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The Indianapolis Colts announced on Wednesday that the team has officially signed another one of their draft picks—as the franchise inked 6th round (211th overall) UMass cornerback Isaiah Rodgers to a rookie deal:
Colts sign 6th-round pick CB Isaiah Rodgers. He's due 4-year deal worth $3,440,124 with $145,124 SB.
— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51) May 13, 2020
That's 2 down, 7 to go
Rodgers is the second of the Colts’ nine draft picks to sign—as 5th round Ball State offensive guard Danny Pinter signed on Tuesday.
At 5’10”, 170 pounds, Rodgers recorded 42 tackles, 9 passes defensed, and 4 interceptions during 12 starts this past season for the Minutemen.
He also has special teams returnman ability, having run 53 kickoffs for 1,295 total kick return yards (24.4 ypr.) and 11 punt returns for 120 total punt return yards (10.9 ypr.) and a touchdown in 2019:
Sooo, new #Colts CB Isaiah Rodgers can return kicks pretty well pic.twitter.com/9RbkPUHEMy
— Faraz (@BrownMamba13) April 27, 2020
As a senior, he earned PFF College All-America First Team (Kick Return), PFF College All-Independent Team (Kick Return), NEFWA All-New England (Defensive Back), All-ECAC (Defensive Back), and All-ECAC (Return Specialist) honors.
While undersized at cornerback, Rodgers is very fast (unofficial 4.28 forty time) with long arms (32 7/8”). He has solid ball skills (11 interceptions in four seasons) and is a willing run defender—which all collectively seems like the prototypical Colts cornerback.
Rodgers actually posted signing his Colts rookie contract a day ago, so it may have just been a mere formality of having it officially processed.
Given his added special teams versatility, Rodgers should be a serious challenger for one of the Colts cornerback spots lower on the depth chart as a developmental defensive back.