Chris Rodriguez Knows His Late Mother Would Be Very Proud Of Him

Chris Rodriguez was happy to have family with him on draft day. (Vicky Graff Photo)

I still remember talking to Chris Rodriguez several times during his University of Kentucky football career when he brought up how much his mother, Stephanie Thornton, had meant to him.

That hit me Saturday after Rodriguez got picked by the Washington Commanders in the sixth round of the NFL draft and talked about what it meant to him.

His mother died in January from lupus and he honored her memory during the Senior Bowl. He was near tears several times during a Zoom call with media members after being picked by the Commanders as he explained why he spent his big day with so many family members.

“I felt like we were all just with each other because of a tragic accident,” Rodriguez said about the family being at his mom’s funeral in January. “I told them I didn’t want something like that to happen again. I wanted to make it to where we were all just around each other, making memories.”

That’s what they did Saturday in Georgia and the UK running back said “family is huge to me” and that was very obvious.

“Everybody in one house is a beautiful feeling,” Rodriguez said of his family draft party. “It’s hard not to cry. Some people have not talked to me yet because if they do, they said they will cry.”

He debated leaving Kentucky for the NFL after the 2021 season when he was one of the best running backs in the Southeastern Conference. His mother reminded him that he had promised to become the first member of his family to graduate from college, so he stayed and graduated in May of 2022 with a degree in community and leadership development.

“My mom would be extremely excited (today). If she was here now she would be over my shoulder kissing me,” Rodriguez smiled and said. “I had this dream as a child but so did she. She always wanted me to be in the NFL and accomplish my dreams.

“I kind of get choked up now knowing she is looking down. If she were here, she’d still be proud.”

The ironic part is that Rodriguez was driven to become a NFL not for himself but because he wanted to give his mother a better life.

“All the goals and aspirations were through her,” Rodriguez said. “I wanted to do everything through football to give her a better life. My mom had lupus, and I wanted her to not struggle or have to go through anything.”