Packers-Vikings Q&A: Explaining Xavier Rhodes’ decline

On Monday, the Green Bay Packers see the division-rival Minnesota Vikings for the second time in 2019. Ted Glover of Daily Norseman kindly volunteered to answer our questions about the Vikings and provide some insight into their strengths and weaknesses.

APC: Xavier Rhodes earned first-team All-Pro honors two years ago. His performance has fallen off in the time since, and last Sunday he played only 14 snaps against the Chargers. What is wrong with Rhodes, and do the Vikings have any way of masking his drop-off?

‘What’s wrong with Rhodes’ has been the big question surrounding the Vikings defense for most of the last two seasons. Maybe it’s a combination of nagging injuries that seem to pile up every week, maybe it’s age, maybe it’s both. What the Vikings have started doing to limit his exposure the last couple games is rotating CB’s in and out, going with a combination of Rhodes, Trae Waynes, Mike Hughes, and Holton Hill, with Mackensie Alexander staying primarily in the nickel role. Hill’s played the fewest snaps as he sat through an eight game suspension to start the year, but to be honest, none of the four have played anywhere near where they have in the past. To be frank, the secondary has been the Achilles Heel of the defense, and although their play has been a bit better recently, it’s still sub-par.

We’d like to thank Ted. Be sure to check out the rest of our Q&A session with Daily Norseman over the course of the week as well as our Q&A session over there. As always, keep your internet machines tuned to Acme Packing Company this Monday for our comprehensive game-day coverage of Packers versus Vikings.