Reshad Jones returns to his starring role in the Dolphins secondary
By Sean Moon
Reshad Jones may have skipped the early volunteer workouts for the Miami Dolphins but he is expected to play a big role on the team’s defense in 2019.
The Miami Dolphins have had many issues throughout their defenses the last few seasons, but it’s never been because of bad safety play. The Miami Dolphins have had a premier talent in their backfield for the last nine seasons.
Reshad Jones is the Miami Dolphins All-Pro Safety and one of the NFL’s best at his position. I feel he has always been an underrated talent in the eyes of most around the league for years. Miami Dolphin fans, however, know what they have lurking in the back-end of the defense, he’s a playmaking, ball-hawking, tone setting, All-Pro safety, and one of my personal all-time favorite players.
Reshad Jones is coming into his tenth season with the Miami Dolphins, he is 6 foot 1 and 215-pound athletic safety who played collegiately for the Georgia Bulldogs. He has 21 career interceptions and 10.5 career sacks. Jones is now 31 years old and while in his prime, he is approaching the back-end of his career.
Reshad Jones was projected to be a second round talent in the 2010 draft class, but slide to the fifth round where Miami traded their sixth and seventh round picks to take him 163rd overall. What a gem the Dolphins were lucky enough to have fallen into their laps.
Jones brings the ability to read and sniff out plays and has a knack to come up huge for the Miami Dolphins defense in critical situations, whether it’s a run stuffing tackle on third and short or an interception on a crucial drive late in a game. Jones has been the savior on many occasions throughout his career for his team.
Reshad Jones is definitely a spoken leader on the field and a very entertaining cheerleader on the sideline. He is one of the first to get his teammates pumped up in the huddle, before the game or during it while on the sideline. Jones uses his skills on the field to back up what he is preaching to his teammates.
There was a lot of attention pointed at Reshad Jones last season when he apparently removed himself out of the New York Jets game and remained on the sideline for the duration. It was thought there was a rift between player and coach, specifically the defensive coordinator Matt Burke during the game and was later smoothed over. It did not seem as if many of the defensive players had a lot of faith in Matt Burke last season, but that was a very unusual event for Jones, who had been a pillar of professionalism up to that point.
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But that’s in the past and we have a defensive minded head coach now along with a new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and what could be one of the best defensive backfields since Surtain, Madison, Marion and Jackson. With Fitzpatrick, Howard and Jones the future sure looks great for the backend of this defense. I foresee this coaching staff using Jones in a lot of different schemes due to the talent that has grown around him in the backfield.
When asked recently at his presser, head coach Brian Flores said,
"“We’re going to play guys in a lot of different roles. Minkah is obviously a very versatile player; but we have a lot of versatile players in the back-end. We’ll move guys around and kind of try to get the best four or five guys on the field that we can.”"
That seems to me as there is going to be a lot of disguising and movement to keep QB’s guessing and a lot of baiting, which Jones has already been great at during his career. He should continue to be one of the leaders in interceptions and sacks at his position.
Reshad Jones did go under the knife during the off-season. He finally had surgery on a partially torn right labrum which he managed to play through most of the season last year. It is expected to be fully healed and a non issue for this upcoming season.
I will end with this, Reshad Jones is a rare and talented safety. Jones makes your team better, the players and coaches love his work ethic, his attitude and of course the product he puts on the field. Reshad Jones is going to shore up the defensive backfield and always keep you in the game. In the pass-driven game of today, the Miami Dolphins are going to need and enjoy an All-Pro Safety lurking in the backfield on Sundays.