Colts sign cornerback Xavier Rhodes from the Vikings

Xavier Rhodes (Google Images)

The Indianapolis Colts made an effort to improve their secondary on Thursday by signing cornerback Xavier Rhodes of Miami, Florida from the Minnesota Vikings. The terms of the contract are for one year and $5 million according to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.

Rhodes has spent the last seven seasons with the Vikings. In 2019 he played 15 games and had one forced fumble, 63 combined tackles, 54 solo tackles, nine assisted tackles and five tackles for a loss. In an interesting note, Rhodes was selected to the Pro Bowl this past season despite not having an interception. He did however set a career high in combined tackles.

Rhodes’s forced fumble, the third of his career, came in the Vikings’ 37-30 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on December 2. The game, which was played on a Monday night in prime time in Seattle, was one of the more entertaining games on the National Football League regular season schedule in 2019.

Rhodes has been selected to the Pro Bowl in three of the last four years. In 2016, he had five interceptions for 133 yards and one touchdown, along with one forced fumble, 52 tackles (44 solo tackles and eight assisted tackles) and two tackles for a loss. Rhodes’s touchdown was a 100 yard interception for a touchdown in a 30-24 Minnesota win over the Arizona Cardinals on November 20, 2016. In 2017, Rhodes went to the Pro Bowl with two interceptions for 23 yards, 56 combined tackles (44 solo tackles and 12 assisted tackles) and one tackle for a loss.

In 2019 the Colts gave up 248.9 passing yards against. That was the 10th most passing yards against in the NFL.