Cameron
Goode.
Cameron
Goode.
California
"A six-year Cal outside linebacker with three degrees and thirty-six and a half career tackles for loss who spent four Miami seasons on practice squads and injury lists, finishing with twenty-nine tackles."Pre-draft read
A stand-up outside linebacker built around explosiveness rather than mass. Goode is six-three and tested at 237 pounds with a 39-inch vertical, a 4.29 short shuttle and a 6.91 three-cone, elite change-of-direction numbers for an edge player, and he pairs them with 33 7/8-inch arms that let him keep tackles off his frame on the loop.
His best trait is closing range in the backfield. Thirty-six and a half career tackles for loss is not an accident: he times snaps well, converts speed to a flat angle and finishes plays that most edge players only pressure. The concerns are durability and anchor. He missed most of two seasons, and at his playing weight he gets displaced by tight ends and tackles who reach his chest first.
A 3-4 front that uses him as a stand-up rush linebacker on passing downs and protects him from having to set a hard edge against the run.
Year 1: special teams contributor and situational pass rusher. Ceiling: a rotational edge who plays 300 passing-down snaps.
A four-man front that asks a 240-pound end to hold the point against down blocks on early downs, where his anchor disappears.
Miami's hybrid front was the right home; his body simply never stayed available long enough to prove it.
Cameron Goode Highlights
Conference-network cut of his Cal pass-rush production.
Film Breakdown: Why Cameron Goode Made the Miami Dolphins 53 Man Roster
Analysis of the traits that earned him an NFL roster spot.
Cameron Goode meets with the media, 2022 NFL Draft
His first press availability after being drafted 224th overall.
Goode is the son of James Goode, an Oklahoma linebacker taken in the fifth round by Atlanta in 1991 who never played an NFL game, and the nephew of Don Goode. He played 10 years of baseball before committing to football at Klein Collins High School in Spring, Texas, then spent six full seasons at California, redshirting as a true freshman in 2016.
He produced right away. As a redshirt freshman in 2017 he appeared in nine games with 46 tackles, six tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, three breakups, a forced fumble and a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown. A season-ending injury limited him to one game in 2018, though he made it count with a 38-yard pick six. His junior year in 2019 was the breakout: 12 games, 57 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.
Injury cost him most of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, four games in which he still posted eight tackles for loss and three sacks, and he came back for a sixth year. In 2021 he played 11 games with 45 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks and four breakups. Cal's official records credit him with 37 career games, all starts at outside linebacker, 171 tackles, 36.5 tackles for loss, 21.5 sacks, 10 breakups and two interceptions returned 70 yards for two scores, along with three degrees.
- 01
Thirty-six and a half career tackles for loss
sustained backfield disruption across four seasons of real snaps at outside linebacker.
- 02
Elite agility testing for an edge defender
a 4.29 short shuttle, 6.91 three-cone and 39-inch vertical at his pro day.
- 03
Length to keep blockers off him
33 7/8-inch arms and a 6-foot-9 3/4 wingspan on a frame that can still add weight.
- 04
Takeaway production rare for the position
two interceptions returned 70 yards for two touchdowns, plus two forced fumbles.
- 05
Six years of program investment and three degrees
a coachable, low-maintenance prospect who started every game he played.
- 01
Two seasons lost to injury
one game in 2018 and four in 2020, which cut his six-year career to 37 games of actual evidence.
- 02
Light for the edge at 237 pounds
tight ends and tackles displace him when they get into his chest before he can extend.
- 03
Turns 24 during his rookie season
a sixth-year senior who is already older than most second-contract players at his position.
- 04
Production came in a soft Pac-12 pass-rush context
he beat backups often enough that the sack total flatters the win rate.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | California | 9 | 46 | 1.5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 2018 | California | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | California | 12 | 57 | 9.5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 | California | 4 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | California | 11 | 45 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Career | — | 37 | 171 | 21.5 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
Season lines come from Sports Reference; the career line uses California's official career totals, which credit 37 games, 171 tackles, 36.5 tackles for loss, 21.5 sacks, two interceptions returned 70 yards for two touchdowns, 10 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Games, tackles for loss, breakups, interceptions and forced fumbles reconcile exactly across the two sources. The season tackles sum to 170 against the school's 171, and the season sacks sum to 21.0 against the school's 21.5; both one-unit gaps come from bowl or postseason accounting and are left visible rather than smoothed over. The 2021 line is independently confirmed by cfbstats. He redshirted in 2016, so no row exists for that year.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Miami-developed hybrid linebacker who made his living on passing downs and special teams first.
Light, agile Pac-12 edge who grew into a full-time starting rush linebacker in a 3-4.
Day 3 edge whose NFL role never grew past depth before injuries ended the run.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Miami took him 224th and spent four years trying to keep him on the field. He was waived on August 30, 2022 and re-signed to the practice squad, signed a reserve/future deal in January 2023, then repeated the cycle the next August before earning a promotion to the active roster on September 30, 2023. That was his real season, a rotational edge and special teams role that produced most of his 29 career tackles before the Dolphins placed him on injured reserve on January 9, 2024.
The injuries never stopped. He opened 2024 on the physically unable to perform list in July, spent the season on reserve and was not activated until December 21. Miami re-signed him on March 4, 2026 and released him in final roster cuts on August 30 that year, closing a four-year run entirely with one franchise. Twenty-nine tackles from a seventh-round pick who spent most of his professional life on practice squads and injury lists is a reasonable return on the 224th selection, but the pass-rush production that made him a draftable prospect never once showed up on Sundays.