{"id":245545,"date":"2026-04-25T00:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T00:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/245545\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T00:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T00:52:12","slug":"the-miami-dolphins-draft-lb-jacob-rodriguez-at-no-43-overall-in-the-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/245545\/","title":{"rendered":"The Miami Dolphins draft LB Jacob Rodriguez at No. 43 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the 43rd overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins have selected LB Jacob Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Buccaneers
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTexas Tech\u2019s Jacob Rodriguez gets up after making a tackle against BYU during the Big 12 Conference championship football game, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNathan Giese\/Avalanche-Journal \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

With the No. 43 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Miami Dolphins<\/a> have selected Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a trend starting to develop with the Dolphins\u2019 draft selections. We\u2019ve now seen this regime log three selections in the top-50. The group of picks are all one-school players, with plus athletic profiles, and a slew of impressive production and accolades throughout the course of their NFL career. He\u2019s also Miami\u2019s second linebacker from Texas Tech \u2014\u00a0Jordyn Brooks is an alumni as well. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know about the pick and how Rodriguez projects to the Miami Dolphins.<\/p>\n

What to know about LB Jacob Rodriguez<\/p>\n

\"TexasTexas Tech\u2019s Jacob Rodriguez gets up after making a tackle against BYU during the Big 12 Conference championship football game, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.Nathan Giese\/Avalanche-Journal \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Age: 23
A to Z Sports Draft Projection:\u00a0Eventual Good Starter<\/p>\n

Career Projection:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJacob Rodriguez is an old-school LB who just so happens to be in the 2026 NFL Draft. He plays like someone from the 2000s with his tenacity, hit power, and overall skill set. He\u2019s a stocky 6-1, neatly 240-pound stacked backer who was beloved by his teammates and voted team captain on a defense that featured multiple draftable prospects.
He\u2019s highly instinctive with the ability to stack and shed blocks, and he doesn\u2019t run away or around offensive linemen like many modern stacked backers. Some teams may worry about his ceiling and durability due to past injuries and age, but his on-ball production and ability to create turnovers are why he\u2019s a widely projected starter at the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Gregson<\/p>\n

A to Z Sports NFL<\/p>\n

Grading the Dolphins selection of LB Jacob Rodriguez<\/p>\n

As we\u2019re getting to know this regime, we\u2019re getting a more and more clear picture of what they covet in their players. Through the lens of what Rodriguez brings between the lines, he\u2019s a three-down linebacker who paired big-time production with an impressive NFL Combine, and a slew of awards. Rodriguez is hailed as the leader of the Tech defense amid their college football playoff run, too. <\/p>\n

To offer a grade here, I\u2019ll go back to the words Jon-Eric Sullivan offered when they started this process. They\u2019re aspiring to build the Miami Dolphins from the inside-out. Rodriguez will help man the spine of the Dolphins\u2019 defense and, if paired with Brooks long-term, gives the Dolphins a pair of athletic backs to play in space together. <\/p>\n

There were some edge defenders and Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren who may have warranted consideration here, but Rodriguez is another logical fit based on what Sullivan and his staff are telling us matter most to him.<\/p>\n

Grade: B
<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"3\t\t<\/p>\n

Miami Dolphins News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 43rd overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins have selected LB Jacob Rodriguez.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[54521,1250,102342,123,1763,2797,125,124],"class_list":["post-245545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-dolphins","tag-dolphins-news","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-miami-dolphins-news","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}