ALLENTOWN – Isaiah Rodgers has the date circled – Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. It’s Week 7 of the NFL schedule. It’s when Rodgers’ new team will visit Lincoln Financial Field to play Rodgers’ former team, the Eagles.

“Yeah, I got it marked on my calendar,” he said on Saturday.

It was a no-brainer for Rodgers to leave this offseason after the Vikings offered him $8 million guaranteed as part of a two-year $15 million contract to pry him away from his one year with the Eagles.

Rodgers was back in the area to attend the 5th annual DeVonta Smith Celebrity Softball All-Star Game on Saturday. He was a valuable contributor to the Eagles Super Bowl championship season, playing 328 snaps (36 percent) in 15 games with three starts.

Rodgers said he has already collected his championship ring, but that there will be a ceremony on July 18. That may be breaking news since the Eagles haven’t revealed any plans for that. He also has no plans to attend the Eagles' championship banner raising in its season opener against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 4.

“I’ll be watching on TV,” he said.

There is still a great deal of respect from Rodgers when it comes to the Eagles and how they took a chance on him shortly after he was suspended for violating the NFL’s gambling policy for one year. The Colts cut him, and the Eagles signed him, even though he had to sit out the 2023 season and was not allowed to be around the team.

“It was hard,” said Rodgers about departing, “but things happen in this business. You never know. It was a smooth process, but at the end of the day you have to do what’s best for your family. (General manager) Howie (Roseman) knows it’s all love. Howie, Big Dom (DiSandro, the head of security), (owner) Jeffrey (Lurie), everybody in the building knows that I wouldn’t be here today without them. Those are my guys. We’re all still good. There’s no bad blood.”

There is also mutual respect between him and the fans. He received a warm introduction from the standing-room-only crowd at Coca-Cola Park when he was announced for his turn during the home run derby, a title he won last year, but lost out on his defense when Cooper DeJean smashed 14 home runs in two rounds to Rodgers’ 10.

“I interact with the Philly fans as much as I can on social media,” he said. “It’s a team that revamped my career, bringing me back to life. So, I’ll never look at a situation that I’m a Minnesota Viking, and I’ll never deal with you guys again. I still interact with Colts fans, Eagles fans, and Vikings fans now. I’ll still be around as much as I can.”