Dolphins Reshad Jones upset over Pro-Bowl snub

The Miami Dolphins have a pro-bowl safety in Reshad Jones even if he isn’t going to the Pro-Bowl. And Reshad Jones  isn’t happy about it.

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The Dolphins safety learned on Tuesday night that he wasn’t voted into the all-star joke the NFL calls the Pro-Bowl. Fear not Jones, it’s likely you will make every other All-Pro list after the season is over. And guess what? Those mean a whole lot more these days than that thing the NFL calls a game.

The Pro-Bowl used to mean something. O.k. it’s never really meant anything but players that were voted in considered it an honor. Then the NFL decided to make it a joke. They moved the game to the week prior to the Super Bowl thus eliminating any Super Bowl participants from playing in it. Then they decided to open the voting to fans. Then they decided to eliminate AFC and NFC nominations. Then they decided to hold a “draft” by some of their former washed up players serving as captains.

Snicker, snicker, LOL.

Yet the honor of being voted in means something to some people. Jones apparently is one of them. Speaking with the PalmBeachPost, Jones said that he will not attend the game if he is asked to as an alternate. He conceded that time might ease that frustration.

"“It’s obviously a popularity contest,” Jones said Wednesday. “They just picked the popular guy or whoever made it last year or however it goes.“We can’t be going off play and production because my numbers double all those guys numbers.”Reshad Jones concedes he might have a change of heart and accept alternate selection to Pro Bowl after he cools off."

This season Jones has put himself in the top three to five safeties in the league but he is on a team that is losing and has a name that isn’t household. So when fans take to voting, outside of Miami he is likely left off. When coaches and players start voting, who really knows. It’s been reported for several years now that players tend to vote for their own leaving only coaches really doing the nominations justice but even they would likely give a nod to one of their players.

The only real way to solve this issue is by allowing the media to make the votes necessary for players to get into the game. The media after all is the most critical of any players performance. But more often than not, they are fair when it comes to these sort of things. Often taking a higher if not more righteous stand.

This season Jones has 16 more tackles than any other safety, he is tied for 3rd in the NFL with 5 interceptions and leads safeties in touchdowns with two. Apparently that isn’t enough to get his name recognized by his peers, the coaches, and the fans.

Jones has a right to be pissed off and upset. He has been the heart of the Dolphins defense this season and has outplayed everyone on the defensive side of the ball. Obviously his stats stand above most of the other safeties in the league. Including the three that were voted in ahead of him.

While Charles Woodson of Oakland has done enough to warrant his vote and it could be argued that Kansas City’s Eric Berry deserves to go, Kam Chancellor however is going in strictly by name and name alone. And that is where the NFL needs to draw a line in the sand. Every year there are players that deserve to go to the Pro-Bowl and every year there are snubs. Some far more glaring than others. As is the case with Jones.

The lone Miami Dolphin that was voted in was center Mike Pouncey, his third consecutive trip to the game. It can be argued that he did not turn in a pro-bowl caliber season in 2015. Jones however did. And that is where this will end.