MIAMI GARDENS — Jordyn Brooks hits and tackles and tackles and hits and comes at you with relentlessness and passion and emotion and fury.
Brooks is a Miami Dolphins linebacker and he’s not just any linebacker as his team has six games to play and somehow he already has 125 of those tackles, more than any NFL player.
Where does that fire come from? What burns inside Jordyn Brooks?
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It goes back to when he was a youngster, Brooks will tell you. He and his siblings and his Mom in Texas and money could be tight and there were moves in and out of homes, as detailed in a pre-draft story in 2020 by ESPN.
“I think a lot of us that you see that play on Sunday, and the way that we play, it didn’t just start from what you see in the league,” Brooks was saying recently in a quiet moment in the Dolphins locker room. “It’s like a foundational piece of what happened.
“So during that time in Little League for me, me and my family was going through a little bit of adversity once I first started playing football. So I think a lot of that anger and controlled aggression, whatever you want to call it, stemmed from that moment.”
Brooks was speaking the day after returning from Madrid, Spain, where he racked up 20 – count ’em, 20 – tackles in Miami’s 16-13 defeat of the Commanders.
“I think it was just, ever since then, that’s just the way I played football,” Brooks, 28, said of his childhood. “That’s just the way that I approach it.”
Dolphins’ Jordyn Brooks leads NFL in tackles
Signing Brooks was an extraordinary move by former Dolphins general manager Chris Grier. Brooks is fast and physical and sets an aggressive tone for his teammates.
The last time a Dolphins player had 20 tackles? It was Zach Thomas, of course, against the Bills in 2006.
Thomas and Brooks happen to be two of the best linebackers – arguably the best two linebackers – in Texas Tech history. And so, yes, they’ve talked.
“I actually had a great conversation with him over the off season,” Brooks said of Thomas, the Pro Football Hall of Famer. “He gave me some great advice. We talked about a lot. I appreciate his advice. We keep in touch here and there. So he’s been a guy that I’ve looked up to since I stepped day one at Texas Tech, and then obviously coming here. So anytime he reaches out, man, makes my day.”
No NFL player has ever had more tackles on international soil than Brooks just did.
“I didn’t know that, actually,” Brooks said. “It’s pretty cool, you know what I mean? It’s pretty cool. And it’s just a testament to everybody, you know? It’s not an individual game. It’s definitely some things… I could have played a lot better game than just by having 20 tackles.”
Brooks is humble. Obviously. But he is a violent tone-setter on the field, despite his low-key, soft-spoken nature off the field.
On the one hand, Brooks is a lead-by-example guy. On the other hand, he turns into a Ray Lewis-type in pre-games, as the entire team gathers around him on the field and he screams encouragement.
“Just try to like, one last rah-rah before we go out to the to the field and go to battle,” Brooks said. “And just remind the guys what we already know. What we have to do with the mindset going into the game. And obviously I do it for myself, to get myself going. So I think it works out for all of us.”
Jordyn Brooks is Dolphins’ emotional heartbeat
It was Brooks who bluntly said after a loss in the cold at Green Bay in 2024 that the team had played “soft.”
It was Brooks, according to a teammate, who earlier this season ordered a Pop-A-Shot game removed from the Dolphins locker room when the team was 2-7. They’ve won twice since.
It’s not about the Pop-A-Shot, of course. It’s about how Brooks wanted the team to approach preparation and games with the seriousness, intent and focus he does. Hes declined to get into the Pop-A-Shot removal.
“It’s our job, number one, you know what I mean?” Brooks said, speaking generally. “And the position that I play requires that, you know what I mean? It requires more than just going out there and playing. It requires leadership.
“It requires being the same guy every day and being a good steward over what God has blessed us with. That’s all. I take a lot of pride in that. I’m just serious about getting the job done. Doesn’t mean it’s going to be perfect every time, but that’s just my approach to it.”
Brooks has earned the highest compliments from teammates and coaches.
“He is relentless and disciplined,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver says. “When you earn his trust he comes out of his shell. He’s outkicked whatever we thought he was going to be as a leader. He’s surpassed that.”
It would seem taxing to record 20 tackles in an NFL game — and it is.
It’s all about recovery, something that was a tenet of Zach Thomas’ success, too.
“Sauna, getting sleep, and making sure I’m eating right,” Brooks said.
When asked if it would be meaningful to lead the NFL in tackles, Brooks reminds the questioner he’s already done it once.
Brooks had 184 tackles in 2024 with the Seahawks. He had 109 solo stops.
“Earlier in my career, and I didn’t appreciate it the way I should have,” Brooks said. “And anytime God blesses you to do something in this league, I think you should always be appreciative of that.”
Brooks wants desperately to win and losses his him hard.
“I would much rather us win out than me leading in anything,” he says.
Brooks said his Mom, Lynn, is his “biggest fan.”
He thinks he calls her pretty regularly but she says it’s never enough.
Brooks speaks about his teammates as family. But there’s Mom and six siblings, too. Where Jordyn Brooks is from and the family that stuck together, led by Mom Lynn, is a huge source of motivation for all those tackles.
“I really appreciate her,” Brooks said.
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Joe Schad is a journalist covering the Miami Dolphins and the NFL at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jschad@pbpost.com and follow him on Instagram and on X @schadjoe. Sign up for Joe’s free weekly Dolphins Pulse Newsletter. Help support our work by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins LB Jordyn Brooks leads NFL in tackles. Zach Thomas is his ideal ‘advisor’
Reporting by Joe Schad, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
