Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar will write about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment,
we obviously have to take a closer look at Minnesota Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, who made all kinds of history against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores pounded the table for Rodgers this offseason, the Vikings signed him, and Rodgers has been all about proving Flores right.
In the 2025 offseason, when Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores were discussing how to fortify their defense with new players, Flores brought up a little-known cornerback who had never had more than 366 coverage snaps in his four previous NFL seasons as someone who might really pop in his playbook. So, the Vikings signed former Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Isaiah Rodgers to a two-year, $11.045 million contract with $7.995 million guaranteed, and hoped it would pay off as “Flo” said it might.
Turns out, that Brian Flores guy knows a thing or two about player acquisition and development. Because in Sunday’s 48-10 demolition of the Cincinnati Bengals, Rodgers had not only the game of his life, but one of the most remarkable games for any cornerback… well, ever.
Rodgers became the first player in NFL history with an interception return touchdown of 85 or more yards and a fumble return touchdown of 65 or more yards in the same game. He’s also the first player since 2000 with two forced fumbles and two touchdowns in the same game, and the first player in Vikings history to score multiple defensive touchdowns in a game. Rodgers was also sticky in coverage outside of the splash plays — he was targeted three times by the Bengals, and allowed no catches — but it’s the big stuff that makes the headlines.
The point is that in the 2020 sixth-round pick out of Massachusetts, the Vikings appear to have themselves quite a Secret Superstar.
“I can remember vividly the conversation with Brian Flores about him when, and the vision for the player, the vision pairing him with Murph [Byron Murphy Jr.], and what we thought that could be,” O’Connell said after the game. “You know, Flo, I don’t want to go through the time we’ve been together, and those types of names, when he’s got that tone in his voice, when he brings it to me, and we collectively collaborate with the personnel side. But Isaiah was on that list of guys, and the other ones that he’s mentioned have turned out pretty darn well here. And then some of the guys that maybe went elsewhere, those guys have showed up well. So I think it’s a matter of Flo’s impact and his ability to have vision for players like we’ve seen here with two free agencies now, where there’s been an immediate impact on our team from some of these guys that show up, and end up being great Minnesota Vikings for us.“
Rodgers had played well in the Vikings’ two games of the season, allowing four catches on nine targets for 46 yards, 14 yards after the catch, and an opponent passer rating of 60.4. He had no pass breakups or interceptions, though — apparently, he was saving it all for Week 3.
Moreover — and you might not expect this from a 5’10, 170-pound cornerback — Rodgers has lived successfully on the outside, playing 76% of his 181 snaps this season there. And that’s where he created all of his chaos on Sunday. One of the most impressive plays against the Bengals happened with 4:51 left in the first half, when he had already taken that pick-six to the house. Here, Rodgers was playing off coverage against Tee Higgins, and Rodgers told Higgins that he’d get nothing and like it on Higgins’ seam fade route.
And while the two forced fumbles against the Bengals proved that Rodgers has no issue getting chippy when the ball is in his area, he also had a tackle for loss against Bijan Robinson and the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2.
The forced fumbles showed that Rodgers is all about the mentality that the ball is as much his as it is yours… if not more so.
The interception is worth another look, because Rodgers had a tough assignment here. The Vikings were in Cover-2 (which they play a lot behind Flores’ petri-dish pressure concepts), and he had to keep one eye on running back Chase Brown running the quick out from outside position in a condensed formation, and he also had to clock tight end Noah Fant on the corner route, because safety Harrison Smith came down to rob the middle of the field. Rodgers handled it all with ease.
The Vikings couldn’t be happier with Rodgers’ ascent. As for Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, who let Rodgers walk from the one-year, $1.01 million contract he was on in 2024…
“My worst nightmare is that we let a player go, and we don’t know how good he is,” Roseman once said. “My worst nightmare, you know, is that a guy plays in the preseason, someone claims him, and he goes and has this great career. Like, we better know our team.
“Forget about everyone else in the league right now. We better know our own team, and we better know it in a way that it’s the most important decisions that we make. It’s who’s here, and understanding their strengths and weaknesses.”
Well, even the greats make mistakes, and Roseman’s loss is Brian Flores’ gain. The thing to know here is that Isaiah Rodgers has been about more than just one big game this season, though that big game made all kinds of history. He’s every bit the total cornerback Flores hopes he would be.
