A Closer Look: Isaiah Rodgers CB/KR/PR/Gunner (R6•P32)

[EastStreet]

Name: Isaiah Rodgers
Twitter: @rodgers_isaiah
Hometown: Tampa, FL
Age: NA
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 170 lbs
School: UMassachusetts
School2: NA

College Position (latest): CB & Returns
College Position2: NA
Likely NFL Position: Kick Return, Gunner, CB

 

Pick: Round 6 • Pick 32 (211)
40 Time: 4.34 (Hudl)
100m Time: 10.73 (HS)
Vert: NA
Draft Grade: No grade / combine
Draft Projection: No grade / combine
Taken Higher Than Projected: Yes
HS 247 Grade: 0.7781 / 2 Star CB

 

Injury Flags: NA
Attititude or Behavior Flags: NA

Captain: No

 

School Awards: NA
Conference Awards:
• All-ECAC (Defensive Back)
• All-ECAC (Return Specialist)
National Awards:
• PFF First-Team All-American Team (returner)
• 3xPhil Steele All-Independent First/Second Team (Cornerback)
• Phil Steele All-Independent Second Team (Kick Return) 

 

Family History:
Cousin is CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

 

Fun Fact: 
Taken with the pick we got for Quincy Wilson

 

Academic: NA

 

Stats (as CB)
Year1: 39 TOT, 2 TFL, 2 INT, 7 PBU, 1 FF
Year2: 50 TOT, 3 TFL, 3 INT, 14 PBU, 2 FF, 1 TD
Year3: 56 TOT, 3 TFL, 2 INT, 4 PBU, 1 TD
Year4: 42 TOT, 3 TFL, 4 INT, 10 PBU, 1 FF, 1 TD
Year5: NA

 

Stats (as KR)
Year1: 31-733, 23.6 AVGR
Year2: 10-209, 20.9 AVGR
Year3: 5-101, 20.2 AVGR
Year4: 53-1295, 24.4 AVGR (1st in FBS)
Year5: NA

 

Stats (as PR)
Year1: NA
Year2: 10-36, 3.6 AVGR
Year3: NA
Year4: 11-120, 10.9 AVGR, 1 TD
Year5: NA

 

School Bio:
https://umassathletics.com/sports/football/roster/isaiah-rodgers/11529

 

NFL.com Bio: NA
NFL.com Overview: NA
NFL.com Strengths: NA
NFL.com Weaknesses: NA

East Street's Worthless Opinion:
Talent Grade (O or D): C 
Talent Grade (STs): B
Team Need Grade: B
Round Value Grade: B
55 Man Chance: 40%
Practice Squad Chance: 75%
Floor: Camp bouner
Ceiling: STs ace returner or gunner, CB with some added weight
Year 1 Prediction: Practice Squad
Long Term Prediction: Total wildcard

 

East Street's Hot Take:
Undersized but very fast/agile CB and Return Specialist from small school setting. Exciting to watch, and hard to not get excited about the "potential". Reality is that aside from return value, the lack of size likely eliminates him from serious consideration at DB right now. Of the top 25 CBs, Brian Pool is his height, and he's about 30lbs heavier. Jaire Alexander, Kenny Moore, and Jonathan Jones are 20lbs heavier. K'Waun Williams and Hilton are 15lbs heavier. Nickell Robey-Coleman at 5-8 / 180lbs (still 10lbs heavier) is about the closest weight wise in the top 25. 

 

Impossible to be a DB at 5-10 / 170lb? Not impossible, but it would be rare. Can he gain weight with a year of S&C? Is the return value enough alone? I don't know, but I'd at least keep him on the practice squad for a year and find out. Get this kid on some protein shakes and make him room with Quentin for a year. Can he put 15-25lbs on that frame, keep near his speed, and step up from the competion level of a small school? In short, likely a long shot at CB, decent chance at returner and ST gunner. 

 

Links:
https://www.hudl.com/profile/3265919/Isaiah-Rodgers

Vids:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like the vids!

