One NFL Draft expert offers the highest possible praise for a pair of Miami Dolphins 2026 rookies
One NFL Draft expert offers some massive praise for a pair of Miami Dolphins rookies.
There’s a whole lot of buzz around the Miami Dolphins‘ second-round selection of linebacker Jacob Rodriguez. Whether it was assistant general manager Kyle Smith’s praise on draft night or Jeff Hafley’s recent words on ‘The Richard Sherman Podcast’, Rodriguez seems like a player with ample fanfare.
But one NFL Draft expert would like a word about Rodriguez’s new teammate and fellow Dolphins draft selection. ESPN’s Louis Riddick just gave some major praise to new Dolphipns linebacker Kyle Louis.
ESPN’s Louis Riddick praises Miami Dolphins’ Kyle Louis and offers major praise for rookie LB duo
During an appearance with Marissa Marino of DolphinsTalk.com, Riddick pulled no punches on the upside he sees with Louis.
“Let’s not forget Kyle Louis, because those two together (Louis & Jacob Rodriguez)…down at the Senior Bowl those two guys were together, along with a kid named Kaleb Elarms-Orr from TCU. And Bryce Boettcher was down there from Oregon as well. These were all guys that I saw during the year. And I’ll tell you what, they were easily the best players on the field at the Senior Bowl. I mean, Jacob. Kyle. Elarms-Orr — they were flying all over the place, making play after play after play,” said Riddick.
The commentary is fair, too. I was also at the Senior Bowl in January and Riddick is right on the nose. But that’s not the highest praise Riddick handed out to the Dolphins. That came in a tweet responding to a clip of the interview on Twitter.
It’s been a minute since the Miami Dolphins have had a linebacker tandem to write home about. They’ve seen some stellar play over the years, including from Jordyn Brooks the past two years and Karlos Dansby in the 2010s. But a pairing? That’s a different beast. And Riddick seems to believe this rookie combination can, eventually, become one of the league’s best.
One thing Jeff Hafley had in two years of coaching in Green Bay? An athletic combination of off-ball linebackers. He’ll now look to weaponize his rookie duo, alongside the rest of Miami’s off-ball group, as the pillar of his defense in South Florida.
We don’t need Rodriguez and Louis to become the best linebacker combination in football for that to happen — but it wouldn’t hurt. Right?
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