As some of you may know, I was able to make it down to Mankato and cover the training camp practices on August 2nd, 3rd and 4th. A top priority of mine coming in was to put rookie cornerback and first round pick Trae Waynes under a microscope and see how he is faring. Surprisingly, nearly all of Wayne's snaps in 11 on 11s came from the slot cornerback position with the 2nd team defense. While this will almost certainly not be his position in the long run, it does make sense that Zimmer has been playing him here as it gives him a better sense of what the defense is doing as a unit.

What doesn't make sense to me is the lack of snaps at outside cornerback in 11s. One of the widest criticisms on Waynes coming out of Michigan State (I crucified him pretty hard for this as well) was his lack of top end, or even good quickness. He posted a below average time in the 3 cone drill at the combine (7.06 seconds) and struggled often when asked to cover breaking routes in college. The slot cornerback position requires good to great quickness in order to excel, so we can see how things may get a bit problematic. That's not to say that quickness isn't needed on the outside as well- it is. It just isn't quite as big of a staple as it is inside, although a lack of quickness can seriously hinder an outside cornerback's upside.

Now, on the contrary to my criticism that Waynes is playing too much in the slot, this could be by design. Zimmer could be attempting to better Waynes' reaction time by forcing him to face quicker receivers in hopes that this can help him on the outside. What doesn't make sense with this theory though is... Why isn't he getting so few reps on the outside in 11 on 11 drills?

With that said, lets dive into how he looked during my time at camp.

Technique and Fundamentals:

Waynes appears to have improved his technique a good amount since the beginning of camp. His backpedal is smooth and he appeared a bit more fluid when opening his hips than he did in college, and he was also pressing very well. At times he got a bit too grabby downfield for what probably would have been holding calls, but for the most part he has cut back on the grabbing.

He showed better route recognition than he did in college as well, anticipating the receiver's next move very quickly- especially when he had his hands on the receiver. I did see him get beat a few times when playing off-coverage, but when he was able to get his hands on the receiver early on in the play there typically was no breathing room for the receiver throughout his route.

Another thing I noticed about Waynes is his ability to break up passes in that quick second of the ball being in the receiver's hands but not yet being a completion. Three times in the three days I was at camp I saw him knock the ball out during that determining second, two of which were on Patterson. It takes great hand-eye coordination to develop this and be consistent with it, so it will be interesting to watch and see if he can become a master at this.

As far as coverages go, Waynes seemed to be at home in man coverage. He doesn't fall for head fakes and stays disciplined throughout the route. When asked to play zone coverage, you begin to see the "rookie" in him. He thinks too much and doesn't appear to "See and react". He also seems a bit unsure of himself. An example of this was on a play where he was covering a middle zone along the right hash marks. Pruitt ran a post-corner route from the tight end spot while Thielen ran a shallow dig route from the slot. Waynes had back-side safety help who picked up Pruitt, but Waynes waited an extra second to see this happen before stemming down on Thielen who made the catch and picked up a few yards after the catch.

One on Ones:

Trae Waynes looked very good in one on ones throughout. Unlike in team drills, Waynes routinely lined up on the outside, often times with Cordarrelle Patterson, and very rarely allowed a catch. I counted four one on ones versus Patterson where Waynes prevented the catch on a go route, two of which appeared to be catches by Patterson only to be knocked out of his hands at the very end. Each of these routes started with Waynes in press-coverage. He pushed Patterson towards the sideline and ran with him. This seems to be what he is most comfortable with, as each press was successful and he opened his hips at the perfect time. On all of these plays he got his head around, located the ball, and made a play on it. We do need to take into consideration that we all knew Waynes could cover this route beforehand.

Perhaps the most interesting match up of camp came in a one on one between Mike Wallace and Trae Waynes. Naturally, Wallace ran a go route up the right sideline. While Waynes played the route well initially with a bump and run, Wallace was able to get a step on him after Waynes misjudged Wallace's speed and opened his hips a split-second too late. The ball was slightly overthrown and incomplete, but had it been just a single yard less under thrown Wallace would have made the catch for a touchdown.

7 on 7s:

7 on 7s saw Waynes both on the outside and in the slot, primarily covering Patterson on the outside. It was about a 60/40 split, with the majority of his snaps coming from the slot. One play in particular stood out to me. Patterson fought a press at the snap and gave Waynes, who didn't bite, an inside head fake, and then took an outside release on what would eventually be a comeback route. He mirrored the receiver perfectly on his break, which is the most encouraging part of this play to anyone who worries about his quickness becoming a liability. While the ball didn't go here on this play, the likely result would have been a pick.

Other 7 on 7 plays of note included pass breakups on go routes to Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen (Also taking place on the outside rather than the slot). Thielen was able to follow up the incompletion with a catch on a 5 yard dig route in Waynes' zone (Appeared to have a middle zone in a cover 2 coverage). Thielen also caught a shallow crossing route on Waynes in man coverage from the slot but was "hit" immediately on the play resulting in what only would only have been a three yard gain.

11 on 11s:

As mentioned earlier, Waynes played almost exclusively in the slot in 11 on 11 drills. He played with the second team defense and predictably didn't match his impact in one on ones and 7 on 7 drills. He played a lot more zone coverage in 11s than he did in 7s.

He most often lined up against Adam Thielen in the slot, and despite the fact that he isn't a slot cornerback, when he was asked to play man coverage the end result was almost always good coverage on the play. Adam Thielen, while not the quickest receiver which could have been why Waynes was able to blanket him, has been a camp standout and has made plenty of splash plays so this type of performance by Waynes shouldn't be overlooked.

A play that stood out in particular took place during Tuesday night's scrimmage. Adam Thielen lined up in the slot with Waynes in press coverage. Thielen took an outside release after fighting off a press and ran a post corner. Just before he broke on his route Waynes noticeably had his eyes glued on Thielen's hips and was able to read the route perfectly and break up the pass from Hill that should not have been thrown in the first place.

These are the type of things you want to see from a young cornerback, and although he may not see major playing time in year one and seems to be getting brought along slowly as evidenced by his limited playing time with the ones, he appears to be trending in the right direction. I expect to see him lining up on the outside more as the stretch run of camp begins.

I was also able to join in on a group interview of Terrence Williams where I heard a great quote on Waynes. He said "Trae kind of reminds me of Al Harris." Is it just the dreads? Maybe. Maybe it's also the physical pressing style of play they both share. Time will tell if Waynes will be the "New Age" Al Harris.

Thank you all for reading. Don't forget to follow me on twitter @JMcIntireNFL. I will be live tweeting on things I see during tonight's hall of fame game.