Xavier Rhodes: Is he ready to take the next step?

Vikings fourth-year cornerback Xavier Rhodes is having his best spring according to head coach Mike Zimmer.

Two years ago Xavier Rhodes seemed on the verge of breaking through and becoming a top cornerback in the NFL, but last year Rhodes struggled with penalties and overall seemed to take a step back in his development.

Despite his down season, the Vikings elected to pick up Rhodes’ fifth-year option, believing the former first-round pick still has his best football ahead of him.

The Vikings’ show of faith must have made a big impression on Rhodes because he’s come out in OTAs and worked hard. And Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has noticed:

Mike Zimmer generally doesn’t say much about players this time of year beyond generic “he’s doing good” statements, so for him to offer a genuine superlative in characterizing Rhodes’ performance is a fairly big deal.

Zimmer also knows that Rhodes is a bit of a sensitive sort and probably needs a little encouragement from time-to-time.

It’s definitely encouraging on this end to hear that Rhodes is performing so well this spring, because the Vikings need Rhodes to take the next step.

Rhodes’ rocky 2015 season had some of us wondering if the Vikings would even want to bring him back beyond 2016. To Rhodes’ credit, he did improve his performance late last year, and of course was pivotal to the Vikings’ huge division-title-clinching win against Green Bay the last week of the regular season.

Next: AD's struggles in shotgun

The hope coming into this spring was that Rhodes would build on his strong finish and continue developing into a top-notch corner. So far, apparently so good.

What is Rhodes’ ceiling as a player? He probably will never become a shut-down corner, but the Vikings don’t necessarily need that. If Rhodes can clean up his issues with grabbiness and grow to become a reliable, consistent corner, that will be enough.