Apparently, Xavier Rhodes actually wasn’t that good in 2017
By Adam Patrick
In Pro Football Focus’ recent rankings of the top 101 NFL players from 2017, the the Minnesota Vikings’ All-Pro cornerback was not among the selections.
After an impressive 2016 season that resulted in him earning his first career invite to the Pro Bowl, Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes played even better in 2017. So much so that he was not only selected for the Associated Press’ All-Pro first team, but the second team as well.
During this past season, Rhodes shut down a number of the NFL’s top receivers including Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Mike Evans, Davante Adams, and A.J. Green.
Despite Rhodes’ All-Pro performance, Pro Football Focus is not among those who believe the Vikings’ corner was among the league’s top players in 2017. At least according to their recent list of the top 101 NFL players from last season.
The 11 cornerbacks selected for the list not named Xavier Rhodes included A.J. Bouye, Aqib Talib, Casey Hayward, Darius Slay, Jalen Ramsey, Kendall Fuller, Marshon Lattimore, Patrick Robinson, Stephon Gilmore, Tre’Davious White, and William Jackson III. All may be worthy of being a part of the list, but so is Rhodes.
As for why the Minnesota corner was not among their top 101 players, Pro Football Focus tried to offer a valid explanation.
"“Rhodes has earned himself a reputation for tracking the opposing teams No. 1 receiver, which he did 10 times this season, but at the same time he all too often didn’t shut them down. He finished only 37th out of 86 qualifying cornerbacks in yards per coverage snap allowed and allowed a passer rating of 77.4. Solid numbers, but not quite 101.” Minnesota Vikings The Viking Age 0d - 6 biggest draft steals in Minnesota Vikings history More headlines around FanSided: 1d - Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North 1d - Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take 1d - 6 Vikings who (maybe) won't make the 53-man roster in 2023 2d - Which teams could be drafting a quarterback next year? 2d - Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022 More News at The Viking Age"
Pro Football Focus says Rhodes did not shut down top receivers last season, but the statistics say otherwise.
The Vikings gave up the second-fewest yards per game (47.8) to opposing number one receivers in 2017 according to Football Outsiders. Rhodes had a lot to do with this number since he was tasked with covering the opposing offense’s top pass-catchers each and every week.
When being covered by the All-Pro corner, opposing receivers were also only able to find the end zone twice last season according to Zone Coverage’s BJ Reidell.
Pro Football Focus is a site that has some useful statistics that cannot be found anywhere else. But time and time again, they prove that their player evaluations and “grades” are far from being considered legitimate.
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Rhodes being left off the site’s top 101 list is just the latest example.