The Panini Senior Bowl’s slogan is “The draft starts in Mobile!” Pewter Report spent the past week in Mobile, Alabama, so you guessed it – it is officially draft season!

In a series of scouting reports, I am looking to dive deep on this draft class to identify the strengths, opportunities and fits for the Bucs in the lead up to the 2026 NFL Draft. With linebacker the top priority for the Bucs this offseason I have been focusing heavy on the position. A quick rundown of evals already completed:

Draft: Sonny Styles, Owen Heinecke, Kyle Louis, Arvell Reese, Kaleb Elarms-Orr

Free Agents: Nakobe Dean, Devin Bush

Continuing to focus on that position and homing in on one of the most exciting players of the Senior Bowl, I turned my eye to Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez.

Jacob Rodriguez Background

Jacob Rodriguez was a three-sport athlete – baseball and track in addition to football – in high school from Wichita Falls, TX. His track events were long jump, triple jump and relay showcasing his explosiveness. In high school he played quarterback and was recruited as such.

He earned multiple honors in high school including District 3-5A-II Offensive Newcomer of the Year as a sophomore and District 3-5A-II Co-MVP as a junior.

Rodriguez was a three-star recruit, ranked 412th overall, in his recruiting class. He committed to Virginia and played 12 games as what I can only describe as a Taysom Hill-like offensive weapon a freshman. He transferred to Texas Tech in 2022 and switched to linebacker.

Jacob Rodriguez College Career

After his time on offense at Virginia, where he tallied 56 yards rushing on 10 carries and caught eight passes for 65 yards, he played a part-time role as a sophomore. He was set to become a starter in 2023 but suffered a foot injury that kept him out of all but five games that year.

Rodriguez’s final two years in Lubbock saw him lead the Big XII in solo tackles each year while registering 255 total tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, five interceptions, 10 pass deflections, and 10 forced fumbles.

He led the FBS in forced fumbles in 2025 with seven, won the Chuck Bednarik Trophy for the best defensive player, won the Bronko Nagurski Award for most outstanding defensive player, the Butkus Award for the top linebacker, the Lombardi Award for the player who embodies the spirit of Vince Lombardi, and finished fifth in voting for the Heisman trophy while also earning All-American honors.

Here is a look at his production profile within all FBS linebackers with at least 250 snaps last year.

Scouting Report

Games Watched: Games Watched: Oklahoma State 2025, Kansas State 2025, 2025 Senior Bowl practices

Athleticism

Per the Senior Bowl’s official measurements:

Height: 6-1

Weight: 233 pounds

Jacob Rodriguez has fantastic long speed and is explosive along a linear path, but when asked to change direction with limited space is where deficiencies can show up. However, in space he can change paths well showing a high-end ability to match backs in coverage.

At 233 pounds, he has ideal size and physicality for the modern NFL, and he uses his strength as a weapon in concert with his downhill acceleration.

Run Fitting

Rodriguez is fast and aggressive when working downfield in well-defined gaps. In many ways his play is amplified by a strong front ahead of him. When given that environment Rodriguez is explosive working to the ball and shows an elite ability to create turnovers with a “my ball” mentality that is lacking in many of his peers.

However, when the front gets muddied and he has to sift through gaps as the play slows down, he can get lost in the sauce and a lack of hip dexterity shows up. This leads to missed tackles and less-aggressive takedowns where he gives more ground than he takes. That lack of flexibility in his hips also shows up in his take-on skills. There isn’t a lack of physicality, but just a struggle to bend and flex around blockers.

Rodriguez displays a high football I.Q. on the field and is a strong communicator, setting up the defense to be in the right place each play.

His strength shows up often in the physicality of his takedowns to his ability to rip the ball out of the hands of other players when he’s dictating the point of contact, but if he breaks down first, he is too often failing to square up players. This leads to missed tackles and yards given up after contact.

It’s January 28th and Jacob Rodriguez is still forcing fumblespic.twitter.com/sVPExsGGZX

— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 28, 2026

When taking on pullers he can play a bit high and that leads to him losing ground, but he can quickly recover with a side-step to slip the block. But his side-step can put him off a gap from the ball carrier. He takes inconsistent lines to the ball and can get to the sidelines with speed and authority but can break down unbalanced.

Coverage

Rodriguez is quick into his drops but hasn’t developed a consistent pattern of getting hands on eligible receivers and attempting to redirect as a part of his routine process. He matches vertical transitions from backs in the flat well.

When dropping into his hook zones he can widen too much and be late to condense against in-breaking routes to eliminate windows.

Texas Tech ILB Jacob Rodriguez – Photo by: IMAGN Images –
Nirmalendu Majumdar/

In one-on-one passing drills with running backs at the Senior Bowl, Rodriguez showed an ability to match athletes in space and a high I.Q. to read two-way go’s and not lose his coverage assignment. He also had a fantastic rep using his strength to knock a back to the ground as he tried to stem.

Jacob Rodriguez’s coverage ability has been impressive pic.twitter.com/KpdjLlD4Iy

— Billy M (@BillyM_91) January 29, 2026

He has the speed to carry the seam stemming from his track background.

Pass Rush

With the dominant front-four Texas Tech had along the defensive line in 2025, Rodriguez was not used as a pass rusher very often (half as often as the year prior). He finished in just the eighth percentile for pass rush rate this year.

At his best coming from off the edge where he uses his speed to cut the corner. I don’t think he’s very adept at helping the pass rush plan as someone who frees up teammates. He will slow when offensive linemen clock him and that reduces his impact and ability to dent the protection plan.

He uses his hands well as he clears the line, getting them up to create pass breakups, but he doesn’t use his power/speed combo to overwhelm backs as much as I would expect.

Best Traits

Instincts – has a nose for the ball. Rodriguez has a knack for getting it from the offense to the defense, consistently forcing turnovers throughout his career and even in all-star showcases.

Jacob Rodriguez steals your attention just like this. pic.twitter.com/nK9cTfFGBt

— Josh Queipo (@JoshQueipo_NFL) January 29, 2026

How Does He Fit The Bucs’ System?

Jacob Rodriguez best profiles as a Mike linebacker who can work downhill in a linear path. His lack of mugged-up reps and pedestrian pass rushing traits make him a less-than-ideal fit for Todd Bowles’ system that asks linebackers to play from the line of scrimmage often.

Texas Tech ILB Jacob Rodriguez – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Nathan Giese

However, his athletic traits should translate well, and his high football I.Q. shouldn’t shy the Bucs from considering him for their defense, but he does profile best for more of a read-and-react, off-the-line backer.

Given his NFL size and speed profile along with his knack for making plays I believe Rodriguez is a multiple-year starter at the NFL level.

Hear Jacob Rodriguez Speak

Part of NFL Draft evaluations are about more than the tape. Teams want to understand the person as much as the player. How do they think? How do they interpret the game? Who are they as someone who must integrate into a locker room?

We can’t see nearly as much of this as teams do in their in-person interviews, but this year I want to help all of us hear more from the players that we evaluate. With that said, we at Pewter Report were able to talk to Jacob Rodriguez in Mobile, Alabama at the Panini Senior Bowl. Here are a few clips of him talking about how he establishes a high level of communication in the unique setting of an All-Star game.

I had the chance to ask Jacob Rodriguez how he approaches communication at an All-Star event like the @seniorbowl where he’s playing with so many new players. Really appreciated his thoughtful answer. pic.twitter.com/EmlA3tByCY

— Josh Queipo (@JoshQueipo_NFL) January 30, 2026

I’m extremely impressed with his answer as he came off thoughtful and empathetic with a strong plan of action to yield the desired result.