Minnesota Vikings cornerback challenges Jaguars linebacker to a race

Joint practices between the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars will be even more interesting due to a race between Xavier Rhodes and Telvin Smith.

The NFL is a fast league. Players must react quickly and the game itself is played at a frenzied pace. Two teams that know this well are the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars, who will practice together this August.

As the two top defenses from last season, the squads have many talented, young players who have helped to make their units the most feared and stingiest. And they also each boast a standout from Florida State University.

Minnesota has cornerback Xavier Rhodes representing the team from the Seminoles while linebacker Telvin Smith is the school’s alumni from Jacksonville, and were teammates at FSU from 2010 through 2012.

Their friendship and rivalry were on display in a video shared by the Minnesota Vikings on Twitter where Rhodes issued a challenge to Smith over FaceTime. Check out the video here:

On paper, this should be an amazing race. Telvin Smith was a top performer among linebackers at the combine in the 40-yard dash, clocking a time of 4.52 seconds according to NFL.com while Xavier Rhodes posted a time of 4.43 seconds.

With less than one-tenth of a second between the two times, it will be fun to see the results of this race. Considering the trash talking already happening between the friends and former teammates, the point practice could be even more interesting.

Odds are that Rhodes will emerge as the victor during this race, but it will still be a lot of fun to watch the former Florida State University alums test their speed against each other.

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Who do you think will win the footrace between Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes and Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith during joint practices in August? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.