Detroit Lions' Malcolm Rodriguez embracing new fullback role: 'Felt good to hit somebody'
BALTIMORE — The Detroit Lions were looking for more ways to get second-year linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez involved in the game plan. On Sunday, they found an unorthodox one.
Rodriguez played a handful of snaps as a blocking fullback in the Lions' 38-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. A 15-game starter on defense as a rookie in 2022, Rodriguez said he had not played offense since his days as a high school quarterback in Oklahoma.
"It felt good to hit somebody," Rodriguez said. "I haven’t played offense since high school, so just going out there, doing whatever I can for the team."
Rodriguez started Sunday's game in the backfield with Jahmyr Gibbs and was used primarily as a run blocker on a day when the Lions had only 14 carries.
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He said he started practicing at the position last week, after going two games without getting a snap on defense.
The Lions' third-leading tackler as a rookie, Rodriguez had fallen to fourth on the linebacker depth chart this season, behind starters Alex Anzalone and Derrick Barnes and rookie first-round pick Jack Campbell.
"Rodrigo, we think there’s a lot of flexibility with him," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "We’re always talking about how do we maximize the roster and we’ve been heavy on defense going to the game, with the guys that we have ... and so we felt like, 'Hey, man, lets give Rodrigo a go at fullback.' We’ve been intrigued by that for a while and we know he’s going to the game because he’s a core special teams player for us, plays some defense when needed, so we just wanted to get him more involved, so we’re intrigued with him. We like him at that position as well."
The Lions have converted two other linebackers to fullbacks in recent seasons with good success.
Nick Bellore played fullback in goal line situations in 2017 before switching positions from linebacker full-time the following year, and Jason Cabinda made the switch from linebacker to fullback in 2019.
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Cabinda remains with the Lions, but is currently on injured reserve.
Both Bellore and Cabinda were key special teams players before moving to offense, and Rodriguez said that experience helped him this week.
"Like I said, whatever I can do for the team to help us win," Rodriguez said. "So like I said, I was eager to do that and get on the offensive side of the (field)."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Detroit Lions used LB Malcolm Rodriguez at fullback vs. Ravens
