Xavier Rhodes Declares Himself the NFL’s Best Corner

Xavier Rhodes After Pick Six

With the Vikings adding yet another top talent to the defensive backfield it’s looking like the 2018 team may have the most talent in that position grouping of any Vikings team ever. With that in mind and with mini-camp being over, Xavier Rhodes (who is the leader of the corners next to Terrance Newman), a consensus top three to five corner the past few seasons regardless who you asked, is ready to start promoting himself by letting people know what those who watch the Vikings every week already know, that he is the best corner in the NFL. While some don’t like this kind of speak from players (as it can come off as selfish) you need that sort of personality to be a successful corner in today’s NFL where you can’t really use any physical contact or anything that the Patriots used to use to beat Peyton Manning and the Colts a little after the turn of the centry.

Rhodes was being interviewed by Adam Schein of SiriusXM, who asked the Florida State alum who he felt was the best corner in the league. Rhodes responded:

“Man, we all know that answer. You want me to really answer that?”

Yes, please.

Schein pressed further and Rhodes continued “Of course, me… Rhodes closed, it’s taken off”

Rhodes closed? That’s genius! How didn’t I think of that for some shoddy off-brand T-shirt for our brand new shirt store! Man, I’m bad at selling our stuff. Anyway, back to Rhodes who is coming off of his best season as a pro. Rhodes was named as a first-team All-Pro after the 2017 season alongside teammate and fellow defensive backfield member Harrison Smith. With the Vikings adding even more talent at the corner position this off-season through the draft with first-round pick Mike Hughes and undrafted free agent Holton Hill, it’s looking like the Vikings defense will be even better than they were last season (up until the last six quarters of the season, at least). Because of the addition of Hughes and Hill some have said that this year will be a make or break season for Trae Waynes so it was interesting to hear who Rhodes believes is the second best corner in the league, something he was asked during the above-mentioned interview. Rhodes did the host one (or four) better and named who he believed were the second, third, fourth and fifth best corners in the league.

“I’m the top five. It’s Xavier, Xavier, Xavier, Xavier, Xavier”.

Beyond that, he did actually compliment Patrick Peterson from Arizona, someone who he’s always respected and who he’s let know his respect and admiration in person. In discussing how things have been going thus far in OTA’s and Mini-Camp he has said that things are going awesome and that:

“It’s just all the little details when you go into these things, learning about the techniques and the schemes, getting the calls, understanding the down and distance of certain plays in practice,” he said. “The little things.”

The goal on defense does seem to be to improve on last seasons amazing unit and by bringing in depth at the corner position and also by adding starters and depth on the defensive line, you’d have to think that they’re in prime position to do just that just as long as they don’t get too caught up on the idea that they were exposed during the NFC CHampionship game. If anything that was a case of a scheme just completely dominating another scheme and it very well could’ve been a situation where Zimmer and company simply overthought things and ended up implementing a system that was too complex on too short of notice (which would’ve explained how all those first and second team All-Pros were running around like they’d never played football before).

Either way, Rhodes will be a huge part of the 2018-19 defense and it’s good to hear that he’s reached peak levels of confidence in June. Hopefully, that’s something some of the younger corners can pick up on, Trae Waynes especially, as he’s had all the physical tools for years but tends to play a bit too timid. It’ll also be interesting to see how first-round pick Mike Hughes fits into this backfield as well. While he still hasn’t signed his rookie deal he did show up for Mini-Camp this week and from all reports basically lit the field on fire with his coverage abilities, culminating with a pix six that made him look like he was yet another veteran on the field (especially considering the fact that he missed three weeks of OTA’s). With him and Holton Hill, it does sound like this defense could be the best we’ve seen out of Zimmer and company thus far and that’s saying a lot.

So, stay tuned to VikingsTerritory.com and purplePTSD.com for any and everything Vikings related as we get closer to the upcoming season!

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