The NFL reinstated five players that were serving gambling suspensions Thursday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Here’s the news for the Eagles: None of them were named Isiah Rodgers.
Rodgers, in case you’ve forgotten, is the cornerback the Eagles signed last August after he and his Indianapolis Colts teammate Rashod Berry were suspended by the league a month earlier for gambling. Both Rodgers and Berry were released by the Colts.
Berry, a linebacker, was one of the players reinstated Thursday. The others were Detroit Lions wide receiver Quintez Cephus and defensive lineman Demetrius Taylor and Washington Commanders wide receiver Shaka Toney, who was the only player not released by his former team.
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An NFL spokesperson said via email that Rodgers’ situation “remains under review.”
The Eagles had no comment.
Perhaps Rodgers knows something good is about to happen for him because he posted a personal hype video on X shortly after Schefter’s post about the other players being reinstated.
It has to be at least a little concerning, however, that Berry and Taylor were reinstated and Rodgers was not because the league announced all their suspensions at the same time. The statement announcing the suspensions last year said all three were suspended indefinitely through at least the 2023 season after betting on NFL games during the 2022 season.
The players were eligible to apply for reinstatement at the end of the 2023 season.
Rodgers did an interview with ESPN’s John Barr following his suspension and said he made bets for friends in Florida from his online account because online gambling was not legal in the Sunshine State at the time, but it was in Indiana.
“Just trying to help friends and family out, just knowing that it wasn’t legal at the time in Florida and it was in Indiana,” Rodgers said. “At the end of the day I knew the rules, I wasn’t supposed to do it and I got to take what comes with it.”
According to the ESPN story, NFL investigators determined that Rodgers made bets from the Colts’ practice facility and that he bet on his own team, an offense that includes a one-year suspension.
ESPN reported that Rodgers placed more than 100 bets, including some of Colts’ games, that were mostly in the $25 to $50 range, but that he also cashed in on a $1,000 over/under prop bet on teammate Jonathan Taylor.
“That report is true, with it being $1,000, but that report wasn’t made from my device,” Rodgers told ESPN. “The $25 to $50 bets are exactly true, but it was more crazy-leg parlays with just $25 trying to make a crazy amount. Just funny bets. Nothing too serious. It was never, ‘This bet here is going to change my life.’”
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman was asked if the uncertainty of Rodgers’ situation would impact how he views next week’s NFL Draft.
“It goes back to that we got to view the draft as what’s best for the long-term version of the Philadelphia Eagles,” Roseman said. “If the long-term vision of our needs and our positional priorities is met with the short term kind of impact that’s a beautiful thing. But at the end of the day we’re not going to stretch or reach on anything just because maybe there’s a perceived need.”
Rodgers, 26, was a sixth-round pick by the Colts in 2020 and had developed into a contributing defensive player in his second and third seasons while also serving as the team’s kick returner since his rookie season. He averaged 27 yards per return during his three seasons.
More than 90% of Rodgers’ career defensive snaps have come on the outside where veterans Darius Slay and James Bradberry are currently at the top of the depth chart. Roseman said earlier this offseason that it’s possible Rodgers could also compete for the role of slot cornerback, which is also up for grabs despite the recent re-signing of Avonte Maddox.
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Bob Brookover can be reached at [email protected]