Jacob Rodriguez's Difference-Making Skill Facing Immediate (and Major) Test

One of the Miami Dolphins’ most surprising moves of the offseason came when they released veteran linebacker Tyrel Dodson after he was listed first on the preseason depth chart alongside rookie second-round pick Jacob Rodriguez.

General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said there were several layers to the decision, like long-term planning and finances. Dodson, who finished with a career-high 129 tackles while starting 16 games in 2025, was entering the final year of his contract, while Miami invested the No. 43 overall pick in Rodriguez just four months earlier.

But a glaring weakness from last season also explains, at least in part, why Miami chose to go in another direction at the position.

The Dolphins gave up the second-most receptions (108) and fourth-most yards (1,134) to tight ends last season while also allowing eight touchdowns.

Dodson finished last season with a 45.4 Pro Football Focus coverage grade, ranking 67th among 88 qualifying NFL linebackers, while Rodriguez earned a 92.7 coverage grade during his final season at Texas Tech, the highest among qualifying collegiate linebackers.

“He's a good communicator. He knows where to be. He's very instinctive and he's good in coverage,” Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley said of Rodriguez. “If you just look back through training camp, he was able to get his hand on the football quite a bit. He took the ball away, whether he was punching it out or whether he was going up and having interceptions.”

Rodriguez’s coverage ability revolves around recognition and athleticism.

A former quarterback, he processes plays quickly, diagnosing RPOs and reacting well to routes developing out of the backfield without overcommitting to the flat and leaving himself vulnerable to wheel and angle routes. In college, he also sniffed out multiple screens by reading the offensive line’s initial pass set and quickly reacting when blockers begin releasing downfield.

Against Utah, he showed that patience while covering tight end Dallen Bentley, the Denver Broncos' rookie seventh-round pick who beat out Dolphins waiver wire pick-up Justin Joly in training camp.

Bentley delivered a hard chip before shooting into the flat and later turning upfield on a wheel route, but Rodriguez never bit underneath, staying attached to Bentley before bringing down a one-handed interception.

Brock Bowers Presents an Immediate Test

The rookie linebacker won’t get much of a grace period.

The Dolphins open the season at Las Vegas, where Rodriguez and Miami's second level will have to deal with Brock Bowers, who’s earned a Pro Bowl selection in each of his first two NFL seasons.

The former first-team All-Pro caught 64 passes for 680 yards and seven touchdowns while only playing 12 games last season. His 82.2 PFF receiving grade ranked fifth among qualifying tight ends.

He’s exactly the type of player Miami needs Rodriguez to help handle, but guarding one of the league’s most versatile tight ends is a mighty assignment for any rookie in his first game.

Las Vegas can line him up attached, in the slot or out wide, forcing Rodriguez to handle him through different releases and stems whenever he's asked to cover him.

While Rodriguez’s play recognition and athleticism help him stay ahead of routes, he can look stiff and straight-legged when forced to stop and restart, making sudden change-of-direction routes like jerks, whips and other double moves underneath tougher to handle.

For the Texas Tech product, though, the focus has been less on his weaknesses or the magnitude of the opportunity and more on handling whatever responsibility is directly in front of him.

“The less you see, the more you see. If you narrow your focus to what’s at hand, later in life you can look back and reflect on it,” Rodriguez said. “Right now it’s more like ‘you got a job to do, keep doing it.”

The Dolphins made a significant bet when they chose Rodriguez over Dodson.

If part of that bet was getting more range from their linebackers in coverage, Bowers will provide about as revealing a first test as Miami could ask for.

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