Kelly: Jordyn Brooks is on the verge of redefining himself, his NFL career | Opinion
Six tackles is what separates Jordyn Brooks from football immortality.
That’s the number of stops he leads Las Vegas’ Devin White by heading into the NFL’s regular-season finale.
Brooks might be banged up — nursing a hamstring injury that got him shelved at the end of last week’s 20-17 win over Tampa Bay, and limited his practice participation this week — but there’s no doubt the Miami Dolphins’ top defender is playing against the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon.
After all, he has history to make.
“JB is a warrior,” coach Mike McDaniel said about Brooks, who has recorded 174 tackles, 3.5 sacks, one forced fumble and recovered another. “He has the full intention of playing. The only way he wouldn’t is if his body wouldn’t let him.”
While finishing a season as the NFL’s league’s leading tackler might not seem like immortality to some, consider that Brooks’ primary job as one of two inside linebackers in a 3-4-based scheme is to make defensive stops.
For one season he’s on the verge of doing it better than everyone else in professional football.
The last Dolphins player to lead the NFL in tackles was Hall of Famer Zach Thomas, who did so in 1994, which happens to be the first season the league officially tracked tackles.
“It would be an honor,” Brooks said, when asked how important finishing the 2025 season as the NFL’s leading tackler is.
Brooks came close to being the NFL’s leading tackler in 2021. He logged a whopping 184 tackles for the Seattle Seahawks, which selected him in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, but only got to use him for six games because of a knee injury he sustained that season.
But on his return Brooks tore it up. However, he finished eight tackles behind Atlanta’s Foyesade Oluokun for NFL tackles leader that season.
On Sunday, he has a second change to achieve a personal goal.
“The whole season in itself, I’ve gone out there and played hard, the best I can. It would definitely be pretty cool to finish on top,” Brooks said. “But more importantly I really want the win, to finish as a team.
“That’s what my focus will be.”
While this season hasn’t gone the way Brooks, or any Dolphins player or coaches had hoped, the player the Dolphins signed to a three-year, $26.2 million deal before the 2024 season admits he has learned a ton about himself.
Last season, teammates and coaches joked that Brooks barely said 20 words to anyone in the building. He was quiet. Observant, but reserved.
This season Brooks has become the unquestioned alpha of the Dolphins team.
In fact, everyone associated with this year’s team will acknowledge that the Dolphins are “his team,” and he carries himself with that aura.
“I don’t think the first six months he talked,” linebacker coach Joe Barry said last week. “Now he’s the voice of our team. He has become an elite player, and an elite leader.”
Exactly what led to this metamorphosis?
“Growing, getting older as a man. I learned from a lot of guys I played with in the past,” Brooks said, specifically referring to fellow linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright during his Seattle tenure. “Seeing how they went about their leadership role, that was important for me. Coming here, I kind of grew into that. It’s always been in me, but to learn how to truly lead, I had to see that.”
What’s the biggest lesson he’s learned about leadership?
“It’s not always going to be great all the time. You’ll have more down days than you will good, and it’ll be your job to pick up the morale, and to make hard decisions. The biggest thing I’ve learned this year as far as leadership is, ’You have to choose.’ “You have to choose to be the same person every day, no matter what the circumstances are,” Brooks continued. “Losing can make you want to act a different way. Losing can make you want to go through the motions. But you’ve got to be the same guy when you’re winning. That’s the hard part.
“Same energy. Same work ethics. Same upbeat mentality.”
According to Brooks, his spirituality has been the anchor for that. He consistently wears shirts with a spiritual message on them, letting the world know he’s a believer in Jesus. Christ.
“Staying grounded, staying in my Bible helps me show up to work. In the embarrassing moments we had this year, if you stay in the natural, your natural feelings are going to be F that, and F this,” Brooks said. “Being rooted in something different, Jesus for me, helps me stay even-keeled.”
Brooks is one of two players in the NFL to have recorded 100-plus tackles and three sacks in each of the last three seasons, with Tampa Bay’s Lavonte David being his only peer.
Brooks is one of seven active players to post 100 tackles in five or more consecutive seasons, and the first Dolphins to total 100 tackles in back-to-back seasons since Jerome Baker in 2019 and 2020.
He became the fifth player since 2000 to reach 800 tackles in the first six seasons of his NFL career, joining Roquan Smith, Patrick Willis, Luke Kuechly and Oluokun.
“Consistent. A man of God. A great professional. On the field I’ve seen him blossom. His whole game has improved. His tenacity is what he brings to the game,” fellow inside linebacker Tyrel Dodson said. “He’s a true professional.”
According to Dodson, Brooks set the tone for the entire team during their first offseason workouts when he was consistently outrunning many of the cornerbacks in sprints.
He made it clear then the bar had been raised, and he hasn’t lowered it yet.
“He’s a pro’s pro,” said Dodson, who himself shined this season, producing 121 tackles, five sacks, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovered. “He’s special.”
