Allen Park — It seems like just yesterday that Malcolm Rodriguez rolled up to the Detroit Lions’ practice facility for his first NFL training camp, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on his way to earning a starting job as a sixth-round rookie and becoming a star on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series.
“It’s crazy how fast it’s going,” Rodriguez said Monday, after inking a new one-year deal to stay in Detroit for a fifth NFL season.
A little less than four years later, Rodriguez, who turns 27 later this month, is hoping for a similar trajectory to that of his rookie season upon returning to training camp this summer, when he’ll be fresh off a full, healthy offseason for the first time since 2024.
As the pieces around him grew in his second and third years with the team, Rodriguez saw a starting linebacker job pass him by. The team drafted Jack Campbell, now a First-Team All-Pro, and gave a three-year, $25.5 million contract to Derrick Barnes, who was drafted a year before Rodriguez. Alex Anzalone, meanwhile, developed into one of the league’s best coverage linebackers.
Rodriguez once again became an important piece while filling in for a rash of injured players during the 2024 season, but his season was ended by a torn ACL against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day.
For players coming off an ACL injury, it’s generally understood they won’t feel like themselves for most of their first season back, especially a player who was in a situation like Rodriguez, who hit the ground running midseason. He returned to the lineup on Nov. 23, Week 12 of the 2025 season, and played 72 defensive snaps while primarily featuring on special teams (160 snaps) the rest of the way.
Rodriguez continued to feel stiffness in his knee through the start of the offseason, leading him to take a significant break that seemed to get him right ahead of an important stretch of training.
“It was something new for me, coming off an ACL, never had an injury before like that, so it took some time getting used to it,” Rodriguez said. “… (People) were telling me that it was gonna be a little unusual at first coming back, so to come back and get a full offseason now, over a year and a half in, so it feels everything’s back to normal.”
With linebacker and longtime captain Alex Anzalone departing in free agency, the chance to compete for a starting job is firmly present. He just has to go out there and take it.
“It’s a big opportunity,” Rodriguez said while holding his young daughter at the podium on Monday. “I’m excited for Alex and his family … I’m just gonna come in and have the same mentality that I had when I first got here. It’s always competition here, so just put my best foot forward and see where it goes.”
At the very least, Rodriguez will have the belief of defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who was Rodriguez’s position coach through his first three seasons and has repeatedly attested to Rodriguez’s aptitude as a starting linebacker.
And Rodriguez’s consistent run-stopping ability should be enough to earn him an important spot in the rotation, even if he doesn’t win a starting job outright.
“I pride myself in the run defense, stopping the run game,” Rodriguez said. “… Fully healthy, it will be nice to… (be) flying around and doing my thing.”
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
@nolanbianchi
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: After returning to Detroit Lions, Malcolm Rodriguez eyes starting job
Reporting by Nolan Bianchi, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
