When the Detroit Lions selected LB Malcolm Rodriguez in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, not many believed he would quickly play a big role in the defense.
But Rodriguez proved over and over again during OTAs and then during training camp that he has what it takes to play in the National Football League and that is exactly what he did on Sunday during the Lions’ Week 1 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Lions rookie Malcolm Rodriguez hit Eagles player so hard his visor ‘punched back’
You may have noticed that Malcolm Rodriguez started Sunday’s game with a visor on but ended it without.
Following the game, he explained that he hit an Eagles player so hard that his visor “punched” him back in the face.
“A little sore. But first NFL game. That’s to be expected, so wish we would have come out with the win,” Rodriguez told MLive in the locker room. “I had to take my visor off. Had like a little screw. When I hit somebody, it ended up — punched me back in the face. So the visor didn’t like me, so I took it off on the sideline.”
Rodriguez also talked about what made defending quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Eagles defense so difficult.
“We knew coming in he liked to go roll out to his right,” Rodriguez said. “So we were just trying to get our gameplan trying to stop him from rolling out to that right. But, you know, a guy like that. He’s still able to roll out, so it’s just one of those things that we got to get back on the chalkboard and just chalk it up.
