Isaiah Rodgers Sr. (born January 7, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

and kick returner for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at UMass.

College career

Rodgers was named to

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

' First-team All-American Team as a senior cornerback that could be moved to deep safety in special packages. In that season Rodgers returned 53 kickoffs for 1,295 yards. On defense, he made 42 total tackles, four interceptions including one returned for a touchdown, ten passes defended and one forced fumble and fumble recovery. During his college career, Rodgers compiled 125 total tackles (9.5 for a loss) with 11 interceptions including three returned for a touchdown, and four fumble recoveries and forced fumbles. On special teams, he posted 99 total kickoff returns for 2,338 yards (23.6 average), in addition to 21 punt returns for 156 yards (7.4 average) and one touchdown. Rodgers held his own

Pro Day The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

after his senior season showcasing his defensive diversity at safety and defensive back; he ran a 4.28–second

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

Professional career

Indianapolis Colts

Rodgers Sr. was selected by the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

of the

(NFL) with the 211th pick in the sixth round of the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

in a pick acquired in a trade with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

in exchange for Quincy Wilson. Rodgers scored his first career touchdown on a 101-yard kick return in a Week 5 loss to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

. On December 28, 2022, the Colts placed Rodgers on season–ending

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

with a knee injury he suffered in Week 16 against the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

. He finished the year with 34 tackles, three pass breakups, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. In June 2023, Rodgers was probed by the NFL for violations of the league's

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

policy. He was accused of opening a

sportsbook In the United States, a sportsbook or a race and sports book (sometimes abbreviated as book) is a place where a gambler can wager on various sports competitions, including golf, football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, horse racing, ...

account under the name of a personal associate and making roughly one hundred bets, including bets on his own team. On June 28, 2023,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

reported that Rodgers, among several other NFL players, would be suspended for the entirety of the 2023 NFL season for violating the league's policy on gambling. Shortly after the suspension was announced, Rodgers was waived by the Colts along with teammate

Rashod Berry Rashod Berry (born October 14, 1996) is an American football outside linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Ohio State. Early years Born in 1996, Berry played basketball and ...

Philadelphia Eagles

On August 28, 2023, Rodgers was signed by the

, but sat out the entire season due to his suspension. On April 23, 2024, Rodgers was reinstated by the NFL.

References

External links

Philadelphia Eagles bioUMass Minutemen bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodgers, Isaiah Living people American football cornerbacks Indianapolis Colts players Philadelphia Eagles players UMass Minutemen football players Players of American football from Tampa, Florida 1998 births