3 players the Vikings wish they still had on their current roster

Xavier Rhodes – CB

Prior to the start of the 2020 season, most probably would not have thought that Minnesota would be missing Xavier Rhodes. But Rhodes has been performing extremely well for the Indianapolis Colts so far this year while the Vikings pass defense is one of the worst in the NFL.

Minnesota has given up the third-most passing yards in the league this season while allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 69.8 percent of their pass attempts and finish each contest with an average rating of 103.5.

Despite Rhodes’ struggles and some of the regression that the team’s pass defense experienced in 2019, the Vikings still allowed fewer pass yards, a lower completion percentage, and opposing passers only finished each week with an average rating of 86.1.

Minnesota thought they could make it by this year with a cornerback group that is full of rookies and inexperience. Unsurprisingly, this plan hasn’t gone well for the Vikings.

Over in Indianapolis, however, Rhodes is having quite the rebound campaign. He was just named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week after intercepting two passes in Week 3 and during his three games this year, quarterbacks have only been completing 44.4 percent of the passes thrown in his direction.

Rhodes is currently playing in a different defensive scheme than what Minnesota ran while he was on their roster. Still, the Vikings pass defense is struggling mightily this season and having a corner with tons of experience like Rhodes might have eliminated some of the problems the team is currently experiencing in their defensive backfield every week.