Isaiah Rodgers sprinted diagonally across the Croke Park grass, in furious but ultimately vain pursuit of DK Metcalf, the Steelers receiver who ran a 10.37-second 100-meter dash while trying to qualify for the U.S. Olympic trials four years ago.
Rodgers, the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week at the time, wore a white Vikings jersey with the number 2, which he’d picked for the first time in his career after signing with the Vikings in March. He’d played a season in Philadelphia, winning a Super Bowl title with the Eagles after the 2023 gambling suspension that paused his career for a year and prompted his exit from the Colts. But the two-year, $11 million deal he received from the Vikings to be a starting cornerback was what Rodgers regarded as his second chance.
“People may view it like, ‘OK, his second chance could have been in Philly, coming back after the suspension,’ ” Rodgers said. “But I didn’t have that second chance I wanted, with me going into my contract year with the Colts, projected to be that starting guy. That was my first chance. I felt like coming here was most likely gonna be my second chance, finally being back to the player I want to be and showcasing my talents.”
That’s why he picked No. 2.
Already in five games that jersey number has flown across the field faster than any in the NFL’s eight years of tracking player speeds, and reached the U.S. Bank Stadium end zone twice in a sequence never before accomplished in league history. Rodgers will wear it Sunday against a team he hadn’t planned to leave, while playing for a team that might keep him for a long time.
The 27-year-old cornerback has so far made the most of his second chance, becoming one of the steals of NFL free agency with a combination of playmaking and coverage skills the Vikings’ secondary badly needed. He won Defensive Player of the Week honors in Week 3 after becoming the first player in NFL history to finish a half with two forced fumbles, as well as fumble and interception returns for touchdowns. After that week’s 48-10 win over the Bengals, Pro Football Focus made Rodgers the first player to record a perfect 99.9 game score since it started grading players in 2006.
The next week in Dublin, he raced off the left side of the Steelers’ line to block Chris Boswell’s 30-yard field goal attempt. While chasing Metcalf on his 80-yard touchdown, Rodgers recorded a top speed of 23.32 miles per hour, the fastest speed NFL Next Gen Stats had recorded since it began tracking player data in 2017.
“For me, the biggest thing that stood out was his ball skills and his ability to run,” Vikings defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator Daronte Jones said. ”We’ve been fortunate in the past with guys that have had ball skills, like Pat P. [Patrick Peterson] and Steph [Gilmore]. But the combination of that and the speed, and the coverage ability he provides, was what we felt could help us defensively."