[dw49]

My favorite pick in the draft.

 

I was just thinking that we really didn't trade Wilson for Rodgers unless the Jets would have selected him with that pick. Possible I guess as essentially they did take a DB in that spot.

 

But assuming they would not have , Glasgow would be the player we received . For sure  teams always pick the player they like most first when they have consecutive picks , so that would leave Glasgow as the compensation ? I guess we also have to assume Patman would not have gone in that spot also. 

 

Yes .. I'm bored . It's 5:20 AM in CA and I've been up since 3.

[EastStreet]

2 minutes ago, dw49 said:

My favorite pick in the draft.

 

I was just thinking that we really didn't trade Wilson for Rodgers unless the Jets would have selected him with that pick. Possible I guess as essentially they did take a DB in that spot.

 

But assuming they would not have , Glasgow would be the player we received . For sure  teams always pick the player they like most first when they have consecutive picks , so that would leave Glasgow as the compensation ? I guess we also have to assume Patman would not have gone in that spot also. 

 

Yes .. I'm bored . It's 5:20 AM in CA and I've been up since 3.

 

The kid is super interesting, and is a huge "potential" trap for me to hope for lol... 

Both him and Patmon have me intrigued with "potential".... 

[stitches]

I was watching film of him yesterday - super hard to find film BTW, found a couple of full games of 3 hours or something and it's tiring to slog through. One of them is against Army and if you know how Army plays you would know that there will not be much coverage for him to do and he will have to play the run a ton. I don't know how much of a worry it is, because there aren't many teams in the NFL that go 90%+ run(there literally were like 5 passes the whole game), but he is very slight, he was getting blown off by blockers seamlessly. He was playing outside corner and kick/punt returner. He was getting attacked by Army on outside runs taken out of the frame of the play by his blockers numerous times. His weight(170 something?) is a good indication about why that might be. This would need to change IMO. He won't be able to be anything but a ST player if he has this much of a strength disadvantage on the boundary or even in the slot.

 

At the same time he was amazing on returns. What a fantastic playmaker with ball in his hands. He's incredibly quick and fast and has some wiggle to avoid defenders too. One of the better returners we've drafted recently IMO. 

 

I will try to go through the second game today and hopefully see him in coverage more.

[Smonroe]

If his frame can take an NFL beating, he'll be a good one.  He's about 20 lbs lighter than Kenny Moore, but a lot of the same measurables.  Maybe even faster.

 

But let's see how he does after trying to tackle Derrick Henry after he breaks out of the backfield.

[EastStreet]

15 minutes ago, stitches said:

I was watching film of him yesterday - super hard to find film BTW, found a couple of full games of 3 hours or something and it's tiring to slog through. One of them is against Army and if you know how Army plays you would know that there will not be much coverage for him to do and he will have to play the run a ton. I don't know how much of a worry it is, because there aren't many teams in the NFL that go 90%+ run(there literally were like 5 passes the whole game), but he is very slight, he was getting blown off by blockers seamlessly. He was playing outside corner and kick/punt returner. He was getting attacked by Army on outside runs taken out of the frame of the play by his blockers numerous times. His weight(170 something?) is a good indication about why that might be. This would need to change IMO. He won't be able to be anything but a ST player if he has this much of a strength disadvantage on the boundary or even in the slot.

 

At the same time he was amazing on returns. What a fantastic playmaker with ball in his hands. He's incredibly quick and fast and has some wiggle to avoid defenders too. One of the better returners we've drafted recently IMO. 

 

I will try to go through the second game today and hopefully see him in coverage more.

Yup, see my hot take section above about his weight.

 

Army is definitely a one off type O, but even so, Army is undersized lol... Can you imagine an NFL size player blocking him outside. A guy like Doyle, Burton, or Pittman might break him. 

[Jdubu]

15 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

If his frame can take an NFL beating, he'll be a good one.  He's about 20 lbs lighter than Kenny Moore, but a lot of the same measurables.  Maybe even faster.

