Minnesota Vikings: Making the case for trading Xavier Rhodes

The Minnesota Vikings are known for their incredible defense. After a disappointing 2018 season, should the Vikings look into trading cornerback Xavier Rhodes?

A lockdown cornerback — it’s what defensive coordinators and front office members seek when attempting to build a championship defense. For the Minnesota Vikings, Xavier Rhodes has played that role since being drafted 25th overall in the 2013 NFL Draft.

His ascension to notoriety came fast, albeit many still consider him underrated, as Rhodes has been the Vikings’ go-to cover guy for the past several seasons. At 6-1 and 220 pounds, the long, rangy Rhodes almost looks better suited to play safety than cornerback.

After finally making the Pro Bowl in 2016, followed by another Pro Bowl berth and first-team All-Pro nod in 2017, Rhodes had an extremely disappointing 2018 season, at least by his standards.

Rhodes, 28, is coming off easily his worst season since his rookie campaign in 2013. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Rhodes finished the year as the 105th-best corner in the NFL. As if his overall grade (58.2) wasn’t bad enough, his coverage grade (55.1) puts him at the 104th-best corner. Per PFF’s rating scale, Rhodes was decidedly average.

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It didn’t take a genius to see his poor play, though. Not only did Rhodes look sluggish in coverage, but it appeared almost as though he had gained weight since the previous season. He didn’t have the burst off the ball we were used to seeing.

In his defense, a hamstring injury may have hampered Rhodes more than we think, especially considering how serious the injury appeared when he initially suffered it in Week 12. But if you’re on the field, in between the white lines, you’re going to be judged accordingly. Rhodes finished the 2018 season with one interception, seven passes defensed and 47 tackles. Before this past year, he had never had less than 10 passes defensed in any single season.

As for this coming season, Rhodes has a cap hit of $13.3 million, per Spotrac. The Vikings currently only have a projected cap space of $731,725. The league average falls at $37.9 million. Those numbers alone help make the case for trading away Rhodes, who not only struggled in 2018 but also turns 29 years old before the start of training camp. A trade to a contender looks increasingly beneficial.

Then there’s the fact that the Vikings may have the deepest cornerback depth of any team in the NFL. Trae Waynes and Holton Hill showed outstanding ability in 2018, while Mackensie Alexander provided serviceable depth in the slot. The Vikings will also return rookie first-rounder Mike Hughes next season, who tore his ACL in Week 6.

In fact, one could make the argument that Waynes had the best season of any of the corners. Waynes was ranked the 47th overall cornerback in the NFL by PFF (subscription required), and enters the 2019 season in a contract year. Alexander finished the highest among any Vikings’ cornerbacks, ranked 16th overall.

The Vikings appear to be in good hands no matter who’s lining up against opposing receivers, so why not try to cash in on Rhodes’ value while they can?

Rhodes will soon be on the wrong side of 30, already looks to be declining, and has a decent contract that teams wouldn’t balk at. At an average annual salary of $14 million, contracts for corners will only continue to go up.

That all said, if the Vikings did decide to trade him, it would have to be for incredible value. A second-round pick would be the minimum, seeing that the Kansas City Chiefs garnered such value for Marcus Peters last offseason.

The Vikings might also look into acquiring an offensive lineman. Minnesota was ranked 29th in PFF’s final offensive line rankings for 2018 and will undoubtedly need to address the issue this offseason. Player-for-player trades don’t happen often, but a move for an established left or right guard, along with a mid-round pick, would likely be enough for the Vikings to trade away Rhodes.

All in all, Rhodes has served the Vikings incredibly well both as a player and a community leader in his six seasons with the team. It may not be the easiest choice to trade him, but it could be the wisest.

For more grades, advanced statistics and more at Pro Football Focus, subscribe to PFF’s EDGE or ELITE subscriptions at ProFootballFocus.com.