Does Mike Hughes continue to impress?

It seems that every season the Vikings deal with the same questions about special teams — is this the year Marcus Sherels gets cut?

Sherels keeps having competition thrown his way as the primary returner and every time he ends up winning the battle. Not only that, he goes out and has a good season. Last year, he finished with the most punt return yards and seventh-best yards per punt average. He isn’t flashy, but he just gets the job done.

Sherels’ play last season earned him just a one-year deal with Minnesota. This season, however, he might have stiffer competition.

The Vikings drafted cornerback Mike Hughes out of Central Florida with their 30th overall pick. Hughes spent training camp impressing everyone. He’s impressed so much he is in two battles — slot corner and returner.

At Central Florida, Hughes was a good returner. Last season he returned two kickoff returns and a punt return for touchdowns. Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer has glowing praise for Hughes.

“The kickoffs, he’s very natural catching the ball… Punts, he’s come a long way since rookie minicamp. He’s never really been taught how to track a punt, how to catch a punt. We do a lot of film work, a lot of close-up film work that we go over with Mike… He’s done a really nice job [and] he’s come a long way. He’s a great athlete, a fast learner, the sky is the limit for Mike. I think he’s going to be a very good returner on both punts and kickoffs.”

It looks like Sherels might finally lose a battle. He won’t make it easy, though. He’s been through it before and came out on top.

Hughes’ also impressed at corner. He played on 16 snaps and his tight coverage allowed no receptions on just one target. Additionally, he had two tackles.

That impressed Zimmer, who said Hughes had a good first game and took a good step in the right direction.

Hughes may be a great pick for the Vikings at multiple positions. Let’s see if he continues to impress against the Jaguars.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elG9wPuvuII]

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