Isaiah Rodgers is ready to 'change the narrative on my name'

The Vikings' new CB was given new life by the Eagles and now may be in line for an even bigger role

© Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

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By Matthew Coller

When Brian Flores has his eye on a player, everybody pays attention. The Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator has earned the status as having a unique gift for spotting talent, from his days as a scout with the “Patriot Way” New England teams to identifying the unique skills of players like Josh Metellus, Ivan Pace Jr. and Andrew Van Ginkel. You could argue that Flores’s player evaluation gifts are every bit as vital to rebuilding the Vikings defense into a top-five unit as his blitz-heavy scheme.

So when Flores told head coach Kevin O’Connell and the front office that he had his eye on a free agent cornerback who only played 329 snaps last year, they made sure to make him a top target. That corner was Isaiah Rodgers.

“Isaiah was a guy that Flo identified pretty early,” O’Connell said at the owner’s meetings in Florida. “Historically, when Flo has that tone in his voice about guys, he has been pretty darn accurate. That guy, whether playing for us or somebody else, has immediately shown up. No pressure on Isaiah but he definitely got that evaluation from Flo.”

Rodgers has an analytical history that matches up with Flores’s eye. In three seasons with at least 300 snaps, he has graded above average in coverage with 71.8, 81.5 and 74.0 PFF grades and the 27-year-old defensive back has only given up an 86.6 QB rating on throws into his coverage on 118 targets and committed just two penalties. Even more intriguing for the former sixth-round pick is that he graded in the top 20 by PFF in man coverage last year and was sixth best in the league in 2022.

Rodgers and Flores have something in common: They both went to college in the state of Massachusetts. When Rodgers said yes to joining the Vikings, he cited everything he had heard about Flores as part of the reason.

“Huge fan of Brian Flores,” Rodgers said in his introductory press conference. “Always looked up to him and noticed his work from afar when I was in the Massachusetts area, New England area, so I feel like it was a no-brainer.”

For Rodgers, the Vikings represent an opportunity to take another step in his career. The blazing fast corner, who ran a 4.28 40-yard dash in 2020, has never really gotten the opportunity to show that he can be a consistent starter. With the Colts, he was working in with veteran CBs like Kenny Moore and Xavier Rhodes in 2021 and Stephon Gilmore in 2022. He played 525 snaps in ‘21 and 434 in 2022.

Last year with the Eagles, they saw two draft picks in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean become instant standouts, so Rodgers was left to rotate or fill in. He ended up playing 329 regular season snaps and 92 more in the postseason. Against the Rams in the divisional round, Rodgers was on the field for 57 plays, gave up four catches on nine targets and had two passes defended.

There is also a “play style” element to the journeyman corner that Flores probably appreciates. He posted a 83.4 run defense grade by PFF in 2024, 12th best in the NFL.

With all the underlying statistics, physical traits and appreciation from a quality evaluator like Flores, how did Rodgers only get a two-year contract with $8 million guaranteed?

That would be, at least in part, because he missed the 2023 season due to a one year suspension from the NFL relating to gambling.

Rodgers’s story was particularly shocking to the NFL world at the time because the bets that were connected to him were made on the NFL. Other players who were suspended like Detroit’s Jameson Williams were betting on other sports or college football but did so within the bounds of team property.

So why wasn’t Rodgers suspended for life as we have seen players from the past — from Pete Rose to recently the NBA’s Jontay Porter?

Because the cornerback was placing bets for other people. In an interview with ESPN, he explained that because betting was illegal in Florida at the time and not Indiana, he was making wagers for his friends.

ESPN’s David Purdum reported Rodgers placed more than 100 bets, including on Colts games, mostly falling in the $25 to $50 range. There was a $1,000 prop bet on an over-under with his teammate Jonathan Taylor that Rodgers won. He claimed someone else used his account to make that bet.

"That report is true, with it being $1,000, but that report wasn't made from my device," Rodgers told ESPN. "The $25 to $50 bets are exactly true, but it was more crazy-leg parlays with just $25 trying to make a crazy amount. Just funny bets. Nothing too serious. It was never, 'This bet here is going to change my life.'"

Considering the seriousness of gambling violations, Rodgers is lucky to have a second chance and he knows it. During his time away from the game in 2023, he said that it hit him that the NFL moves on quickly.

“The first thing I realized is that the league doesn’t need anybody, the league was still going on without me, nobody really cares,” Rodgers said. “That whole moment was something that I needed. Me sitting out a year and coming back, knowing that nothing matters about what I’ve done in my past, it’s about how I respond. I’m trying to change the narrative on my name, change my future. Another team to build my story.”

Rodgers said he spent a lot of time in self reflection beyond just his costly mistake.

“I tried to understand who I was as a person,” he said. “I just focused more on being a great son, a great father, a great partner. That was my main thing. Getting back to the game, it was the missing piece to the puzzle that I needed. Finding myself as a person, I can enjoy football now.”

Rodgers continued…

“Being out a year and then coming back and playing ball again, learning how to be a good teammate on and off the field, no matter what your role is. Being prepared, being ready for when your moment comes and I think that showed me a lot last year.”

No matter how much he learned about himself or told everyone in the NFL that he was in shape to come back, Rodgers knew that someone was going to have to take a chance on him. The Eagles did that last year but he’s aware that any team picking him up this year and beyond will also be taking a chance because of the seriousness of his violation in the past.

“[The Eagles] had faith in me to come in and be in shape after being out a year and Minnesota also has the same faith in me as well and have a role for me,” Rodgers said. “Understanding that they are putting their trust in me…I don’t think there’s too much more I can tell coaches and staff. A lot of people say what they can do, it’s all about actions.”

We don’t yet know whether the Vikings will take a big swing in the draft at a cornerback but if they elect to go elsewhere with the 24th selection (or in a trade down), that will mean Rodgers will be thrust into the biggest role of his career just two years separated from missing an entire season. He feels there is a lot more room for him to grow.

“I’m still young, to me,” Rodgers said. “I’m only 27 years old and the reality based on playing is that I’m 25. I still have a lot more to build.”

Regardless of role, there will be pressure on Rodgers to perform just like there was last year with the Eagles. He’s joining a team that has won 34 games in the last three years but hasn’t gotten over the hump in the postseason. Rodgers is using the Vikings’ lack of playoff success as metaphorical.

“I never won one before until I did,” he said. “That’s my motto going into the year: It’s not about what happened in the past. Everybody has their own story.”

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