Cornerback XR virtually unavoidable for top receivers, no matter where they line

[purplefaithful]

When the Vikings faced Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson at Lambeau Field on Christmas Eve 2016, their plan for dealing with top receivers was still in the process of being fully formed.
Xavier Rhodes had shadowed alpha receivers such as Calvin Johnson, Odell Beckham, Alshon Jeffery and DeAndre Hopkins, but he hadn’t done it against Nelson. And even on the days when Rhodes would follow an elite wideout across the field, he’d stay at his normal spot when that receiver would line up in the slot.
With the metamorphosis of that plan not quite complete by last December, confusion reigned in the Vikings’ secondary early in the loss to the Packers. Coach Mike Zimmer said after the game that Rhodes was supposed to shadow Nelson all day, only to see the Vikings’ corners go against his plan and stay on their respective sides for the first series. And as startling as the development was, it didn’t have much to do with the final result anyway: Nelson burned the Vikings for 81 of his 145 yards on three catches from the slot, when he was facing Captain Munnerlyn.
This time around, there might not be anywhere near the ambiguity about where Rhodes will be. After shadowing one receiver all game five times last year, he’s already done it four times this season. And on several occasions, Rhodes has even started following his man into the slot...
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-corne...450797173/

[Guest]

Nelson will be far from the only receiver the Vikings have to worry about Sunday, when they face a Packers team with ascending wideouts Davante Adams and Geronimo Allison (not to mention veteran Randall Cobb and tight end Martellus Bennett). But if the Vikings decide to put Rhodes on Nelson this time, they can do so knowing there’s nowhere he can go that the Vikings’ top corner isn’t equipped to follow.
“That comes with the business. It comes with the territory, the type of corner I am,” Rhodes said. “I’m an aggressive-type guy. I like getting in receivers’ faces. At the end of the day, whatever coaches tell me to do, I’ll do it.”