We have officially reached the phase of scrubbing social media clean of anything Green Bay Packers in Quay Walker‘s potential – and maybe likely? – divorce from the team. Feelings towards Walker were mixed among the fanbase nearly his entire time in Green Bay, and the duo of him and Edgerrin Cooper never truly clicked. Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez could be a natural replacement.
With Walker’s imminent departure, linebacker becomes a sneaky need for the Packers. Green Bay has depth to get by with Isaiah McDuffie and Ty’Ron Hopper, but that by no means is good enough. If Walker leaves, Green Bay should not settle for McDuffie and Hopper as LB2 and LB3. They should be looking to add multiple players in free agency and/or the draft, and the entirety of the depth chart behind Cooper should be a competition.
Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, a Hastings, Minn. native, is one player who was a massive winner at the NFL Combine. He could come into the room, compete for a starting job on Day 1, and give Green Bay an element they’re missing.
College linebackers like Rodriguez don’t come around too often. He was the leader and engine of one of the best defenses in college football.
In his final two seasons, he had 255 total tackles, 10 forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, five interceptions, and six sacks. He was a fringe Heisman candidate in 2025. That’s a rare feat for a defensive player, but even more so for an off-ball linebacker. He was a special, dominant college player who took home every award a linebacker could.
However, many people thought Rodriguez was an elite college player but not a high-level NFL prospect. The assumption was that he’s an undersized, older, underwhelming athlete. Many felt he’s the player he is because of instincts and experience. That adds up to a Day 3 pick who’s a long shot to be as special as he was in college in the NFL.
The reality is that he might be a special football player.
Jacob Rodriguez participated in every testing drill except bench press and dispelled any concerns about athleticism with a 9.52 relative athletic score. That included one of eight sub-seven-second three-cone drills at this year’s combine, and he did it at 230 lbs.
On top of all that, his backpedal and react drill were not included in the relative athletic score. Rodriguez ran 18.43 MPH in the drill, the fastest recorded speed in the drill of every linebacker at the combine since 2023.
That all came after a Senior Bowl week where he continued to be all over the field.
Combine the college production with the athleticism, and you have a guy who’s now a fringe first-round pick despite his size and age.
In 2025, he had an overall grade of 93, a run defense grade of 94.8, and a coverage grade of 92.3. All three were second-best ever for a linebacker.
Now, he’s not a perfect linebacker prospect. I’ve mentioned the age, which doesn’t affect him on the field, but it will on the boards.
However, the size can at times. He will sometimes get swallowed up at the second level because he lacks some play strength at just 6’1”, 230 lbs., which may be the reason he didn’t do the bench press. It can also occasionally affect him when finishing tackles. There are also times when he can get too big-play happy and over-commit to misdirection or have some coverage busts or overruns in coverage.
Despite that, Rodriguez still finished with the near-perfect PFF grades above. He has risen to 55 on the consensus big board and 45 on the PFF big board – right in Green Bay’s range. The Packers have needs at more premium positions like corner, offensive line, and defensive line, so it may not feel like the best use of resources to take an off-ball linebacker. However, Rodriguez is a better and more impactful football player than many players in a similar range. Still, we have to get through free agency before we know exactly Green Bay’s biggest needs.
If Rodriguez makes it to 52 and is clearly the best player available, then there should be no question whether it is worth it. It’s a big enough need for the defense, the fit next to Cooper would be awesome, and the type of player he projects to be is the type of field-tilting linebacker that is a premium player. The only reason he’d be available at 52 is that he’ll turn 24 just before his rookie season and is undersized.
Jacob Rodriguez would fit seamlessly into Green Bay’s defense as a chaotic turnover machine, which is something Green Bay missed sorely in 2025. The fit next to Edgerinn Cooper would be awesome and would hopefully unlock the version of Cooper we were hoping to see last season. The stuff Gannon could do with him and Cooper is something defensive coordinators dream of.
As of right now, it would be one of the more exciting players to add to this team for me. A high-IQ defensive playmaker, this defense has missed over the years.
