Minnesota Vikings safety Xavier Woods is giving new meaning to the word ironman.
A stat pulled by CBS Sports’ Joel Corry lists Woods as the only defensive player to play in 100 percent of his team’s snaps in the 2021 regular season. If anything, it shows the overall toughness, fortune and reliability for a player to be on the field with such a flawless consistency.
It also shows the faith former coach Mike Zimmer had in Woods to be so heavily involved in his first year with the team. He signed a one-year deal with the Vikings after playing with the Dallas Cowboys for the previous four seasons.
The sixth-round draft pick out of Louisiana Tech finished the season with 108 tackles, one sack, two forced fumbles, three interceptions and 10 pass deflections.
Vikings Safety Xavier Woods was the only defensive player who didn't miss any snaps during the 2021 regular season. 17 offensive players (all offensive linemen) had 100% playtime. The 1st offensive snaps Tristan Wirfs missed were when he got hurt in the wild card playoff game.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) January 20, 2022
Woods is an unrestricted free agent heading into the offseason. Considering all of the struggles the team had in the secondary, there’s a good chance there will be some interest in having him back in 2022.
But after coming off a career-season, I wouldn’t expect the 26-year-old defensive back to make any hasty decisions, especially with other suitors likely to be vying for his services.
