Miami Dolphins release of Reshad Jones is not surprising

The Miami Dolphins will release safety Reshad Jones when the league’s new year begins on March 18th next week according to a report.

Reshad Jones has played his final game for the Miami Dolphins as expected and will be released a week from now according to new reports. The decision to move on from the safety is not surprising.

Jones has been the topic of off-season speculation for the last year or so and this year was really no different but the sound of the drums banging was softened by the talk of Miami searching for a quarterback. Now with free agency about to begin a week from now, Jones is going to get his release and become a free agent.

The move does indeed free up a chunk of cap space but the Dolphins are not really in need of the extra money that will now likely go towards signing a veteran or covering this year’s draft class.  According to OverTheCap.com, the Dolphins will save $7.5 million and will eat $8.09 million. Jones would have counted over $15 million this year in cap space.

Jones was drafted by the Dolphins in 2010 and signed a four-year rookie contract as a 5th round pick.  In 2013, Jones renegotiated his deal. In 2017, Jones signed his current deal a four-year $48 million with $19.5 million in guaranteed money.

Since signing his extension in 2017, Jones has missed two games in 2018 and all but four games in 2019. Naturally, his production also began to drop. The deal didn’t turn out to be great for the Dolphins who were not in a position to get rid of the contract earlier. Now, even at an $8 million hit, the Dolphins are moving on and taking the dead money.

While the expectation is that Jones will be released, the decision to not do so immediately could allow the Dolphins to field any low-end trade offers although that is highly unlikely given his contract situation.