{"id":265770,"date":"2026-04-25T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T10:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265770\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T10:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T10:28:12","slug":"dolphins-draft-texas-tech-lb-jacob-rodriguez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265770\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins draft Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 After the Miami Dolphins<\/a> secured an offensive lineman<\/a> and cornerback in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday, they went linebacker in the second round Friday.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins selected Texas Tech\u2019s Jacob Rodriguez with their second-round pick, at No. 43 overall.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez measures in at 6 feet 1 3\/8, 231 pounds and was a tackling machine for the Red Raiders, the same school which produced current Dolphins All-Pro linebacker Jordyn Brooks and Hall of Famer Zach Thomas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to me,\u201d Rodriguez said of following in their footsteps. \u201cJordyn has given me a lot of words of wisdom as I\u2019ve gone through my years here, and then, I was able to create a good relationship with Zach Thomas. He\u2019s been mentoring me and letting me reach out to him for any questions I have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks was so fired up over the pick, he actually got in his car and hustled over to Dolphins facilities to join the team\u2019s war room.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez had accolades galore in college. Last season, he was a first-team All-American, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award (nation\u2019s top defender), Lombardi Award (nation\u2019s top lineman) and Butkus Award (nation\u2019s top linebacker).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re buzzing in there in the room,\u201d Dolphins assistant general manager Kyle Smith said of adding Rodriguez, a defender who is expected to be a leader.\u00a0 \u201cJacob\u2019s a guy we\u2019ve coveted for a long time. \u2026 Jacob\u2019s one of those guys, that\u2019s a flag-bearer, captain, going to walk in Day 1 and be that type of guy. (He) takes the ball away, run game, pass game, three-down player. Go down the list of every single attribute that you want in an inside \u2018backer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added GM Jon-Eric Sullivan later Friday night: \u201cThe tape speaks for itself. He\u2019s all over the field. He makes plays everywhere. His instincts are second to none. He can play in space on third downs, and he\u2019s going to help this football team.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 14 games, Rodriguez had 128 tackles. He was highly productive on the ball, perfecting the craft of punching the ball out against ball-carriers with seven forced fumbles in 2025. He added four interceptions, 11 tackles for loss with a sack and six pass breakups.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Rodriguez had 127 tackles with 10 1\/2 tackles for loss, five sacks and three forced fumbles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not really a thing on tape from a stat line that I don\u2019t think he hasn\u2019t done \u2014 punch-outs, PBUs in the pass game, interceptions in the pass game,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe\u2019s got a unique spatial awareness, ability to play in space, feeling where his zones are and where bodies are from the other team and he closes them down in a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez, being the leader he is, credited teammates for scooping up the fumbles he forced when asked about his fumble-forcing acumen.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins chose to go with an off-ball linebacker, where they have returning starters in Brooks and Tyrel Dodson, over the likes of greater perceived needs like edge rusher, wide receiver and safety.<\/p>\n

Sullivan said Rodriguez will wear the green dot as the player who receives radio communication from coach Jeff Hafley, who will call Miami\u2019s defense, in due time. That belonged to Dodson last season. It now appears the two will be competing to start at the \u201cMike\u201d linebacker spot, with Brooks handling the \u201cWill.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Dolphins were on the clock at 43, other available players included edge rushers like Missouri\u2019s Zion Young, Michigan\u2019s Derrick Moore and Illinois\u2019 Gabe Jacas, Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard and Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.<\/p>\n

Dolphins Deep Dive: Perkins, Furones on Miami\u2019s Day 2 selections in draft | VIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

Before Miami\u2019s top Day 2 selection, prospects taken earlier in the second round included wide receivers Da\u2019Zhaun Stribling of Ole Miss (No. 33, San Francisco) and Washington\u2019s Denzel Boston (No. 39, Cleveland) and edge rushers in Clemson\u2019s T.J. Parker (No. 35, Buffalo), Oklahoma and Cardinal Gibbons High alum R Mason Thomas (No. 40, Kansas City) and Texas A&M\u2019s Cashius Howell (No. 41, Cincinnati).<\/p>\n

Miami took massive Alabama offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor<\/a> at No. 12 in Thursday\u2019s first round and San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson<\/a> with the 27th pick.<\/p>\n

To wrap up Day 2, the Dolphins took a pair of wide receivers and an in-line blocking tight end with their three picks in the third round<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First, they doubled down on Texas Tech prospects, taking wide receiver Caleb Douglas following the Rodriguez pick. Miami then snagged Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek and Louisville wideout Chris Bell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 After the Miami Dolphins secured an offensive lineman and cornerback in the first round of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3785,10363,6183,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-265770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-jacob-rodriguez","9":"tag-miami-dolphins","10":"tag-nfl-draft","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-headlines","13":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}