New Vikings Corner Passes Along a Message for Brian Flores
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores doesn’t need anyone’s permission to send a blitz, but maybe the message gets received anyhow.
Isaiah Rodgers, a new Vikings corner, met with the media on Wednesday. Maybe predictably, Rodgers was asked about playing for Flores, a DC who has a reputation for creativity and aggression. The corner was very welcoming of the idea of sending extra pressure: “With the team we have, I’m all for it, so blitz all day, it saves time me having to cover. I trust this team, I trust his strategy and everything he has going into game plans.”
New Vikings Corner: “Blitz All Day”
At this point, the fact is basically common knowledge in football circles, but the Eagles famously won the Super Bowl without sending extra pressure.
Minnesota, in contrast, likes to send extra men.
Flores has led the NFL for consecutive seasons, at least in terms of frequency of blitzing. In 2023, Minnesota came in at 1st place with a whopping 51.5% blitz rate. The number dropped by a huge amount in 2024, sinking down to a blitz on 38.9% of plays. Even still, that led the NFL yet again.
Rodgers, apparently, doesn’t mind the approach, imploring his DC to “blitz all day” while chatting with the media.
Sending an extra man — or, as is sometimes the case, extra men — means that coverage can get trickier for a corner. Sometimes, a corner can get left on an island, a true man-to-man situation. Those matchups can be difficult, especially in instances where the receiver has a size advantage.
Isaiah Rodgers, 27, stands at 5’10” and weighs 170 pounds. He first broke into the NFL back in 2020 when he was scooped up at No. 211 (the 6th Round). The corner put in work for three years in Indianapolis before being suspended due to a gambling infraction.
After coming back in 2024, Rodgers helped the Eagles to topple the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. The 2024 season involved Rodgers playing in fifteen games, starting three. He had 26 tackles, 4 passes defended, and 1 forced fumble.
The advanced defensive statistics on PFR suggest that only 46.4% of passes into his coverage were completed; 28 targets went for 13 catches. Within those 13 catches, Rodgers allowed 118 yards and 2 touchdowns while holding quarterbacks to an 82.1 rating.
PFF was similarly flattering, handing out a 73.2 grade for last season (including the playoffs). The analytics site explains that he snagged 368 snaps as a wide corner, 18 in the slot, 29 in the box, and 5 along the d-line. So, a bit reminiscent of Duke Shelley insofar as he’s a smaller corner who plays primarily along the outside.
In his debut season as a Viking, Isaiah Rodgers will carry a $3,598,500 cap charge. The number grows to $7,437,500 in his second season.
Brian Flores will be leaning on the new Vikings corner for quality reps along the outside. If the DC gets them, then blitzes become a lot easier to call with confidence. He may even feel emboldened to call them all day.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.