Kelly: Tyrel Dodson worked too hard to give up his starting spot | Opinion
Jacob Rodriguez was so frustrated by his inability to pull down a pass from a coach during a drill designed to sharpen the linebacker unit’s instincts and hands, the rookie spiked the ball on the turf after bobbling it.
Tyrel Dodson, a leader of the unit, saw Rodriguez seemingly getting tight during Tuesday’s practice, walked about 10 yards to reach the rookie and then seemingly provided a few reassuring words.
Rodriguez can’t let a moment of frustration throw him off his game, or practice.
Flush it, and move on.
That message, mind-set is a daily tactic Dodson has not only had to learn in his seven NFL seasons but the driving force behind this former undrafted player and NFL practice squad member’s professional survival.
“This is why I’ve been [in the NFL] eight years. I don’t worry about everybody else. I worry about myself,” Dodson said. “I put the work in.”
Dodson had to apply that approach when a domestic incident led to him being undrafted and got him penalized with a six-game suspension at the start of his career.
He used it when he kept being passed over for starting roles in the early stages of his career in Buffalo.
And it came into play in 2024 when Seattle cut its leading tackler after acquiring another linebacker Ernest Jones IV at the trade deadline.
It also came into play last April when he discovered the Dolphins drafted Rodriguez in the second round, adding college football’s best linebacker in 2025 to the Dolphins roster.
With Jordyn Brooks entrenched as Miami’s starting weak-side linebacker, a logical hypothesis is that Rodriguez and Dodson are competing to see who starts next to the NFL’s leading tackler. And with the Dolphins rebuilding, logic hints that the player with upside will eventually be favored.
“Y’all going to [try to] divide us. Y’all [gonna] try to divide us, and we’re right here,” Dodson said, interlocking his hands. “I’ve been in a room where we had seven NFL starters in [Buffalo]. A.J. Klein, Terrell Bernard, Tremaine Edmunds, Matt Milano, [myself] — they’re all doing good now.”
Dodson is referring to his early days in Buffalo, when he was the low man on the pecking order in the linebacker room.
Day by day he earned his keep. First finding a role on special teams, and then eventually, when opportunity presented itself, contributing as a linebacker who replaced an injured starter.
That’s how Dodson spent his first four seasons with the Bills before the Seattle Seahawks signed the 28-year-old to a one-year deal worth $4.2 million. He was leading Seahawks in tackles before he was released.
Miami claimed Dodson off the waiver wire, and when he settled into the Dolphins’ defense he was used in a situational role. He wound up leading the team in interceptions and finished 2024 with 107 total tackles, three interceptions and two sacks.
That level of production got him re-signed by the Dolphins to a two-year deal worth at least $6.25 million, and Miami made him a full-time starter and the team’s green-dot player.
In 2025 Dodson produced a second-straight 100-plus tackle season and paired his 129 tackles with five sacks, and one interception.
But last season was last season. This year he has new coaches, a new scheme and new competition.
“I just see me versus me. It’s about critiquing myself, and not only on the field, off the field,” Dodson said. “How can I be a better leader? How can I pour into the younger guys because I was once in their shoes, coming into a system unknown.
“[I’m] trying to lay out the red carpet for them so it makes it easier for them. That’s what someone did for me, and that’s what I’m going to do for everybody else.”
That’s what Dodson was seemingly doing for Rodriguez, passing it forward.
That’s how good veterans act, even when they know they are training their possible replacement.
“Our job is to play the best players who give us the best chance to win games, whether that’s a guy that’s been here as a starter, whether that’s a guy that was drafted, whether that’s a free agent that we brought in. I’m not here to just play guys because of where they were drafted or what they’ve done,” head coach Jeff Hafley said. “I’m going to play the guy that has done the most, that gives us the best chance to win.
“T. Dot [Tyrel Dodson] is a very, very smart football player. He’s a really good communicator. He sees the game really fast. He’s a highly intelligent guy, and he loves ball,” Hafley continued. “He’s been a lot of fun to coach, and I haven’t seen anything other than a guy who’s striving to get better and be a great teammate.”
Living right, and playing the game right is exactly how Dodson wants to make an impact in Miami, and wherever that places him is just fine with him because it’s the approach that’s gotten Dodson here.
