I guess our boy has a new nickname. Can’t fight it.
He’s getting some serious love from the staff, especially Shep. I watched him pretty closely against the Falcons and thought he did…OK. He was getting lost in the wash a few times. Previously, I predicted he’d be starting by the bye week. A few of you guys told me to pump the brakes, that it would be crazy for a sixth rounder. But after the show tonite, you have to ask whether he’s our week 1 starter? Man we could have a real diamond in the rough here. Finally.
Go MRod, I mean Rodrigo! (isn’t a nickname supposed to save some syllables, lol??)
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I sure hope so. But, you could really see how underwhelmed Coach Sheppard is with the linebacker room when he was calling them all out. Rodrigo made a special teams tackle on the 1st play of the game, but he was pretty invisible the rest of the time he was out there on defense in the 1st half. Clearly a big learning curve for the rook. But, some of these other dudes need to step up. Barnes and Board to name 2 in particular.
I’m concerned about that group after seeing hard knocks. I mean I always was concerned, but even more now.
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I hear you … my concern started when they let their highest rated linebacker from last year walk, when it would have cost 4M-5M ?? to keep him. That was a head scratcher.
We keep hearing how they don’t value LB’s. Another head scratcher, We need someone to breathe some life into that room, hopefully its MRod, and someday Barnes.
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If you’re talking about Reeves-Maybin, I think they let him walk because he’s super average. We just haven’t seen a consistently very good LB since maybe Stephen Boyd.
I don’t understand what the Leos want LBs to be or do but its a weakness when the 6th round kid is your best.
Holy crap, that interaction to start Hard Knocks was straight up intense! “We have a coach here for 5 years who has not seen stack linebacker play like that until this rookie showed up” (or something similar). Man, Shep threw it down!
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Agree. But isn’t super-average light years ahead of putrid?
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You kind of have to feel sorry for Shep. He’s in charge of the room that gets no respect. But yes - he was almost begging the vets to not let the rookie take their job. While Rodrigo is squirming and nodding. Had to be uncomfortable for the young man.
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We used to call one of my buddies from high school, rest in peace, Amigo Rodrigo the Rapping Rodriguez. It makes me think of him every time I hear/read someone reference Malcom’s nickname. Love it, and love this kid… he’s a hardnosed football player who just loves the game and hit people.
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That truth made me laugh. It also made me think, we really are conditioned to subpar football. A guy like Maybin felt like a world-beater because he was consistently competent. I think our coaches are confident that they can make or find several of him. I do think this is the best teaching staff I’ve ever seen the Lions have.
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This and they have said more than once, if a player doesn’t want to be here, they don’t want him. Maybin chose to seek money.
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Well, I would never blame a player for seeking what he was worth. He only got 2 years, 7.5 million. We should have at least matched that offer, especially with what AG said about him, only last December:
“Man, that guy is a football player,” defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said in December. “The thing is he loves football and you clearly see that when he’s on the field. Anytime you have a player of that magnitude, you can’t help but just put him on the field. You can’t help but just play him. And, I know he was relegated to special teams years before, but he’s shown he can be a starting inside linebacker.”
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