Louisville’s Tarik Black and Cameron Dantzler celebrates scoring a landing towards the Dallas Renegades at Lynn Household Stadium.
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Within the ultimate yr of Mike Zimmer’s Vikings tenure, your entire group was in a chaotic section with a head coach who was not speaking to the final supervisor and the notorious tradition of worry was taking up within the locker room.
One a part of the locker room was cornerback Cam Dantzler, who first starred underneath Zimmer after which noticed his profession hit some main roadblocks.
Quick ahead half a decade, and Zimmer has presumably retired, whereas Dantzler is combating to maintain his profession alive, enjoying for the Louisville Kings within the UFL, hoping for an additional shot within the NFL. Final weekend, Dantzler was bounced from a sport for punching an opponent.
He then — kind of — apologized on social media, posting: “I apologize for what I did but I don’t apologize for standing up for my brother. I could’ve been a professional and handled it a different way , so kings nation I am truly sorry !!”
You be the decide whether or not that really counts as an apology or not.
Oct 31, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Dallas Cowboys large receiver Noah Brown (85) and Minnesota Vikings cornerback Cameron Dantzler (27) and security Harrison Smith (22) through the sport at U.S. Financial institution Stadium. Necessary Credit score: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports activities.
Punches are outlawed in soccer and result in computerized ejections. One factor is evident: if an NFL government or scout research the spring league to discover a hidden gem (the Vikings discovered Jalen Redmond that means), and a participant is throwing punches, that’s doubtless not rising his probabilities to be added to the 90-man offseason roster.
UFL gamers are lengthy photographs to have endurance within the NFL; that’s why they landed within the UFL. And no crew desires a protracted shot on the roster that might doubtlessly flip right into a headache. It’s maybe an unfair reality, however a star participant may be allowed to cross some strains and produce crimson flags to the desk, however bottom-of-the-roster gamers have to thoroughly keep away from something of that kind.
Dantzler was a proficient participant popping out and confirmed huge promise in his debut season, however he couldn’t keep round for the whole lot of his rookie deal.
Determined for cornerback assist, then-GM Rick Spielman pulled the set off within the third spherical of the 2020 draft, including the lengthy DB to the younger cornerback room.
After his promising rookie season, people thought Dantzler may be a future standout defender for the membership. The Vikings then signed Patrick Peterson in free company and later added Bashaud Breeland. The query was whether or not the latter was simply depth or a possible menace for Dantzler? Shockingly, when Week 1 arrived, Dantzler was inactive and used social media to voice his displeasure, which, in fact, didn’t assist his case to get out of Zimmer’s doghouse.
Sep 19, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Minnesota Vikings cornerback Cameron Dantzler Sr. earlier than motion towards the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Monetary Subject. Necessary Credit score: Invoice Streicher-USA TODAY Sports activities.
Dantzler nonetheless performed 14 video games and began seven of them, however he was clearly not Zimmer’s best choice. He solely logged intensive snaps when Peterson was damage or after Breeland was minimize. Ed Donatell arrived in 2022, and followers hoped Dantzler would emerge. He didn’t, enjoying in ten video games and beginning 9, as a result of rookies Andrew Sales space Jr. and Akayleb Evans struggled to remain on the sector attributable to accidents. Later within the yr, he was inactive a number of instances.
His stint with the franchise ended when the Vikings finally moved on within the 2023 offseason. Since then, Dantzler has tried to discover a new dwelling, however most of his stops have been fairly short-lived. He did play a few video games with the Saints in 2023, logging a whopping 9 snaps on particular groups. He’s additionally been with the Commanders, Payments, Texans, and Dolphins within the NFL, in addition to the San Antonio Brahmas, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Memphis Showboats, and Louisville Kings (his present crew) in different leagues.
At 27, it might’t be dominated out that he’ll get a coaching camp invite from some NFL crew in a few months, however getting ejected didn’t assist his case.
Editor’s Observe: Data from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports activities Reference helped with this text.
Janik Eckardt is a German sports activities nerd, who likes numbers and stats. He selected the Vikings to be his … Extra about Janik Eckardt
