Who Should I Start? Malcolm Rodriguez or Drake Jackson

Friday, November 29, 1:08 PM

Detroit Lions linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez (knee) suffered a torn right ACL in Thursday's Thanksgiving Day win over the division-rival Chicago Bears and will miss the rest of the season. It's a tough blow for Rodriguez, who had started six games this year while picking up 43 tackles and two sacks. The 25-year-old's season-ending injury came in the fourth quarter of the eventual 23-20 victory over Chicago on Turkey Day. He had five tackles and one pass breakup in the game before departing. Rodriguez will certainly need surgery and could be in danger of missing the start of the 2025 season, depending on how his rehab goes in the offseason. The Lions defense also lost a key piece of their linebacking corps recently when Alex Anzalone broke his forearm. The 30-year-old is expected to miss six to eight weeks and was placed on Injured Reserve.

Monday, July 29, 5:01 PM

San Francisco 49ers defensive end Drake Jackson (knee) will miss all of training camp as he recovers from patellar-tendon surgery that ended his season after just eight games in 2023. "We've got to see how rehab continues to go, but definitely not any time in camp," head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "Anytime you do that type of surgery that he had. those are big surgeries. They're tough to come back from. You never know how they're going to react. We always know it's a possibility to take a long time, and it's taking a long time." The second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft has posted six sacks through his first 23 NFL games. Recently signed defensive end Leonard Floyd is expected to start opposite Nick Bosa to begin the 2024 campaign.