Minnesota Vikings: 3 Players to consider not committing to long term
3. Xavier Rhodes
Cornerback Xavier Rhodes concluded his seventh season in the NFL and with Minnesota in 2019, although his performance throughout the year raised some eyebrows in a negative way.
Although Rhodes ended up surprisingly earning his third Pro Bowl selection this season, going along with selections to the game in both 2016 and 2017, his performance throughout the season was put into question nearly every week while the often-stellar cornerback was exposed often throughout the year.
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While appearing in 15 of the team’s 16 games this year, Rhodes managed to record a total of 63 tackles, 54 of those being solo tackles. For the first time since his rookie season in 2013, Rhodes failed to record an interception throughout the regular season or postseason.
At first glance, his statistics don’t look all that bad while he often matched up against an opposing team’s top wide receiving target. But oftentimes throughout a game and during the season, Rhodes looked a step slow and was often viewed as a player who has taken a step back.
That latter portion of that season-long evaluation of Rhodes alone brings into question whether or not the organization should stick with the cornerback and his large contract moving forward.
In 2017, Rhodes signed a six-year, $78 million deal with the Vikings. The 2019 season marked the third year of that contract, which is set to expire following the 2022 campaign. The average earning per year of his six-year salary is a little over $14 million a season.
There’s no question that Rhodes’ contract far exceeded his performance in 2019, and that could persuade Minnesota into trying to free up some salary cap space and part ways with the Pro Bowl cornerback heading into the 2020 season.