Lions May Have New Leader in Starting Linebacker Battle

When the Detroit Lions re-signed Malcolm Rodriguez in March, the path to a starting job looked fairly straightforward.

Alex Anzalone was gone. Jack Campbell was locked in at MIKE. Derrick Barnes had the SAM role. Rodriguez, finally healthy again, appeared positioned to take over at WILL after spending most of the previous three seasons as a rotational linebacker and special teams contributor.

Then Devin White showed up.

Three weeks later, this competition looks considerably different.

White officially started Saturday’s 17-13 preseason win over the Washington Commanders, played 23 defensive snaps and continued to get the kind of work that suggests Detroit is doing more than experimenting with the former All-Pro.

Rodriguez played 19 defensive snaps, but how the Lions used those snaps may be even more revealing. White appears to be settling into the traditional WILL role while Rodriguez is increasingly being moved around the defense.

That does not necessarily mean Rodriguez is losing his place.

It may mean White is winning a different one.

This is what makes the competition interesting.

White did not enter training camp as Detroit’s handpicked solution at WILL. Rodriguez received the first-team work during OTAs and minicamp, while rookie Jimmy Rolder and Damone Clark were among the players expected to challenge him.

White wasn’t even on the roster.

Detroit signed White on Aug. 1 after Rolder suffered a hamstring injury. Rodriguez then injured his ankle, and White suddenly found himself taking first-team snaps.

Sometimes opportunity arrives quietly. White apparently had other plans.

Dan Campbell quickly noticed a different version of the linebacker than the one Detroit had seen on recent film.

“He looks like a different guy than what we saw in Vegas last year on tape,” Campbell said. “He’s moving well, he’s thumping, pretty smart, he’s got speed. Still has that speed.”

That evaluation came before Detroit played Washington.

Saturday supplied more evidence.

White officially started and was consistently around the football. The Lions’ snap distribution against Washington showed him leading Detroit’s linebackers in defensive snaps, while Rodriguez rotated into several different assignments.

White’s 2025 season also makes the development difficult to dismiss as a couple of good August practices. He started all 17 games for Las Vegas and set a Raiders franchise record with 174 tackles, along with 11 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

The issue with White has never been whether he can find the football.

It has been whether Detroit can get the explosive version without all the inconsistency that caused his career to drift after a terrific start in Tampa Bay.

So far, the Lions seem encouraged.

We already saw that shift when Campbell began praising White’s resurgence earlier in camp. What looked like an interesting veteran addition then is beginning to look more like a legitimate starting lineup change.

There is an easy way to frame this story: White is rising, so Rodriguez must be falling.

I don’t think the Lions’ usage supports something quite that simple.

Rodriguez played on the opening series against Washington even though White received the official start. On Detroit’s second defensive snap, both were on the field, with White remaining at WILL and Rodriguez moving inside to MIKE.

That matters.

Rodriguez has experience throughout this defense, plays special teams and has already proven he can step into multiple linebacker roles. Detroit knows exactly what he is capable of doing. The Lions brought Rodriguez back on a one-year deal this offseason after he returned late last season from the ACL tear that cost him most of 2025.

Back in March, Rodriguez called the open WILL job a major opportunity.

“It’s a big opportunity,” Rodriguez said. “I’m just going to come in and have the same mentality I had when I first got here. It’s always about competition and put my best foot forward and see where it goes.”

He has done that.

The problem for Rodriguez is that White has turned out to be a much more serious competitor than anyone could reasonably have expected when camp opened.

Recent usage has included Rodriguez at MIKE, in goal-line packages and in coverage situations. Pride of Detroit’s postgame evaluation came to a similar conclusion, noting that White’s path to the starting WILL job has become increasingly visible while Rodriguez has been deployed more situationally.

That could tell us where this is headed.

Here is the part worth watching.

The Lions may not be deciding whether Devin White or Malcolm Rodriguez deserves to play.

They may be deciding how to get both of them onto the field in roles that make sense.

Jack Campbell remains Detroit’s centerpiece at linebacker, and Barnes has his own defined role. White brings downhill speed and the ability to attack the line of scrimmage. Rodriguez gives defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard flexibility, experience and someone who can function at multiple spots without forcing the defense to change.

If Detroit were naming its starting WILL today, White looks like the favorite.

That sentence would have sounded ridiculous when training camp began.

Now it is difficult to argue with.

White has taken first-team reps, earned Campbell’s praise, started the second preseason game and continued playing the position while Rodriguez was moved around the formation.

There is still another preseason game and more practice ahead, so declaring the competition finished would be premature. Rodriguez has survived in Detroit for a reason, and his versatility may make him more valuable than the label “backup” would suggest.

But the starting job he appeared to own in July no longer looks like his.

Devin White arrived in Detroit because the Lions needed another linebacker.

He may leave August as something considerably more important.