Every summer, all NFL teams gather their players together for a meeting about the NFL’s gambling policy.
What’s allowed? What’s not allowed? What will get you in trouble? What will get you suspended?
This year's presentation was a little different. Because the Eagles had a special guest speaker.
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Isaiah Rodgers.
Rodgers lost his entire 2023 season after the NFL suspended him for placing bets at the Colts’ facility, including bets on NFL games. Rodgers said he placed the bets for friends and family in Florida, where online gambling is prohibited.
Rodgers is now with the Eagles and who could possibly be better qualified to speak to his teammates about the NFL's gambling policy?
“He told his story and it was something so little that you never would think could be so big,” Devin White said after practice Monday. “He basically just told everybody his story, what happened, and just let everybody know it wasn't worth it. That was pretty -- I don't say it was cool because you don't want anybody to go through that.
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“He’s a high character guy, and he's a guy that's not ashamed of his situation. He took it on the chin, and he suffered his consequences and he fought his way back and he's doing a great job with it.”
You better believe the message got through to Rodgers' Eagles teammates.
“Just having an offender of that situation, the gambling policy, in the building, you can learn from that,” White said. “And I bet you he studied all the do's and don'ts, and he probably knows them like a book because … there's some things you can do, but it's the small fine detail that you can't do, and that's how easily it can happen.”
The Eagles got Rodgers for relatively nothing – one year, $1.055 million, exactly minimum wage for a player with three years of pension credit.
And all he’s done since signing here is show zero rust and move into the lead in a very competitive battle for the Eagles’ starting cornerback spot opposite Darius Slay.
“Just hearing about his story, you know, man, he learned from it (and) I learned from him as well,” White said. “So hats off to him for having a mindset of coming back and overcoming that and not letting it get in the way of his future. Because he’s got a daughter to feed.
“I really respect him. I respect his game. He's been out here doing everything that's been asked of him and he's been doing it at a high level. I always joke with him, tell him he's 'super fresh,' because he hasn't played ball in a while. But man, he's a guy on a mission, man. A hungry guy.”
Rodgers didn’t touch a football field for 512 days - from Dec. 26, 2022, his last game with the Colts - until the start of Eagles OTAs on May 20.
The suspension cost him $2.7 million in salary.
“On the field and off the field, I'm better, in every aspect,” Rodgers said Monday. “I think I took this year to reflect a lot and I think I definitely understand this is something I never want to lose again, so I'm definitely not taking it for granted.
“I've been locking in on my craft and really just trying to be better in every aspect of my game.”
The Eagles open the preseason Friday night in Baltimore, and Rodgers can’t wait. When you haven’t played in a game since Christmas week 2022, when you had a year of your career taken away from you, even a preseason game can seem huge.
“I want to play the whole game,” he said with a laugh. “I don't know if it's possible. If I can, I will. I definitely think the coaches want to see, too. I want to see where I'm at and you know just finally just run out the tunnel and play a game.
“I want a pick-six, a kick return, I want everything. I just want to make up for lost time.”
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