Nicholas Rodriguez

Nicholas Rodriguez has gone from a rotational piece to the center of Missouri's defense in two years, and the 2026 production is impossible to ignore. The Miami native and St. Thomas Aquinas product played 155 snaps as a freshman in 2024, then earned his first start against UMass in 2025 and finished with 61 tackles, 4.0 for loss, 1.5 sacks and a team-leading seven pass breakups, capped by a 16-tackle game against Virginia in the Gator Bowl. As the full-time starter in 2026 he led the SEC with 50 tackles through five games, tied for third in FBS, and strung together four straight double-digit tackle games, the first Tiger to do that since Cale Garrett in 2018. He earned SEC Player of the Week honors after an 11-tackle, 1.5 TFL showing in the homecoming rout of No. 8 Florida. The draft world has been slow to catch up: Fanspeak's consensus board has him around No. 276 and LB28 with an ADP near 192 in community mocks, and a PatsFans draft thread noted his tape stands out but his frame, listed at 6-0 and 225 after playing at 208 and 215, is the reason he gets so little buzz. That same thread floated safety as his likely NFL home. His background supports the picture of a physical, instinctive tackler: a four-star recruit per ESPN and Rivals, Broward County defensive player of the year, a state wrestling champion, and 270 career tackles with 15 sacks for a program that won four straight Florida titles. He profiles as a Day 3 linebacker who wins with instincts, pursuit and ball skills, and his combine weight and testing will likely decide whether he is drafted as a weakside linebacker or a big safety.