Cameron Dantzler

BIOGRAPHY

Cameron Dantzler was born September 3, 1998, in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL.

Dantzler redshirted his true freshman season at Mississippi State. He played in all 13 of the Bulldogs' games as a redshirt freshman, finishing the season with 25 tackles (two for loss) with four passes defended and an interception, which came in the 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl when he picked off Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson. Dantzler entered his redshirt sophomore season as a starter, finishing the season with 43 tackles (two for loss), a sack, two interceptions and a team-leading 11 passes defended and was named second-team All-SEC by the Associated Press. Additionally, Dantzler was one of only four cornerbacks in the conference not to surrender a touchdown pass and had a 41.1 passer rating allowed according to Pro Football Focus.

Dantzler entered his redshirt junior season on the watchlists for the Bednarik, Nagurski and Jim Thorpe Awards and was named a preseason All-American by Phil Steele. After a 2019 season where he had 2 interceptions and 10 passes defended, Dantzler decided to forgo his last year of eligibility and declared for the 2020 NFL Draft. The Minnesota Vikings selected Dantzler in the third round (89th overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft. He was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team on October 28, 2020, and activated three days later. Heading into his first training camp, Cameron Dantzler was projected to be a starting cornerback opposite Mike Hughes. He faced competition from fellow rookie Jeff Gladney for his starting job. At the end of training camp, head coach Mike Zimmer named Dantzler a starting cornerback opposite Hughes.