Kindle Vildor made his Detroit Lions debut in Week 14. The cornerback, freshly signed off the practice squad, saw some action at outside cornerback against one of his old teams, the Chicago Bears.
Both his head coach and coordinator indicated they want to see more of the 26-year-old after his solid outing. He outplayed starter Jerry Jacobs, who has been struggling with his coverage assignments of late.
Head coach Dan Campbell isn’t ready to bench Jacobs in favor of Vildor, but Campbell did say to expect to see both of them in the Week 15 game against the Denver Broncos and their talented receiving corps.
“I still see him and Jerry kind of working in there a little bit together,” Campbell said this week.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn mentioned Vildor’s experience and intelligence in also reinforcing that both players are set to get action going forward.
“Well, I would say this about him, he’s played a good amount of football. In Chicago, actually, he played, I think he started there a couple of years, so he’s a common presence,” Glenn said. “He’s very smart and he understands exactly what we’re doing. So, we want to continue to try to utilize that.”
Vildor spent his first three NFL seasons in Chicago, playing over 1,500 snaps primarily as an outside cornerback. He’s been a player who allows completions but tends to terminate them quickly and not get burned for big plays, qualities which were on display in Week 14.
In the next breath, Glenn took up for Jacobs
“Listen, Jerry’s not a guy that we’re throwing away and I don’t want anybody to think that. Listen, there’s still skins on the wall with that player also, alright? And he’s done some good things for us, but the thing is, man, we’ve got to do everything we can to play at a high level and we’re going to continue to find the guy that’s going to do that for us.”