Reshad Jones a hot debate for Miami Dolphins Ring of Honor

Reshad Jones is a polarizing subject when debating ROH worthiness as a Miami Dolphins. Now that his time in Miami is up, we can debate it more evenly.

News broke on Wednesday that the Miami Dolphins will be releasing former Pro Bowl safety Reshad Jones on March 18th when the league new year kicks-off and free agency begins. Naturally, there were plenty of well wishers on social media, and plenty of debate.

There are three sides to this particular coin. Those who believe Jones has Ring of Honor worthiness, those who do not believe he is, and those who don’t care.

The Ring of Honor is a special honor. It is the ring of names that surrounds Hard Rock Stadium’s inner bowl. Names like Dan Marino, Don Shula, Jason Taylor, and the Mark’s brothers to name a few. Then outside of the stadium is the Walk of Fame area located on the Joe Robbie Alumni Plaza.

This is where players who were great in Miami but not quite great enough to make an impact league wide or enter that “elite” area of Dolphins history. Surely, Reshad Jones belongs in one of them.

Jones has put up solid numbers over a 10-year Dolphins career. Even when taking into consideration missed games due to injury, his numbers are still solid.

Jones has 776 combined tackles in his career, four touchdowns, three forced and recovered fumbles, 21 interceptions, and two Pro Bowls. He has started 113 of 128 possible games when healthy.

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As for his stats with the Dolphins, things are not all that they seem. Heading into 2019, Jones was ranked 12th on the team’s all-time interceptions list behind Jake Foley and Curtis Johnson who have 22. Jake Scott leads the team all-time with 35.

Jones was a very good football player for the Dolphins but the Ring of Honor is a special “honor” for the elite in Dolphins history. Personally, I don’t believe that Jones should be on that ring. Walk of Fame, of course, but not the ROH.

One thing working in his favor is owner Stephen Ross who has not seen a lot of his team’s players worthy of that honor. In fact, since Ross became the Dolphins owner, only one player that was on a team he owned is on the ROH and that is Jason Taylor who played two seasons of his HOF career in Miami.

Cameron Wake will eventually make his way on to the ROH and there isn’t much to debate about him. His debate comes when speaking about HOF worthiness. Perhaps at some point, Ross will push for Jones to get one of his guys on the board.

Jones was drafted in the 5th round a year after Ross bought the team in 2009. He has been a mainstay at the position for 10 years when healthy. When he was healthy, he was very good and for a couple of years he was NFL Elite. The problem is that Jones was never NFL Elite his entire career as injuries took over and derailed the final years of his contract.

Jones’ stats are good but I maintain that they are not elite and to me, elite names belong on the ROH. Jones should be on the Walk of Fame and he is deserving of that honor. It should be an interesting debate and that debate will also continue within the Dolphins executive offices where they will ultimately decide if he belongs or not.

It is a subject that won’t likely come up for about five years. I can tell you that in recent years the Dolphins have become far more stingy with who gets elected to that high honor in the stadium which is one reason they have not added anyone since 2014. Yes, the stadium refurbishment project had a play as well but it is becoming clear that they want the ROH to be the absolute best and I don’t see Jones as being one of those guys.