left side. Hughes could get an opportunity to compete with Mackensie Alexander for playing time at the nickel corner spot, though as Zimmer said Thursday night, the job’s complexities can make for a steep learning curve.
Hughes, who played quarterback in high school, has only been a cornerback for three years, and spent two of them in a Division I program. His first job, for now, likely will be to go through the cornerback indoctrination Zimmer gave to Rhodes, Waynes and Alexander in recent years.
“I think this staff will do a great job of polishing me as a corner,” Hughes said. “Also, the veterans that are currently here — I am looking forward to learning from those guys. So I think being here for a long period of time will definitely help out my game.”

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