Read the full transcript from ILB Jacob Rodriguez's media availability on August 20, 2026

So has it gotten hotter or you're just getting used to it now?

Jacob Rodriguez: No, this is normal I feel like for us. It's just hot every day. You try to make it what it's not, but it's hot. It really is. It's hot. It's humid. You just got to hydrate well. You got to know that when you come out here, it's going to be hot. It's just part of football down here is that it's going to be this way all the time and kind of just got to prepare that way throughout the day for the next one.

First two joint practices under your belt. What did you learn? How did it feel?

Jacob Rodriguez: It's really cool. It's something that's I think very unique to the NFL. You don't ever do this growing up. You don't ever do it in high school, in college. And so coming out here and still working through plays and still working through some serious competition, you need full speed reps at, but you're getting against a different look. Like some of the issues that our offense presents us every day is different from what the Giants will present us every day here and then last week for the Commanders. I think it's just a really good mesh of just everybody in the NFL, that brotherhood of us being here, trying to get better, trying to work on what we do before the season starts.

What did you see on the interception?

Jacob Rodriguez: I was just kind of playing the defense. I think it was just a really advantageous position for us. I think in that period it was either second or third down and forever. So it was kind of rough on the offensive part from a play calling standpoint, so I was just kind of there doing my job with the play call that was called.

How would you assess overall the work of the defense today?

Jacob Rodriguez: I thought we came out and we executed well at a high level. We were physical. We paid attention to detail. And I think that was something that we came off last week and really wanted to hit on was executing and all the little details between each call is, kind of what we wanted to focus on. And today we got full speed reps at that and kind of tightened those details up to where we can continue to play faster and play harder. I love the effort and the aggression and the passion that we had out there today and hopefully we can continue that as we move forward.

Hafley said that he's probably going to be basically vanilla on defense. Could it be a little frustrating if you see something and you guys are just playing your base defense?

Jacob Rodriguez: Yes and no. I think yeah, obviously, as a competitor, you want to win. If you think something could work better, you want to always kind of voice that and try to see if we could tweak something to improve it. But also football, a big part of it is just effort and passion and heart. And if you can call something very simple, but you play it with the perfect technique and perfect effort and your heart and your mind is in the right place, I think you can dominate whatever call is made and so I see it both ways. I'm just excited to kind of keep moving forward and keep learning the system and being in the middle of trying to win games.

Being in the middle, you're the one that makes the calls and stuff so would you be that guy that say, 'hey, no, this is, this is different right now,' like in a real game?

Jacob Rodriguez: I kind of come off to the sideline and let them know what I'm seeing on the field. But I think the biggest thing is we're all just trying to win. We're all just trying to do it together. So whatever way we need to see that fit, he's (Hafley) the one that's going to make the call. And so I'm going to trust in him and what he has to say and what he's telling me. But I'll try to do the best I can to articulate what I see on the field and how we can adjust to that.

With Tyrel Dodson sidelined today, did you get an extended amount of reps and opportunity to lead the defense?

Jacob Rodriguez: Yeah, I don't know what the word is on him. I don't know what happened, but, he wasn't able to go through some of the team periods. And so then that just kind of – you got to take over that way. Jackson Woodard stepped up as well and he had to take more of a workload today. I think that was kind of just – everybody on the defense, everybody that plays football kind of knows that somebody goes down, you got to be ready to play. You got to be ready, you got to be in shape, you got to be mentally ready. You've got to just do your job. So yeah, today I kind of picked up a little bit more of a workload, but so did other guys.

What did you learn from the preseason game that you already played and this whole process?

Jacob Rodriguez: Kind of just trust your training. I feel like you're so excited and that was my first time playing a game obviously in the NFL. And you get so excited and so worked up on wanting to do the right thing and wanting to play as hard as you can. But also you can't let the details slip. I think that was a big thing of trying to do your best but also trying to play the mental game. Kind of slowing down, trusting your prep, trusting what you see and playing the game that way.

Sometimes players will tell you starting is very important to them. Other times I've heard players say it's just about playing time and not so much starting. What are your priorities in that regard?

Jacob Rodriguez: Winning. I don't care how we do it, when we do it, everything is about winning. I think as a team you got to try to grow your role as much as you can. I'd love to be on the field and playing every single snap I can. If I'm not, I'm not. But if we're winning, I'll be happy. I want everything, all the success for this team. I think I trust everybody in this building from the GM to the head coach to everybody. I truly believe that if we continue to work how we're working, that we will move forward and start winning games and start having a lot of fun doing it. That's the biggest thing for me.

I think early in team I saw Kyle Louis come from the safety position and show some strong run support right there with you. How does Kyle Louis the safety compare to Kyle Louis the linebacker?

Jacob Rodriguez: I think he's just versatile. I think he's a guy that can play both, play in and out. Same thing on special teams, he can play in the court, he can play outside as a gunner. He can do kind of everything on the football field. He really helps us out and getting a strong guy to fit the run if we need an extra hat in there, but also he's athletic enough and savvy enough playing football that he can play in coverage and he can play in the post and he can play a half. Like he can do everything on the football field on the defensive side. So there's really not much coaching him, he just goes out there and plays football. He knows the call, he'll articulate whatever he has to, but then he can go and play football and that's what we want for him to play fast, play with his ears pinned back and just have fun.

In what ways did Zeek Biggers and Jordan Phillips help you do your job today?

Jacob Rodriguez: Oh they're great. They're great every day. How strong they are, taking double teams especially with duos so prominent in this league, and who they are as people too. They come in and they got the same routine. They work really hard and my locker is kind of by them, so every time I can kind of kind of wiggle into a conversation with them and be a part and kind of show face is great because they're amazing. They really work hard and they believe in each other. They believe in this team, and they're the best. They're really funny. They're good to be around.

You had a tough assignment today with Isaiah Likely. What's it like to cover a tight end that runs routes like a receiver?

Jacob Rodriguez: He's a really good player. I think he creates those mismatches that you want as an offense just because you can be in a certain personnel, but you have to play something completely different. He creates a big mismatch. It's cool to be on the other side and see kind of what he does firsthand. I think he's a really well-rounded player, and I'm excited to see what he does.

Seemed to get a little chippy out there between the two teams. What was it like to experience that, and what was your vantage point of that big scuffle kind of near the facility? What was going on there?

Jacob Rodriguez: I think it was more so just about passionate football. I think guys just kind of want to play, they want to play hard. And everybody knows they're playing for a job. You're playing for kind of how you feed your family this year, so they want to put really good stuff on tape. Sometimes other people don't see it that way, but I think you have to play this game hard. You have to play it passionately. Obviously, you don't ever want there to be a fight. I don't think that's football. That's not tough. It's never what you want to see on the football field. You just want to work out there and get better. But you know sometimes it happens if there's a disagreement. And so we try to break it up as soon as we can, but we're back to playing football. That's never acceptable, but we got to keep moving forward.

To piggyback off of that, I know physicality is a big theme around here. What did you think of the physicality that you guys showed today?

Jacob Rodriguez: I thought physicality was great. I thought we came to practice and had a great intention. I thought the opportunities that we had to thud, we thud. The opportunities we had to attack the football, we did. I think if we can continue to play with the right details and the right execution, the effort and the intensity and everything, that's there. If we continue to match that and raise the bar as we keep going, the sky's the limit for us. So we're going to have a lot of fun this year if we keep doing that.