Jeff Rodgers (born December 1, 1978) 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 ...

coach who is the

assistant head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

and

special teams coordinator In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

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 previously served as a coach for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

, and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Early life

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rodgers moved to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, with his family when his father accepted a coaching position at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He attended Westlake High School in Austin, the same high school attended by NFL quarterbacks

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees is the NFL leader in ...

and

Nick Foles Nicholas Edward Foles (born January 20, 1989) is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Arizona and was selected in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft ...

, and was schoolmates with the former. Jeff's brother,

Jay A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family (biology), family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For examp ...

, is currently the outside linebackers coach with 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 ...

. Rodgers played linebacker at North Texas from 1996 to 1999. It was there that he earned a degree in business, specializing in entrepreneurship and strategic management.

Coaching career

University of Arizona

Rodgers started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

San Francisco 49ers

Rodgers was a special teams quality control coach from 2003–2004, before becoming assistant special teams coach in 2005, a position he held through the 2007 season.

Kansas State

In 2008, Rodgers was named the

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

Carolina Panthers

In 2009, Rodgers was hired by the

as a special teams assistant. He was promoted to

in 2010.

Denver Broncos

Rodgers was hired by the

as the special teams coordinator in 2011. During his tenure with Denver, the Broncos ranked 10th in the NFL in gross punting average (45.6 yards per punt), and 11th in net punting average (39.6 yards per punt). Denver's also had six total kick return TDs (four punt/two kickoff) which was tied for the second most in the NFL during Rodgers time with the Broncos. Additionally, under Rodgers, Broncos K

Matt Prater Matthew Phillip Prater (born August 10, 1984) is an American football placekicker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Regarded as one of the best long distance kickers in NFL history, he held the NFL record for lon ...

was named to the Pro Bowl following the 2013 season after setting franchise records in field goal percentage (96.2%, 25-of-26) and points scored (150). His 64-yard field goal on December 8, 2013 is the longest FG in NFL history. In 2014, K

Connor Barth Connor Thomas Barth (born April 11, 1986) is a former American football placekicker who played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at North Carolina and was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undraft ...

's 93.8 field goal percentage (15-of-16) was second-highest in Broncos single-season history. In Rodgers' second season in Denver in 2012, the Broncos special teams allowed the second-lowest punt return average (6.2 yards per return) and the seventh-lowest kickoff return average (22.1 ypr) in the NFL. During the Divisional Playoffs that season, Trindon Holliday became the first player in NFL history to record a punt return TD (90 yards) and kickoff return TD (104 yards) in a single playoff game. In 2011, Denver was third in the NFL in punt return average (12.7 ypr) and one of just three teams in the league with multiple punt return TDs: Arizona (4), Denver (2), Chicago (2). P Britton Colquitt set single-season franchise records for gross (47.4) and net punting (40.2) averages and broke his own team record the following year with a 42.1-yard net average. He worked for the

through the 2014 season.

Chicago Bears

On January 19, 2015, the

announced Rodgers as their special teams coordinator. Rodgers coached the Bears from 2015–2017. The Bears had three special teams TDs in 2017 (two punt return, one fake punt), tied with the Rams for the most in the NFL. Rookie PR

Tarik Cohen Tarik Cohen (born July 26, 1995) is an American football running back who is a free agent. Cohen played the same position for North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University before being selected in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Dra ...

averaged 9.4 yards per punt return in 2017 (ninth in the NFL) and had a 61-yard return for a TD while KR

Deonte Thompson Deonte Thompson (born February 14, 1989) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at the University of Florida, where he was a member of a BCS National Championship team. Thompson was signed by the Baltimore Rav ...

ranked second in the NFL in 2016 in kickoff return yards (804).

Sherrick McManis Sherrick Terravis McManis (born December 19, 1987) is an American football cornerback and special teamer who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Northweste ...

led the Bears in special teams tackles in each of the past three seasons (2015–17) while P

Pat O'Donnell Patrick Michael O'Donnell (born February 22, 1991) is an American football punter for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, where he served as ...

allowed just 22 punt returns in 2016, tied for the third fewest in the NFL among punters who appeared in 16 games. He was not retained after the firing of John Fox.

Arizona Cardinals

On January 26, 2018, Rodgers was hired by the

to be their special teams coordinator under head coach Steve Wilks. In 2019, Rodgers was retained by the new head coach of the Cardinals,

Kliff Kingsbury Kliff Timothy Kingsbury (born August 9, 1979) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously a collegiate football coach from 2008 to ...

. In 2020, Rodgers was promoted to assistant head coach. On October 15, 2021, Kingsbury and several other coaching staff members tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. This resulted in Rodgers and defensive coordinator

Vance Joseph Vance Desmond Joseph (born September 20, 1972) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Previously he was the head coach of the Denver Bronco ...

taking over as co-interim head coaches for the Cardinals' week 6 game against 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 October 17, 2021, and they led the Cardinals' to a 37–14 win.

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodgers, Jeff Living people American football linebackers Arizona Cardinals coaches Arizona Wildcats football coaches Carolina Panthers coaches Chicago Bears coaches Denver Broncos coaches New York Jets coaches North Texas Mean Green football players San Francisco 49ers coaches Sportspeople from Saint Paul, Minnesota Sportspeople from Travis County, Texas Players of American football from Travis County, Texas Players of American football from Saint Paul, Minnesota 1978 births