Newman: ‘Xavier Rhodes is the best cornerback in the league’

In part three of “Terence Newman Presents”, the veteran declared his Minnesota Vikings teammate as the best cornerback in the NFL.

No Minnesota Vikings player has arguably benefitted more from the hiring of Mike Zimmer than cornerback Xavier Rhodes.

Since Zimmer became the Vikings’ head coach in 2014, Rhodes has developed into one of the best corners in the entire NFL. He has gone from a guy who committed 25 penalties during his first two years under Zimmer to being named a First-Team All-Pro last season.

Rhodes’ teammates get to see him everyday in practice and they know just how good of a player he has become in the past few years. Fellow cornerback Terence Newman even believes Rhodes is the absolute best in the league at his position.

"“Xavier Rhodes is the best cornerback in the league.He wants to destroy any receiver he goes against that’s supposed to be a marquee guy and obviously, he’s had success against every last one of them that he’s played.Which makes him the best cornerback in the league.”"

Newman’s comments come from part three of Terence Newman Presents, a recent mini docu-series from the Vikings Entertainment Network. The series is a recap of Minnesota’s 2017 season through the eyes of Newman.

It’s hard to argue with Newman’s declaration. Over the past couple of years, Rhodes has shut down some of the NFL’s top receivers including Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr., Mike Evans, A.J. Green, and DeAndre Hopkins.

With the help of their All-Pro corner, the Vikings finished 2017 with the league’s second-best defense against the pass.

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Rhodes is still only 27-years-old and probably has not even reached his peak yet as a player. It’s quite possible that the Minnesota corner could get even better over the next few seasons and that should certainly scare the rest of the NFL.