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- Mar 20, 2019
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The Vikings have plenty of very good cornerbacks. Xavier Rhodes no longer is one of them.
The player who not long ago had a reputation for constantly getting injured is now constantly getting burned and/or flagged in lieu of getting burned. On Monday night, he followed a foolish first-quarter unnecessary roughness penalty with a badly-blown coverage on the 60-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to David Moore that gave Seattle a 10-point third-quarter lead.
The broadcast covered for Rhodes, pointing out that he thought he had safety help. The broadcast ignored that Rhodes knew he didn’t have safety help because the safety who would have been behind him — Harrison Smith — was in front of Rhodes.
Rhodes threw his helmet on the sideline, because obviously it was the helmet’s fault, and an ESPN graphic showed that, to that point in the game, he’d been targeted four times and had given up four passes, for 99 yards and a touchdown.
Rhodes, who would partially redeem himself by forcing a DK Metcalf fumble, has played raggedly all year, a far cry from the player he once was and far more of a liability than an asset, especially at a cap number of $13.3 million. Undoubtedly, he’ll be a former Viking after the season, unless he takes a major reduction in his pay. Even then, the Vikings are better off grooming younger, cheaper talent that is ascending not descending.
After the game, Rhodes declined to talk to reporters, saying “I’m out the door.” He has no idea how accurate that observation will soon be.