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- Mar 19, 2019
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» Rhodes is excited to face his former team on Sunday: Rhodes was the Vikings' first-round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, and he would end up playing the first seven years of his career in Minnesota, earning three Pro Bowl selections, as well as a First-Team All-Pro nod back in 2017.
But back in March, the Vikings unceremoniously cut the veteran cornerback, despite the fact he had signed a reported five-year extension worth $70 million with the team back in 2017.
With a couple of his former Vikings defensive coaches now on their staff in cornerbacks coach Jonathan Gannon and safeties coach Alan Williams, the Colts were more than happy to sign Rhodes to a reported one-year deal a couple weeks after his release from Minnesota, to give him a chance to get back to that Pro Bowl-level play.
Rhodes hasn't had to wait long to try to exact a little revenge on his former team, however, as the Vikings come to town this Sunday for Indy's 2020 home opener at Lucas Oil Stadium.
"It's all love," Rhodes said. "I was there for seven years. It was a brotherhood when I was there, and it's still a brotherhood to this day. So it's going to be good going against those guys. When I was practicing against those guys when I was there, we were competing each and every play so it's going to be the same right there on the field. But I'm going to be able to tackle them this time."
» Rhodes has learned from a couple mistakes against the Jaguars: Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus told the media today that Rhodes had a nice start to his first game with the Colts last Sunday against the Jaguars, but he was sure there were a couple key plays he wished he could have back.
In the third quarter, Minshew II launched a pass deep down the left sideline to his Pro Bowl receiver, DJ Chark Jr., who was locked into one-on-one coverage with Rhodes, who admittedly got a little grabby to try to force the incompletion. Rhodes was called for pass interference, which moved the Jacksonville offense up 30 yards to the Indianapolis 34-yard line, and the Jaguars would tie the game at 17 a few plays later with a Josh Lambo 50-yard field goal.
"They had a good play," Rhodes said. "The PI (pass interference) was more I was thinking back shoulder. I didn't see it so I looked the other way. It was a 50-50 call with those calls. The ref is going to call that on the defensive player almost always."
Then, in the fourth quarter and the Colts back on top, 20-17, the Jaguars faced 1st and 10 from the Indianapolis 22. Minshew II found a wide-open Keelan Cole down the right side of the field for a 22-yard touchdown; it was Rhodes that was supposed to be providing the man-to-man coverage on this particular play.
"(It) was just a good scheme, good play by them – by the Jaguars," Rhodes said. "They just capitalized on a mistake that was made."