Dolphins Reshad Jones is the Last Line of Defense
When all other positions have failed to close the gap, make the tackle, or provide over the top help, you are left with the Safety position. The LOD… which means the Last line Of Defence.
The Miami Dolphins have had a keen eye of selecting players to man this position. Throughout the years, Dolphins fans have seen Louis Oliver, Brock Marion, Sammy Knight and Yeremiah Bell master the backfield and provide pro ball seasons.
Like all organizations, there have been some growing pains (from Chris Crocker to Jason Allen), but when the Miami Dolphins selected Reshad Jones in the 5th round of the 2010 draft, many experts believed that they had found a special teams contributor that might someday blossom into a reserve player. Fast forward to 2015, and those so called experts scouting reports are now just dust in the wind.
Reshad Jones is Miami Dolphins LOD. Jones has anchored the position for the last few years providing eye opening statistics. Profootball Guide rated Jones statistically speaking, the 3rd best Safety in the NFL last year.
Jones development within the safety position has to be attributed to Miami Dolphins Defensive Coordinator. Kevin Coyle is known around the NFL as the Safety whisper. During Coyle tenure with the Bengals, he taught and mentored Reggie Nelson and Chris Crocker (Yes, the same player that was cut from Miami) into first round bust and cast off veterans into starting caliber safeties that produced one of the most elite defensive secondary’s in the AFC North.
With Jones continued development under Coyle tutelage, the Dolphins should be expecting nothing but great things in 2015. Statistically speaking, Jones play has seen consistent improvement as he has matured from a student of the game to a teacher. Reviewing the stats we can see the following:
Extracted from ESPN.COM/NFL
Since 2012 – Jones has started every game for the Dolphins, with exception being the 2014 season where Jones had to miss the first 4 games due to a violation within the NFL substance abuse policy. However, once Jones came back, he made an immediate impact on the field, almost eclipsing his highest interception total since 2012. With the acquisition of Louis Delmas, Jones has been able to play his true position rather than segment towards the line of scrimmage and play a nickel back linebacker. This offset position is what led to his highest amount of tackles registered in 2013. Now that the Miami Dolphins have found a player in Delmas that plays the same style without any limitation to Jones, we should see a steady decline into those tackles and increase in playmaking statistics; it’s a mutual exclusive relationship.
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Based on how this offseason has unfolded, and with the key players that the Dolphins front office has brought in, there is no reason not to believe that Jones will have his first pro ball year and potentially be a candidate for the defensive player of the year (key word candidate). There are lot of “ifs” for the latter to be true, but if everything develops as scheduled, the Miami Dolphins Last line of Defence will be a trusted asset to the Miami Dolphins
2015-2016 Projections – 16 GPS, 91 Tckls, 3 FF, 6 INTS, 5 Sacks