On her latest Making Monsters podcast, Taylor Doll is joined by Chois Woodman, who covers the Texas Tech Red Raiders for Double T 97.3 and 100.7 The Score. They chat about several defensive players for Texas Tech, who had the 2nd best scoring defense in college football last year, including defensive tackle Lee Hunter, linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, and EDGEs David Bailey and Romello Height.
Rodriguez (6’1”, 231) was one of the most decorated players in college football in 2025, winning the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, the Bronko Nagurski Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Dick Butkus Award, the Vince Lombardi Award, and he was unanimously named a 2025 Consensus All-American.
Woodman said Rodriguez was a “turnover machine,” being involved in “as many turnovers as several teams in the country,” and besides leading all of college football with 7 forced fumbles, he also had 4 interceptions, and 2 fumble recoveries.
Rodriguez has been mocked a lot in the second round, and if he’s still on the board when the Chicago Bears come up at 57, he’d be a no-brainer pick.
“I think he’s your true heady, perfect instinct middle linebacker, and where you look at where Jacob Rodriguez excelled, it’s in the film,” Woodman said on the podcast.
Besides the playmaking ability, instincts, and high football IQ, he was also one of the most athletic linebackers at the NFL Combine. “But what can’t be matched is his leadership,” Woodman said. “I think Jacob Rodriguez is as good of a leader as you’ll find… I think he is as good a player as you can get.”
Give Taylor’s show a listen in either of the embeds below, and let us know if you’d like the Bears to draft any Red Raiders.
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Here’s Taylor’s full schedule for her NFL Draft series.