New MN Vikings CB Left Season Mad at Himself

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Isaiah Rodgers : Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings made a surprise move at the start of last offseason when they made former Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts cornerback Isaiah Rodgers a priority signing right away when free agency opened.

He likely jumped on it, being he had never been a full-time starter in the NFL, yet the deal — two years, $11 million — was worth starting defensive back money.

Then, the MN Vikings doubled down when they refused to make another significant addition in the cornerback room the remainder of the offseason, which essentially handed Rodgers the CB2 job, opposite Byron Murphy Jr, who received a massive contract extension of his own around the same time Rodgers was brought in.

Remember the show Isaiah Rodgers’ put on week three vs Bengals?

After week three of the regular season, the 2-1 MN Vikings were feeling pretty good about their cornerback decisions. In that 48-10 blowout victory over the Bengals, Carson Wentz made his first start of the season and Jordan Mason went for 116 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Yet all individual performances that day were trumped by Isaiah Rodgers, who tallied one interception, two forced fumbles, one recovered fumble and two total touchdowns on the day. His first came on his only interception and the second came on a fumble he forced and then recovered, before taking it back to the house.

For the rest of the season, Rodgers played a solid CB2 on one of the best defenses in football. He totaled more tackles (66) than any other year of his career. Same can be said with his 4 TFL and 2 forced fumbles.

Rodgers disappointed in first season with Minnesota Vikings

When asked about his view of the season, at large, following Minnesota’s finale last week vs Green Bay, Rodgers told Darren Wolfson (KSTP) on Purple Daily (SKOR North) that he was disappointed in how he performed, but that he was proud of the defense, as a unit.

When pressed on why he didn’t look back on his first season as a Viking fondly, Rodgers pointed to that week three contest against the Bengals, noting that he did not handle the success of that day very well, nor did the fans, who then expected that kind of performance from Rodgers the rest of the season… and they never got it.

“I thought it was interesting that Isaiah Rogers told me he was disappointed in his play this year. A look at his PFF grade, for whatever that’s worth, it seems like he had a pretty good year. In fact, I suppose you could debate. To me, it’s Eric Wilson. But if you wanted to make the case that Isaiah Rogers was their best free agent signing last March, you can make a case.”

“[Rodgers] said…that after that unreal performance week three against the Bengals, that it was hard for him, like the outside noise, like I think he thought people expected like more of that. And like, that’s so rare. Yeah, and I think he was battling that.”

“He still thinks about some of the plays he didn’t make against the Eagles and against the Chargers. Like I said, hey, what stands out as you think about 2025, what stands out? And he went to the Eagles and the Chargers, the negative, not the positive. And so, you know, I don’t know how you want to view that because to me there’s plenty of positives to talk about with Isaiah Rogers, but I found that interesting.”

Darren Wolfson – Purple Daily (SKOR North)

After that exceptional performance against the Bengals, Isaiah Rodgers never recorded another turnover in purple. He ended the season with one interception, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery, all of which came against Cincinnati.

So while PFF says (73.8 DEF grade) he had a good season, and he put up career-best numbers mostly across the board, I can see why Rodgers looks back and sees a lot of missed opportunities to make a good season into a great one. Thankfully for him, there is always next year.

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