If you’ve been following the Philadelphia Eagles on anything more than a surface level this season, then you know the one big bugaboo in their unbeaten, 3-0 start to the season has been their struggle to find a reliable outside cornerback opposite Quinyon Mitchell.
Kelee Ringo, Adoree Jackson and Jakorian Bennett have all had shots at becoming The Man at CB2. None of them have seized the moment.
If only the Eagles had a playmaker on the roster at that spot, they might have what was close to the perfect defense.
In Week 3, the Eagles got a glimpse at what their defense might have been if they hadn’t done what seemed like am almost complete purge of veterans in the secondary that included cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, who signed a 2-year, $11.045 million free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings in March.
That would be the same Isaiah Rodgers who made NFL history in a 48-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in which he scored 2 defensive touchdowns on an 87-yard interception return for a touchdown and a 66-yard fumble return for a touchdown to go with 2 forced fumbles and 2 pass deflections, including breaking up a pass in the end zone.
Rogers became the first player in Vikings history to score multiple defensive touchdowns in a game and the first player in NFL history to return an interception for a touchdown, return a fumble for a touchdown and force 2 fumbles in a single game.
“Maybe the best single game we’ve ever seen a cornerback play,” ESPN’s Domonique Foxworth said on September 23. “Just outstanding.”
How The Eagles Dropped The Ball On Rodgers
It’s interesting to examine how the Eagles dropped the ball by not bringing back Rodgers or why they made that decision and remembering they took a big chance bringing him on the roster in the first place.
Rodgers essentially ran his way into being a sixth round pick (No. 211 overall) by the Indianapolis Colts out of UMass in the 2020 NFL draft after he ran a 4.28-second 40-yard dash at Pro Day.
He was a reliable backup for the Colts for 3 seasons — he had 3 interceptions in 2021 — before he ran into some life changing trouble.
From ESPN in June 2023: “A handful of NFL players, including Indianapolis Colts cornerback and kick returner Isaiah Rodgers, are expected to receive season-long suspensions this week for violating the NFL’s policy on gambling, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.”
The Colts released Rodgers the same day he received an indefinite suspension from the NFL. He was signed by the Eagles in August 2023 but sat out the entire season because of the suspension.
Rodgers was reinstated in 2024 to play 15 games with 3 starts as a backup to Mitchell and Darius Slay and made several big plays in the playoffs on the way to winning the Super Bowl.
Eagles Purged Veterans From Secondary
Rodgers wasn’t the only one the Eagles decided not to bring back in the secondary from their Super Bowl winning team in 2024.
General Manager Howie Roseman let Slay leave for the Pittsburgh Steelers on a 1-year, $10 million contract and traded starting safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans.
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