Vikings' Isaiah Rodgers has amusingly lofty INT goal for 2025 season

Few players have generated more buzz over the course of this Vikings offseason than cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, a free agent addition back in March. The team has high hopes for the former Colts and Eagles corner, who appears to be locked in as an every-down starter for Minnesota alongside Byron Murphy Jr.

No one has higher hopes for Rodgers than himself. He recently gave an amusing, perhaps tongue-in-cheek answer when asked if he has a goal for how many interceptions he wants to record this season.

"I put 15 in my notes," he said. "Just in case, if I fell a little short for it, still probably get 10."

Just to be clear, 15 interceptions would be a single-season NFL record, breaking the mark of 14 set by Hall of Famer Dick "Night Train" Lane back in 1952. No one has even had 12 picks in a season since Lester Hayes recorded 13 of them in 1980. Only nine players in the 2000s have had 10 or more interceptions in a season, most recently Trevon Diggs with 11 in 2021.

Rodgers has just three interceptions in his career, all of which came in 2021. But he's set to play a full-time role for the first time this year, and both coaches and teammates have raved about the ball skills he's displayed in practices over the course of the offseason.

"Footwork, for sure," Murphy said of Rodgers' skill set. "Definitely has speed, can run with anybody. Ball skills, too, he can go up there and get interceptions. Coach Hat (Matt Daniels) kinda said some stuff like 'he might have more ball skills than you,' so I gotta go compete with him on that. But nah, he's just an all-around corner who can do everything."

"He's here for a reason," head coach Kevin O'Connell said. "He's already demonstrated why we really wanted to bring him here. Probably one of the faster players on our team, ultra consistent, confident, never off balance, never panics, and I think that's gonna bode really well when you pair that skill set outside with the way we can pressure the quarterback."

10 interceptions probably isn't happening for Rodgers this season, but he's a sneaky candidate to lead the team in that department. Murphy had six of them last season for the Vikings, whose 24 interceptions as a collective defense led the league by a healthy margin. That was the most by a Vikings corner since Jimmy Hitchcock had seven in 1998. Harrison Smith had three of them last year and is the NFL's active leader in career INTs at 37.

If Rodgers can even get to four or five picks in 2025, he'll probably end up having a very strong first season in Minnesota.