New Vikings Defender Has a 6-Word Message
The Minnesota Vikings’ regular season isn’t far away — nine weeks, in fact.
New Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers used Twitter to post a six-word message that encapsulated the mood of every Vikings fan heading into the 2025 season. The man is ready.
The team will trek to Chicago for a date with the Bears, a Monday Night Football showdown at Soldier Field for quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s first start.
Left up to new Vikings corner Isaiah Rodgers, however, that game would start as early as now.
Isaiah Rodgers Has an Itchy Trigger Finger
Rodgers is antsy. He wants to play football now — not wait until the rest of the summer passes.
He tweeted Saturday, “Can we start the season already?”
The Vikings still have to embark on training camp, the preseason, and roster trimdowns at the end of summer, but it’s clear that Rodgers is itching to go. Can you blame him? Minnesota has big plans for the man in 2025.
Isaiah Rodgers Is Rearing to Go — Now
The new Vikings defensive back is a little antsy.
The Very First Free Agent Signing
Free agency rolled around in March, and to kick off the festivities, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah signed Rodgers to a two-year, $11 million contract. Rodgers most recently played for the Philadelphia Eagles, winning a Super Bowl in February over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Rodgers saw action in 15 games and 328 defensive snaps (36%) in Philadelphia last season. The Eagles used him a bit on kick returns, too, a job that Rodgers could fill in Minnesota.
The Vikings also signed veteran corner Jeff Okudah, and the pair will hope to contribute in 2025 after smaller roles with their previous teams.
Rodgers logged a 76.0 Pro Football Focus grade last season.
Gunning for the CB2 Job
Thankfully for Rodgers’ sake, he has the Vikings’ CB2 job absolutely in his crosshairs.
Because Adofo-Mensah did not land a big fish like D.J. Reed in free agency or draft a rookie like Michigan’s Will Johnson, Rodgers and Okudah are on tap as meaningful 2025 solutions. Two corners from last year’s roster, Stephon Gilmore and Shaquill Griffin, did not re-sign with Minnesota this offseason.
Minnesota’s coaches have heaped praise on Rodgers this spring and summer, hinting at a starter’s job next to Pro Bowler Byron Murphy Jr. The only things that could derail Rodgers’ pursuit of a starting job may be injury, a free-agent signing involving Mike Hilton or Asante Samuel Jr., for example, or a trade for a player like Greg Newsome II or Tariq Woolen.
Otherwise, Rodgers is in the driver’s seat.
Speed Kills
Rodgers also brings speed, so much so that he could be the fastest player on the Vikings roster. He logged a 4.27 forty leading up to the 2020 NFL Draft and uses that speed on kick returns.
Conveniently, the Vikings might need a kick returner, as that spot was held down in 2024 by Ty Chandler, Myles Gaskin, and Cam Akers. There’s a decent chance that Rodgers will transform into the primary kick returner this September.
More Rodgers Takes
The Viking Age‘s Jaleel Grandberry wrote about Rodgers and the Vikings’ cornerback room last week, “Rodgers and Okudah are now in the same spot, but their journeys leading them to similar spots have been different. Okudah was the third-overall pick in the 2020 Draft, but was limited as a rookie with injuries.”
“In his second season, he ruptured his Achilles in Week 1, and has been trying to recapture the promise he entered the league with ever since. After three years in Detroit, he spent the 2023 season with the Atlanta Falcons, and last year with the Houston Texans. Isaiah Rodgers, on the other hand, was a sixth-round pick in the 2020 Draft by the Indianapolis Colts.”
Rodgers can fully establish himself as a starter in Minnesota. He has that opportunity.
Grandbery added, “After carving out a role for himself as a return specialist, he eventually emerged as a starting corner in his third season. However, he was suspended in 2023 for violating the league’s gambling policy. Rodgers returned in 2024, helping the Philadelphia Eagles win a Super Bowl. Now, both guys are in Minnesota, hoping to re-establish themselves as starters in this league. However, it’s looking like only one will be able to do so.”
“Teams can never have enough defensive backs, though, so if they both look good in camp, they both could get significant snaps in the season.”
Rodgers will begin the quest for a starter’s job at training camp, which kicks off in 19 days.
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