The Viking Age
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Xavier Rhodes practices wearing boxing gloves

By Adam Carlson

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Last week, Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes was fined for a horse collar tackle that ended up costing him over $17,000.  He is also tied for the most penalties for a single player on the team’s roster and has been called for defensive holding every game so far during the 2015 season.

Earlier this week, The Viking Age published an article that talked about his struggles with penalties and how the team will likely make eliminating them a part of the bye week practices.  Well, according to the Star Tribune, Rhodes got a gift from teammate Captain Munnerlyn that could help him with the defensive holding penalties he has been accumulating.

Eric Oslund from VikingUpdate.com snapped this photo of Rhodes wearing the gift and shared it on his twitter account:

While the idea seems odd, Xavier Rhodes took to the idea and strapped those boxing gloves on for practice.  He seems to be willing to do whatever it takes to figure out how to get his penalty numbers down, even looking a little foolish on the practice field.

"“With boxing gloves you can’t grab anyone, so that’s going to help tremendously,” Rhodes said. “You don’t box in football, so it’s pretty different [wearing them]. … At the end of the day, you’re just going to see if it’s going to help.”"

Hopefully, this technique will help the young cornerback stop his tendencies of being ‘grabby’ without losing the physical nature of his play.  You can see Xavier Rhodes and the rest of the Minnesota Vikings when they face off against the Kansas City Chiefs on October 18, 2015.  Check your local listings for time and availability.

Next: Minnesota Vikings 2015 Game By Game Previews

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