John Barr, ESPN
TAMPA, Fla. — Former Indianapolis Colts cornerback Isaiah Rodgers Sr., in his first interview since being suspended by the NFL for betting on his own team, says that while bets were made from his account, they were made for others and not himself.
Rodgers said the wagers, including some smaller ones and a $1,000 prop bet, were placed from his online sports gambling account. He said they were made for people who lived in Florida, where online sports betting at that time remained illegal.
“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 told ESPN.
Rodgers, citing legal reasons, declined to identify the individuals that he says he placed bets for.
“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,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers was suspended on June 29 for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. That same day, he was waived by the Colts.
As part of an ESPN “Outside the Lines” look at sports betting, Rodgers talked about the wagers, the suspension and how he’s been dealing with his season-long absence from the game.
In suspending Rodgers, NFL investigators determined that he had committed multiple offenses. He’d placed bets at the Colts’ facility. Even worse, he’d bet on his own team — something that under league rules at the time meant a one-year suspension.
Since then, the penalty for a player betting on his own team was increased to a two-year suspension.
At the time of his suspension, ESPN reported that Rodgers had placed more than 100 bets — including on Colts games — and most were in the $25 to $50 range. One wager, in particular, stood out: a $1,000 prop bet on the over/under on rushing yards by Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, which Rodgers won.
“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.'”
Rodgers was asked why he would jeopardize the $850,000 salary he was set to earn during the 2023-24 season.
“I questioned myself, too,” Rodgers told ESPN. “But I thought I probably wouldn’t get caught, wouldn’t get in trouble.”
Rest is here…
