​MIAMI GARDENS — With his 24th birthday around the corner, Jacob Rodriguez was presented with something he’d longed for.Don’t think of it as a gift. It is, after all, something Rodriguez earned. Besides, when was the last time anyone had work piled on their shoulders and considered that a gift?When the Miami Dolphins released veteran Tyrel Dodson, it cleared the way for Rodriguez to start at inside linebacker and serve as a quarterback of the defense, receiving play calls from coach Jeff Hafley, relaying it in the huddle and making necessary adjustments on the fly.Buy Miami Dolphins tickets on StubHubAll for a guy whose first NFL snap is still more than a week away.”I think it’s a blessing. I think it’s something you pray for,” Rodriguez said Sept. 2 in his first comments since the moves became official. “I think it’s something that you want, is you want kind of all the weight on your shoulders. You want it to be kind of ‘do or die’ on that aspect.”The decision wasn’t a surprise. The Dolphins had taken steps to smooth a potential Rodriguez-for-Dodson swap. Hafley was radioing in calls to Rodriguez, who wore the green dot symbolizing the radio helmet in both practice and preseason games. Hafley said he wanted Rodriguez to get used to hearing his voice and cadence in calling plays.“When Jacob is in there now, I will be the one talking to him because we have to get that — the communication — down,” Hafley said. “But it’s been that way for most of training camp.”Rodriguez filled a similar role at Texas Tech, performing it well enough to warrant the Dolphins spending a second-round draft pick on him this spring.”I think to have that helmet communication is awesome,” Rodriguez said. “I prefer it. I like to hear the call and then articulate to everybody else and then kind of get guys lined up where they need to be. I think that’s kind of how my brain is wired and how it works on the football field, so I like having it. I had it a year in college and I loved it.”Rodriguez didn’t hear Hafley’s voice at Texas Tech, which is why the two didn’t want to leave anything to chance when it comes to communication in the few seconds coaches have to relay calls. Dolphins fans are painfully aware of what happens when calls aren’t expedited (hint: delay of game, 5 yards). Rodriguez said he and Hafley have even worked on “little fillers” in the coach’s speech patterns to get used to one another.In a perfect world, Hafley will give Rodriguez the ideal defensive call based on the opponent and the down and distance. Except football isn’t played in a perfect and predictable world. That’s where the coaches’ trust in Rodriguez comes in.”I think in any call you kind of have a, not ‘get out of jail free’ card, but every call you have a check that you can go to be able to put your team in the right position,” Rodriguez said. “So if it’s something that we’re not used to seeing, it’s something that we haven’t prepped for, we can ki