Minnesota Vikings rookie Andrew Booth Jr. has left quite the impression after the first week of training camp. Booth was selected in the second-round (42nd pick) in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Vikings made a few trades to acquire this pick before drafting him. They first traded the 34th pick to Green Bay for the 53rd and 59th picks. Minnesota then traded the 53rd, 77th, and 192nd picks to the Colts for the 42nd and 122nd picks. With the Minnesota Vikings starting their second week of training camp, let’s see what the rookie has done to leave this impression on the team.
College Career
Booth played for three years at Clemson. He didn’t see much playing time during the 2019 season, only playing in four games. During those four games Booth only had four total tackles and no other statistics. In the following years (2020 and 2021) Booth got the starting nod, playing in 21 games in those two years. In his last two seasons with the Tigers, he had 64 total tackles, six tackles for a loss, five interceptions, nine passes defended, one fumble recovery, and one touchdown. After the 2021 season, Booth was named to the First-Team All-ACC (AP, PFF, and Phil Steele) and was a finalist for the Blanchard-Rogers Trophy.
Injury History
Booth has a bit of injury history dating back to when he was playing in high school. He had Osgood Schlatter’s Disease that later became tendinitis. While called a disease, it is only a temporary condition. It occurs in younger people, specifically during growth spurts. This is no longer an issue for Booth. During the 2020 season, he tore his right patellar tendon which required surgery to repair. In 2022, Booth suffered a Grade 2 quadriceps strain that caused him to miss the NFL combine. In March 2022, he had a core muscle repair (double hernia) making him miss the Clemson pro day.
As seen above there was no real concern that Booth would miss the start of the year, let alone training camp from his surgery. After being medically cleared, he reported to the start of training camp last week and has been looking great and turning heads at the Vikings camp.
Training Camp
Andrew Booth is in a position battle for the starting job at outside cornerback against Cameron Dantzler. Booth was happy to be at camp saying “It felt great. Just seeing full speed offense, different looks. I’m seeing the best in (Justin Jefferson) every day, so that’s going to get me ready for game one.” Speaking of Justin Jefferson, in camp, Andrew Booth Jr. picked off Cousins, undercutting the route of Jefferson to get the interception, as seen in the video clip below.
Andrew Booth has fit well into the Vikings new defense. His experience in Brent Venable’s scheme at Clemson helped make the transition from college to pro a little easier. “I came from Clemson, and coach Venables’ defense was very complex, and this defense is very complex as well” said Booth on the Vikings defensive scheme.
One area people have noticed is Booth’s confidence. He has received a lot of praise about his confidence (both in camp and before the draft). In a rep when covering Ihmir Smith-Marsette, he got in his face after the route yelling “You don’t want to get physical with me!”.
Booth has also left quite an impression on his teammates. The most standout of which came from the eight-time Pro Bowler Patrick Peterson saying “He looked pretty good. He moved around really well. It looks like he’s healthy, so we’ll see if he can continue to build on that. I like how instinctive he is. He’s very quick at the line of scrimmage. He’s going to be a problem here pretty soon.”
While Andrew Booth Jr. has yet to earn a starting spot, his performance last week was nothing but a good sign for the rookie. Everything we’ve seen so far should have Viking fans feeling good about the second-round draft pick out of Clemson. Will he start week one against Green Bay? Only time will tell.
