PHILADELPHIA -- When Isaiah Rodgers makes his Philadelphia Eagles debut in Friday's preseason opener, he doesn't want to settle on just one play. Any opportunity Rodgers gets to make a play, he's going to take advantage.
"I want a pick six, a kick return, I want everything," Rodgers said. "I just want to make up for lost time."
The hunger is still there for Rodgers, a year removed from serving an indefinite suspension for violating the NFL's gambling policy. Rodgers is going to have an opportunity to play football again this Friday against the Baltimore Ravens, which has been a long time coming for the former starting cornerback.
A chance he doesn't want to waste.
"I wanna play the whole game," Rodgers said. "I don't know if that's possible, but if I can, I will because I think the coaches want to see, too, where I'm at and just finally running out of the tunnel and playing a game."
Rodgers has come a long way since the low point of his career a year ago, when he was waived by the Colts after his suspension was announced. Through just two weeks of training camp, Rodgers is the starting cornerback opposite of Darius Slay, having the CB2 spot for four consecutive practices. Rodgers played his way into that spot, not taking having a starting job for granted.
"It keeps you level-headed," Rodgers said. "You can't come in here and take a day off because we have a lot of guys in the room who can start on a lot of teams in the league. You can't really take no days off. You can't come here and not study your playbook.
"You have to be locked in every day and I think that's what I needed coming off my suspension."
An example for players who want to dare betting on football, Rodgers has been the case study of the repercussions of committing such an act. He's spoken to other Eagles players about his transgression and the dangers of making bets for others.
"Hearing about his story, man he learned from it," said Eagles linebacker Devin White. "Something I don't wanna do. He told his story and it was something so little, you never would think it would end up so big. Man, hats off to him to have the mindset of coming back and overcoming it, not letting it get in the way of his future."
Rodgers has owned up to his wrongdoing since the NFL announced the suspension on June 29 of last year. He's vowed to use his mistake as a cautionary tale for others, while working tirelessly to change his reputation.
"He's a high character guy," White said. "He took it on the chin. Suffered the consequences and fought his way back. He's doing a great job with it.
"I really respect him, I respect his game. Been doing everything asked of him and doing it at a high level...He's a man on a mission. He's a hungry guy."
Dubbed "SuperFresh" since he hasn't played in a while, there was a time Rodgers was unsure if he was going to get another opportunity to play an NFL game again. Rodgers had a lot of time to reflect on his past transgressions and how much playing football meant to him.
"I think overall as a person on the field and off the field I'm better in every aspect," Rodgers said. "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 locked I on my craft and really just trying to be better in every aspect in my game."
Friday will be an emotional day for Rodgers, in more ways than one. This is just the next chapter in his story.
"I've been waiting for this moment," Rodgers said. "It got here faster than I thought, but I've been enjoying it, having fun, and flying around."