Demond Claiborne Has a Better Day on Saturday

Some concerns were raised about the play of Demond Claiborne in training camp recently.

After a few pretty bad drops in camp during recent practices, Judd Zulgad of Purple Daily shared that he didn’t even have Claiborne projected to make the roster after his performances to that point.

The hopes were that Demond Claiborne would provide the Vikings with a legitimate home-run threat out of the backfield every time he’s on the field. He showcased that speed at Wake Forest, as well as an ability to be conservative when the time was right and simply take the yards that were given to him. Added to his list of strengths was his impressive ability to break arm tackles for his frame, and he was a decent-enough receiver out of the backfield.

Of course, his main knock is his very slight frame. He stands at 5’8 and weighs 190lbs on a good day, which could definitely be seen as quite small for an NFL running back.

Obviously, the Vikings were willing to overlook these knocks and traded up to draft him in the sixth round. The good news is that after the drops, on Saturday, he had a better day.

Demond Claiborne Makes Some Plays During Saturday Practices

The good news was initially reported by Will Ragatz on X, where he shared that “Demond Claiborne just had a legit big training camp run. Jump cut to the left and an explosion through the hole.”

Warren Ludford of The Daily Norseman also shared some praise for Demond Claiborne:

“Demond Claiborne had an impressive jump cut after coming right up to the back of his offensive lineman, jumping over one gap and instantly accelerating through the hole for what I think may have been a genuine touchdown run if he was able to break a safety tackle.”

VikingzFanPage on X shared a clip of a big-time Demond Claiborne run:

This was exactly what the Vikings needed to see out of Demond Claiborne. Obviously, we can’t take a single day of camp as gospel, just as we can’t take the uncharacteristic drops as gospel. However, a little bit of hope now and then is nice.

Demond Claiborne Needs to Stack Days

No matter what happened in previous practices, whether good or bad, Demond Claiborne needs to stack days to claim a roster spot. He’s in the midst of an RB3 competition with Zavier Scott, who proved to be at least “playable” in limited reps.

The Vikings currently have a starting running back duo of Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. Barring injury, these two gentlemen will be getting the majority of snaps this upcoming season. If Demond Claiborne makes the roster, there’s a chance he could eat into some of them.

We have to remember, we’re talking about a sixth-round selection. He’s not going to be perfect right away, and some tender, love, and care will go a long way in developing him. However, the same argument about his draft pedigree could be used against him. He wasn’t picked until almost 200th overall, which means the Vikings wouldn’t lose much by offloading him.

Either way, I was a big fan of Claiborne during the draft process, and think his potential alone is worth a spot on the 53-man roster.