Miami Dolphins linebacker Jacob Rodriguez has quickly become a fan favorite, despite not having taken a single NFL snap. The Dolphins linebacker,who finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting in his final college football season in 2025 has the second-best-selling rookie jersey, and fans are not the only ones who appear to be high on the rookie.
Miami’s coaching staff has heaped high praise on the rookie as he gets ready for his first NFL season. As a result, a veteran member of the Dolphins defense may end up on the cutting block.
Miami Dolphins Willing to Move off Veteran Linebacker
While discussing how the status of All-Pro linebacker Jordyn Brooks may be impacted by the presence of rookie Jacob Rodriguez, Miami Herald writer Omar Kelly said on ‘The Dolphins Collective, “It ain’t Brooks the one they’re trying to move off of.” Kelly said, referring to linebacker Tyrel Dodson. Kelly added, “T.Dot (Tyrel Dodson) is the one they’re ready, willing and able to move off of.”
Releasing Dodson, who started 16 games for the Dolphins last season, would save Miami $2.9 million and would count as less than $1 million in dead money. Dodson is entering the final year of the two-year, $6.2 million contract he signed with the Dolphins prior to the 2025 season. The veteran linebacker was a midseason acquisition during the 2024 season, where he impressed in the final eight games of the season and earned his two-year contract.If Dodson remains with the Dolphins in 2026, his career earnings would surpass $15 million, according to Spotrac.
Last season, Dodson totaled a career-high 129 combined tackles and five sacks. However, he was not graded highly by Pro Football Focus, ranking Dodson 59th out of 88 qualified linebackers. The Dolphins linebacker particularly struggled in pass coverage, earning a 45.4 grade.
Dolphins Coaches Praise Jacob Rodriguez
As mentioned previously, Miami’s biggest reason for being willing to move Dodson is how highly they think of Jacob Rodriguez. Most recently, Dolphins run game coordinator Joe Barry praised the player, saying the rookie was his No. 1 player in the draft.
Barry said, “In the draft, you do all this prep, you do all this vetting, and very rarely does it work out where you get the guy that you really covet. And Jacob was our number-one-ranked guy. We coveted the hell out of him. Now, we had other needs and things. And also, quite frankly, I personally didn’t think that he’d be there when we were drafting with the 43rd pick.”
Additionally, Dolphins linebacker coach Al Washington also spoke highly of Rodriguez as he said, “He’s incredibly instinctive, I think he’s really efficient and he’s a really good tackler. When you think of tackling, there’s two types. There’s the knock them back, maybe like in the mid-90s. And Jacob has that, but I think the thing that I saw was in open field, there’s a high percentage of tackles being made as opposed to missed tackles.”
Washington added, “And to be honest, this was good for me, coming from college to the NFL, you watch nothing but college tape. And the separator was just that, a lot of guys struggle in the open field. And you think about the athletes at this level, I haven’t seen a bad one. I’m watching tape, the second-string running back is like… so everybody’s athletic. So being able to do that, being able to get yourself in a good base, being able to strike the appropriate way in open field is special.”
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