The Minnesota Vikings and cornerback Xavier Rhodes have agreed to a six-year, $78 million extension, per Adam Schefter. The deal purportedly includes $41 million in guarantees, though it’s not clear yet how much of that is only guaranteed for injury and how much of that applies to other types of guarantees.
A deal that averages $13 million is quite good among NFL cornerbacks. Once you adjust for cap environment, Xavier Rhodes ends up as the ninth-highest paid cornerback in the NFL. Presumably, the deal includes escalators for Pro Bowl or All-Pro appearances which have not been triggered because escalators only apply for first-ballot Pro Bowlers, and Rhodes was a reserve last year.
Here are the top 25 contracts when adjusted for cap environment:
Xavier Rhodes certainly seems happy.
Rhodes led the NFL last year in passer rating allowed, only giving up a passer rating of 47.0 when targeted, per Pro Football Focus. Given that he was covering the teams’ top receivers—people like Odell Beckham, DeAndre Hopkins, Kelvin Benjamin and Jordy Nelson—and a good chunk of yards (and a touchdown) allowed came in garbage time against Houston, that’s incredibly impressive.
If he can keep up this form, with or without an impressive pick-six, he should hit his escalators and give the Vikings immense value.
