Dwight McGlothern had made it through the final roster squeeze twice.
The undrafted cornerback arrived in Minnesota in 2024, made noise in training camp and preseason, then earned a spot on the 53-man roster. He did it again in 2025. For a player who entered the league without draft pedigree or guaranteed money, that was a meaningful accomplishment.
The third time ended differently.
The Vikings have waived McGlothern with an injury designation after he suffered an injury in the second preseason game against Baltimore. They used the corresponding roster spot to sign cornerback Tre Hawkins III, a former Giants draft pick with NFL experience.
It is not quite a clean ending to McGlothern’s Vikings tenure. If he clears waivers, he could revert to Minnesota’s injured reserve. But it is an unmistakable sign that his place in the cornerback room had slipped away.
The early promise never became a role
McGlothern was easy to root for.
He arrived as an undrafted free agent out of Arkansas with length, ball skills and a reputation for finding the football. His first preseason backed that up. McGlothern looked comfortable in coverage, made plays on the ball and seemed like another late-summer discovery for Brian Flores’ defense. The Vikings rewarded him with a roster spot.
By the start of the 2025 season, McGlothern had climbed to fourth on Minnesota’s cornerback depth chart behind Byron Murphy Jr., Isaiah Rodgers and Jeff Okudah. The Vikings carried only four corners on the initial 53, a sign that they viewed him as more than a practice-squad developmental player. One injury could have pushed him into meaningful defensive work.
That opportunity never really materialized and when it arrived, the club once again relied on practice-squad player Fabian Moreau instead.
McGlothern played 19 defensive snaps as a rookie. He appeared in eight games during his second season but logged just 31 defensive snaps and 16 on special teams. When the Vikings needed help at corner, they frequently looked elsewhere. It didn’t help that he failed to clinch a role on special teams.
In November, Minnesota waived him and brought him back to the practice squad after he cleared waivers. He returned to the active roster in December when injuries created openings, but his role remained limited.
His job never expanded.
This time, he was looking in from the outside
McGlothern was not an obvious camp cut when the summer began. He had made the club twice, had experience in Flores’ system and had shown enough in earlier preseasons to retain some goodwill.
But the competition changed around him.
Chuck Demmings emerged as one of the defining stories of Vikings camp. The second-year corner consistently looked like he belonged, then carried that form into the preseason. He made a persuasive case for the CB4 role.
McGlothern had the experience advantage. Demmings had the better summer and cost real draft capital in April.
Nothing McGlothern put on tape this August suggested he was ready to recover the momentum he built in 2024. He was not necessarily disastrous. He just did not separate himself in a room where Demmings had done exactly that.
That is how an NFL roster can move past a player in a hurry. The league does not wait for a former preseason standout to rediscover his best version. If another player provides more immediate confidence, the depth chart changes.
Special teams also remained a problem for McGlothern. Reserve corners need a game-day purpose when the starters are healthy, and the third phase is often what decides whether a depth player dresses. McGlothern never became a consistent special-teams contributor, making it harder to justify a roster spot without a clear defensive role.
Tre Hawkins gets the opportunity
Hawkins arrives with a different profile.
The Giants selected him in the sixth round of the 2023 draft, 209th overall, and he played in all 17 games as a rookie, recording 35 tackles. In 2024, he registered his only career interception.
After New York waived him before the 2025 season, Hawkins spent time on Washington’s practice squad. A hamstring injury ended that stint before he could establish himself with the Commanders.
He now gets a chance in Minnesota with only one preseason game remaining.
Hawkins has the athletic traits teams continue to gamble on at cornerback. He ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at Old Dominion’s Pro Day and produced two interceptions, six pass breakups and three fumble recoveries during his senior season.
That does not mean he arrives as McGlothern’s direct replacement or as a favorite to make the 53-man roster. At this stage of the calendar, Hawkins is likely competing for a practice-squad opportunity while providing another capable body for Friday’s preseason finale in Denver.
Still, the contrast is unavoidable.
McGlothern entered the league as an undrafted corner who earned two roster spots with promising August football. Hawkins enters as a former draft pick trying to reclaim his own path. One player’s opening has closed, at least for now. Another gets a final preseason window to make an impression.
The Vikings’ cornerback room has moved on. And for McGlothern, the third try was not the charm.
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