Fingers continue to be pointed in the Minnesota Vikings defensive backfield in regards to what exactly happened on Saturday.
The 2016 season for the Minnesota Vikings continues to get even stranger as each day passes by and what happened this past Saturday in Green Bay may have been the most puzzling of all.
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer mentioned in his postgame press conference that his defensive backfield decided in the first half to go against the original game plan that they had been instructed to follow during their matchup with the Packers. After speaking up about the incident in the locker room following the end of their game, Minnesota cornerback Xavier Rhodes was said to be the leader of this so called “mutiny” against the Packers.
But new reports suggest that a different, more surprising, member of the Vikings’ defensive backfield was the one leading the charge in Green Bay.
According to NFL Media’ Ian Rapoport, veteran cornerback Terence Newman instructed Rhodes (and possibly others) to go against Zimmer’s game plan and not have Xavier shadow Packers receiver Jordy Nelson for the entire game. For some reason, the 38-year-old Newman felt he was just as good of a corner to hang with the talents of Nelson and Rhodes should just stick to his side of the field.
Dug deeper on #Vikings CB situation: Xavier Rhodes told Mike Zimmer he felt compelled to listen to Terence Newman’s instructions sources say
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 26, 2016
In the 1Q, Rhodes informed Zimmer that Newman told him the vet could cover Jordy Nelson. Rhodes relented, then covered for Newman postgame
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 26, 2016
This report comes as a bit of shock given how Newman is essentially supposed to be Zimmer’s right-hand man. The cornerback and coach have worked together on three different teams and it seems a bit surprising that Newman would essentially go behind Zimmer’s back to switch up the game plan.
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Newman is scheduled to be a free-agent following the Vikings’ season finale against the Chicago Bears next weekend. One can assume that the 14-year NFL veteran will not be offered another contract in Minnesota after what went down in Green Bay.