Lions rookie linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez addresses concerns about his size

Lions’ rookie linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez fell in the draft due to a lack of size, and he talked about it in a recent conversation with Woodward Sports.

Based on production alone, Malcolm Rodriguez would have gone much higher in April’s draft. But a lack of size (5-foot-11) led to him falling all the way to the sixth round, where the Detroit Lions gladly took him at pick 188 after a move down from pick 181.

Rodriguez was a quarterback and and Oklahoma state wrestling champion in high school, so he’s got plenty of athleticism and he learned how to use leverage as a wrestler. As evidenced by what he did at Oklahoma State, with 100-plus tackles in two of his last three seasons and three All-Big 12 honors, he transferred those things to playing linebacker and the football field quite well.

Malcolm Rodriguez dismisses concerns about his size

In a Lions’ linebacking corps that needs an injection of talent, Rodriguez could make a push for a big role right away.

In a recent conversation on “Woodward Heights”, via Woodward Sports, Rodriguez talked about a few things. Naturally, concerns about his size came up (h/t to SI.com).

"It’s just one of those things where it was a height thing, that’s why I fell so far (in the Draft),” Rodriguez said. “The height and the arms. I always kind of used that to my advantage, being a wrestler, and having different angles and different ways to attack people. Different ways to attack people and linemen, obviously with short, compact arms. Either hit them or beat them with speed.It’s one of those things where I just kinda put it in the back of my mind and go out there and try to be around the ball with my instincts and everything.”"

At 5-foot-11, 225-230 pounds, Rodriguez should remind NFL fans old enough to remember of a  very productive linebacker who was similarly built.

Zach Thomas fell to the Miami Dolphins in the fifth round of the 1996 draft due to a lack of size. All he did was go to seven Pro Bowls, earn five First Team All Pro nods, lead the league in tackles twice and have 150 or more tackles six times over the first 11 of his 12 seasons in Miami. Tack on a final season with the Dallas Cowboys in 2008, and he had over 1,700 tackles in 13 NFL seasons.

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Rodriguez would be very fortunate to have a Hall of Fame-caliber career like Thomas’. But his fall in the draft is lined up to be another example of teams putting so much value on measurables, and losing sight of what someone got done or can get done on the field.