 

But let's see how he does after trying to tackle Derrick Henry after he breaks out of the backfield.

If the kid values his life, he will just fall down and hope Henry trips over him lol. 
 

if the return game is truly this kids destiny, wouldn’t he be a lot like JJ Natson we had a few years ago? Very tiny guy with heart but had a fumbling issue? Seems he was a receiver position though when he was in our camp. Seems like a comparable body style maybe? Hope the kid gets a shot and can put on weight and muscle without losing his speed and twitch. 

[dw49]

11 minutes ago, stitches said:

I was watching film of him yesterday - super hard to find film BTW, found a couple of full games of 3 hours or something and it's tiring to slog through. One of them is against Army and if you know how Army plays you would know that there will not be much coverage for him to do and he will have to play the run a ton. I don't know how much of a worry it is, because there aren't many teams in the NFL that go 90%+ run(there literally were like 5 passes the whole game), but he is very slight, he was getting blown off by blockers seamlessly. He was playing outside corner and kick/punt returner. He was getting attacked by Army on outside runs taken out of the frame of the play by his blockers numerous times. His weight(170 something?) is a good indication about why that might be. This would need to change IMO. He won't be able to be anything but a ST player if he has this much of a strength disadvantage on the boundary or even in the slot.

 

At the same time he was amazing on returns. What a fantastic playmaker with ball in his hands. He's incredibly quick and fast and has some wiggle to avoid defenders too. One of the better returners we've drafted recently IMO. 

 

I will try to go through the second game today and hopefully see him in coverage more.

 

I think he can have value as a nickel and particularly as a  dime back , even if your worries prove true . We really need better coverage on passing downs as teams converted way too many 3rd and longs. Deon Sanders had probably half the tackles that most good CB's had ? 

[Jdubu]

2 minutes ago, dw49 said:

 

I think he can have value as a nickel and particularly as a  dime back , even if your worries prove true . We really need better coverage on passing downs as teams converted way too many 3rd and longs. Deon Sanders had probably half the tackles that most good CB's had ? 

Great point with Neon and lack of tackling skills. He had none. But even Deion was 6’1” and almost 200 pounds. 

[stitches]

9 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

Yup, see my hot take section above about his weight.

 

Army is definitely a one off type O, but even so, Army is undersized lol... Can you imagine an NFL size player blocking him outside. A guy like Doyle, Burton, or Pittman might break him. 

Yep... the thing is... he doesn't seem shy to lay a hit on an opponent even at his weight as a gunner on special teams... so IMO this is not about "want" as in... he doesn't want to play physical in the run game. IMO he wants to, but he's just physically overmatched. He needs tons of work in the weight room.

[EastStreet]

3 minutes ago, stitches said:

Yep... the thing is... he doesn't seem shy to lay a hit on an opponent even at his weight as a gunner on special teams... so IMO this is not about "want" as in... he doesn't want to play physical in the run game. IMO he wants to, but he's just physically overmatched. He needs tons of work in the weight room.

Yup, did you see my Q comment

[stitches]

12 minutes ago, dw49 said:

 

I think he can have value as a nickel and particularly as a  dime back , even if your worries prove true . We really need better coverage on passing downs as teams converted way too many 3rd and longs. Deon Sanders had probably half the tackles that most good CB's had ? 

If I see Rodgers at his current form on the field on 3d and 7... I might actually run at him or target with him with a screen. I still cannot say much about his coverage though, because again - Army had like 5 passes all game long.

[dodsworth]

He will be Moore's backup.

[stitches]

2 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

Yup, did you see my Q comment

Yeah, I think I might be willing to sacrifice like 1 tenth of his 40 speed for 15 more good pounds on his frame.

[dw49]

20 minutes ago, Jdubu said:

Great point with Neon and lack of tackling skills. He had none. But even Deion was 6’1” and almost 200 pounds. 

