The Second Most Popular Jersey, Really Rodrigo!

Get it while you can because we found out in the final episode of Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Detroit Lions that sixth-round rookie linebacker draft choice Malcolm Rodriguez of Oklahoma State has the second top selling jersey this summer and preseason of any member of the Detroit Lions. That’s right! Those Honolulu blue jerseys with the silver 44 on them are flying off the shelves in the Lions souvenir store. 

“We’ve created a monster,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said upon learning of the jersey sales. 

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

After the final preseason game with Jaylen Warren and Mason Rudolph.

No, Malcolm Rodriguez has created a monster. All of us around Oklahoma State knew he had this in him. We knew what kind of player he was in high school, college, and how that would translate to the NFL. Then the perfect storm was created when HBO decided to roll with the Lions for Hard Knocks. If you love football, then you relate to Rodriguez because he shows with every action that he loves the game.  

I looked at my wife as we watched the final episode that focused on so many of the cuts made on the team, but during Rodriguez big scene in this final episode watching him explain to the employees of the Rodriguez Vaquerita, a western specialty store in Detroit that he grew up on a farm with horses, chickens, and you couldn’t wear sweats. He needed to celebrate his making the team, even being a starter with a new Cowboy hat, western shirt, wrangler jeans, and new boots, it looked like he wound up with dark ostrich. 

Detroit Lions

This is just the start.

A monster maybe, but Malcolm Rodriguez, the Detroit Lions, NFL Films and HBO with the Hard Knocks series have created a new NFL star. The great thing is this star is not entitled. He doesn’t take anything for granted. Malcolm Rodriguez will earn his NFL stardom every day and every game because that is the way he rolls.

Tune in next when the Lions open the season at home at Ford Field with the Philadelphia Eagles at noon (CT) on Sunday, Sept. 11.