© Provided by Toronto Sun Indianapolis Colts cornerback Isaiah Rodgers intercepts a pass intended for Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver DeSean Jackson in 2022.
Maybe Isaiah Rodgers was just watching too many NHL playoff games. Y’know, all those non-stop gambling ads, courtesy of enabling commissioner Gary Bet-man.
Rodgers, a cornerback with the Indianapolis Colts, on Monday night confirmed reports from earlier in the day that he’s the Colts player being investigated by the NFL for violating the league’s gambling policy.
SportsHandle.com reported Monday that the league was probing an unidentified Colts player’s “pervasive” betting — allegedly about 100 bets placed by an “associate” of Rodgers at an Indiana sportsbook, which included wagers on Rodgers’ own team, the Colts.
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Reports later on Monday identified Rodgers — a 25-year-old entering his fourth NFL season — as the player in question.
Rodgers himself confirmed as much late Monday evening.
“Addressing the current reports, I want to take full responsibility for my actions,” he wrote on social media. “I know I have made mistakes and I am willing to do whatever it takes to repair the situation. The last thing I ever wanted to do was to be a distraction to the Colts organization, my coaches and my teammates.
“I’ve let people down that I care about. I made an error in judgment and I am going to work hard to make sure that those mistakes are rectified through this process. It’s an honour to play in the NFL and I have never taken that lightly. I am very sorry for all of this.”
If the allegations are proven true, Rodgers can expect a lengthy suspension.
In March 2022, the NFL suspended then-Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley for the entire 2022 season, for gambling on NFL games. Post-suspension, Ridley now plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and admits he “made the worst mistake of my life by gambling on football.”
Just two months ago, the NFL suspended three players (now ex-Detroit Lions Quintez Cephus and C.J. Moore, plus Shaka Toney of the Washington Commanders) indefinitely, for betting on league games, while two other players (now-ex-Lion Stanley Berryhill and promising young Detroit wideout Jameson Williams) will sit out the first six games of 2023, as punishment for presumably lesser gambling-policy offences.
Rodgers started nine games last season, after starting only once in 30 career games over his first two NFL seasons.
Gambling is rampant in today’s society. That includes sports now, more than ever. No one bats an eyelash anymore. Indeed, 2020s culture not only permits and endorses but actively pushes sports wagering. Even by the leagues themselves.
For instance, the NFL has three official sportsbook partners. And hello again, NHL! If this were an NHL playoff telecast on Rogers/CBC, we’d have been interrupted three times by now for a gambling ad.
The only surprise with these NFL suspensions is that there are so few, really, given the massive size of league rosters and the proliferation of easy online gambling opportunities everywhere nowadays.
Think about it. Of some 2,200 players on an NFL roster during the regular season — and more than 2,800 at this time of year, before late-summer cut-downs — do you think only a handful of them over the past two years (particularly seven, or 0.25%) have been betting on NFL games, or placing bets of any kind at NFL facilities?
Those are the two cardinal betting sins that apply to any NFL employee.
The NFL claims that all players ought to be wholly aware of all elements of its gambling policy, chapter and verse. A report Monday by TheAthletic.com render that claim as laughable — four out of every five players the sports news website interviewed around the league “didn’t know they couldn’t place mobile bets on other sports while at work.”
Think we’ll be reading a lot more about such player suspensions? You bet.