 

My uncle Tony was 6'3' and 220 lbs and couldn't tackle either

[dw49]

6 minutes ago, stitches said:

If I see Rodgers at his current form on the field on 3d and 7... I might actually run at him or target with him with a screen. I still cannot say much about his coverage though, because again - Army had like 5 passes all game long.

 

Sometimes it's a bit hard to target a dime back with a run but yeah I hear you

[EastStreet]

2 minutes ago, dw49 said:

 

Sometimes it's a bit hard to target a dime back with a run ? 

Pretty easy actually. I don't think they'd have him as the NB or Dimeback though.

[throwing BBZ]

 

 Great returners add real value so we will see.
 And yes his having the ability to be in on dime packages at some point may be the difference to making the 55.

[EastStreet]

2 minutes ago, throwing BBZ said:

 

 Great returners add real value so we will see.
 And yes his having the ability to be in on dime packages at some point may be the difference to making the 55.

He'd likely be outside CB in a Nickel or Dime situation (image above). No way I'd want him at NB or DiB covering a TE

[stitches]

57 minutes ago, EastStreet said:

Yup, did you see my Q comment

 

Something Q and Rodgers can bond over - Cardi B. Quenton is well known impersonator of Cardi B, and now it seems like Cardi B herself is a huge fan of Rodgers. Rodgers comes into that locker room with tons of clout.  

 

 

 

[EastStreet]

4 minutes ago, stitches said:

 

Something Q and Rodgers can bond over - Cardi B. Quenton is well known impersonator of Cardi B, and now it seems like Cardi B herself is a huge fan of Rodgers. Rodgers comes into that locker room with tons of clout.  

 

 

 

 

Cardi could probably give Rodgers some tips on thickening up lol

[LockeDown]

TY was about the same size coming out of college and was a good returner.  Everyone said he needed to bulk up too.

[ProblChld32]

I think the return abilities will give him a shot at making the final 53. 

[EastStreet]

9 hours ago, LockeDown said:

TY was about the same size coming out of college and was a good returner.  Everyone said he needed to bulk up too.

It's much easier to be tiny at WR than CB though.

5-10 is not horrible, but it's not good either.

170lbs is horrible.

[PrideOfAthens17]

Don't tell Darrell Green about size, ha ha.

 

I know, I know, one in a million there. But the point is, you never know.

[EastStreet]

15 minutes ago, PrideOfAthens17 said:

Don't tell Darrell Green about size, ha ha.

 

I know, I know, one in a million there. But the point is, you never know.

He was 185/190 IIRC. 

 

I like Rodgers chances if he can at least get to 185

[Scott Pennock]

14 hours ago, Jdubu said:

If the kid values his life, he will just fall down and hope Henry trips over him lol. 
 

if the return game is truly this kids destiny, wouldn’t he be a lot like JJ Natson we had a few years ago? Very tiny guy with heart but had a fumbling issue? Seems he was a receiver position though when he was in our camp. Seems like a comparable body style maybe? Hope the kid gets a shot and can put on weight and muscle without losing his speed and twitch. 

JJ has had himself a pretty good career (so far) since we released him....still wish we would have kept him. Oh well...

[Scott Pennock]

As far as Mr. Rodgers is concerned, on his post draft interviews he has stated that the Colts told him he's backing up Moore in the slot. Also returning and covering kicks.

 

Having one player on the roster dedicated to return duties is great as that potentially frees up spots elsewhere. Aka if Fountain is a slightly better WR than Pascal but Pascal is the better returner then the staff isn't required to keep.

 

Remembering that their normal requirements for drafting are 6"+ and 190+ lbs I'm pretty po 

[M0NEYdontLIE]

14 hours ago, stitches said:

If I see Rodgers at his current form on the field on 3d and 7... I might actually run at him or target with him with a screen. I still cannot say much about his coverage though, because again - Army had like 5 passes all game long.

I wonder what his actual playing weight is because he does look rather “lean” on what little footage I’ve seen of him.

