Rodriguez Shows NFL New Way To Shed Blockers, Warren Looks Like He'll Start for Steelers
The Detroit Lions lost their season opener at home to Philadelphia 38-35, but it was an eventful debut for starting rookie linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, the rookie from Oklahoma State who became a national sensation in the HBO series Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Detroit Lions. He was such a sensation that his jersey sales soared to second on the team behind home grown top draft pick Aidan Hutchinson, the All-American defensive end from the University of Michigan and were sold out across all platforms.
Rodriguez had six total tackles and four of those were unassisted. He had one tackle-for-loss in the game, but his highlight play according to social media was his red zone defensive play where he had an extreme technique of ditching the block of Eagles center Jason Kelce. The former All-State and state champion wrestler at Wagoner High School hip tossed Kelce like he was a bale of hay.
Head coach Dan Campbell told the media on Monday that he was happy with the player the Lions call “Rodrigo” and that Rodriguez in his first regular season NFL game had no missed assignments.
“Listen, all in all, I thought he did a nice job,” Campbell analyzed. There were some pays he wished he could have back, but for a rookie that played a substantial role for us I thought he did a nice job. He was physical. He was aggressive, zero MAs (missed assignments) on top of that. Now we need more out of special teams from him, which we’ll get, but first time out of the gate defensively he did a lot of good things.”
You look at the cover picture for this story and you can see Rodriguez without a visor on his helmet had a swollen cheek. He said he got the reminder from his first game after his visor caved in from a hit in the game and he had the visor removed. Hitting running quarterback for the Eagles, Jalen Hurts, a former Oklahoma player had to be familiar for Rodriguez as they met in Bedlam previously. Campbell was also asked about Rodriguez in coverage. The head coach said that went well too.
“Listen, I thought he did a good job, really did. The majority of the stuff he did wasn’t man, it was zone. He played it well. I thought he was on top of it, really did.”
Malcolm was also the 12th highest rated overall rookie and the highest rated rookie linebacker with a grade of 73.4 on 46 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, following the first week of the play.
While Malcolm Rodriguez played well and experienced a frustrating loss in his first game. In Cincinnati, former Oklahoma State running back Jaylen Warren, who made the Steelers as an undrafted free agent and earned second-team status saw Pittsburgh win in overtime 23-20. He also saw his status change as Steelers starting running back Najee Harris go down with a foot injury.
"It sucked," Warren said. "I look up to him so seeing him get hurt, it was a bad feeling. I knew I had to step up. Obviously, no one wants to see that leader down. All we could do is be there for him."
Warren had three carries for seven yards, but now appears to move up the depth chart for the Steelers next game and New England coming to Pittsburgh.
"I'm on this team right now," Warren said. "Whatever I got to do to help them win, I'll do it."