 

Absolutely LOVE his potential granted I’ve only really seen highlights and we know how flattering those can be, especially when you’re THIS athletic playing a lower competition level.

 

Looking forward to your analysis and thoughts!

[EastStreet]

1 hour ago, Scott Pennock said:

JJ has had himself a pretty good career (so far) since we released him....still wish we would have kept him. Oh well...

I like Rodgers better than JoJo. Rodgers is actually bigger than Jo Jo lol....

 

Natson just signed a 1M 1 year contract last month to play for the Browns.

[EastStreet]

1 hour ago, Scott Pennock said:

As far as Mr. Rodgers is concerned, on his post draft interviews he has stated that the Colts told him he's backing up Moore in the slot. Also returning and covering kicks.

 

Having one player on the roster dedicated to return duties is great as that potentially frees up spots elsewhere. Aka if Fountain is a slightly better WR than Pascal but Pascal is the better returner then the staff isn't required to keep.

 

Remembering that their normal requirements for drafting are 6"+ and 190+ lbs I'm pretty po 

Having him at NB would scare the doo doo out of me. I think Carrie will hang on to the #2 NB job.

 

[Jdubu]

10 hours ago, Scott Pennock said:

JJ has had himself a pretty good career (so far) since we released him....still wish we would have kept him. Oh well...

I liked that kid too. If only he didn’t drop those last couple while in tryouts when he was with us, I think he would still have been here. Can’t have multi fumbles when you’re small, perform one task and nobody ever heard of you before the preseason started. Glad he found work, he was fun to watch though.   

[funktacious2]

I think his obvious future is in special teams. But he may be called upon one day to play corner and I hope he ends up being good and he can warn teams to stay out of Mr. Rodgers neighborhood.

[PrideOfAthens17]

20 hours ago, EastStreet said:

He was 185/190 IIRC. 

 

I like Rodgers chances if he can at least get to 185

 

5'9", 184 at last measurement. Not much different. But he may have been the best corner ever. Certainly one of a very small group in that category.

[Scott Pennock]

21 hours ago, EastStreet said:

I like Rodgers better than JoJo. Rodgers is actually bigger than Jo Jo lol....

 

Natson just signed a 1M 1 year contract last month to play for the Browns.

I like Rodgers better too because he can play corner....

[Scott Pennock]

21 hours ago, EastStreet said:

Having him at NB would scare the doo doo out of me. I think Carrie will hang on to the #2 NB job.

 

Jason David is my comp on size and he held up physically for a 5-7 year career fairly well as a boundary corner.

 

We shall see with Rodgers - he does have good family bloodlines....

 

 

[Clem-Dog]

On 4/28/2020 at 8:03 PM, PrideOfAthens17 said:

Don't tell Darrell Green about size, ha ha.

 

I know, I know, one in a million there. But the point is, you never know.

 

The Colts hit paydirt with Ray Buchanan (5'9" 185lbs) in the 3rd round. 

 

As was mentioned, Rodgers is a little too light in the pants.  After he adds a few pounds he won't be undersized.  

[EastStreet]

1 hour ago, Scott Pennock said:

I like Rodgers better too because he can play corner....

yup. bonus :-)

1 hour ago, Scott Pennock said:

Jason David is my comp on size and he held up physically for a 5-7 year career fairly well as a boundary corner.

 

We shall see with Rodgers - he does have good family bloodlines....

David was 10-15lbs heavier too. I'm hoping Rodgers can put on, and wear the weight, well. Right now though, I'd just love to see us have an all star returner. To be honest though, if you look at both Hines and Dulin's return stats, they are borderline PB return stats. I think we'll have some great comp this year.

[John Hammonds]

9 hours ago, Clem-Dog said:

 

The Colts hit paydirt with Ray Buchanan (5'9" 185lbs) in the 3rd round. 

 

As was mentioned, Rodgers is a little too light in the pants.  After he adds a few pounds he won't be undersized.  

If this kid can be anything like Big Play Ray or Jason David, I'm good with it!