It really appears that Byron Jones will never play for the Dolphins again

The saga that is if and when Byron Jones will return to the Miami Dolphins seems to have come to a close today after cornerback’s coach Sam Madison when asked about Byron Jones had this to say about the situation.

Far be it from me to read into something or use my stellar skills at deducing meaning by the use of context clues, but that statement by Madison sounds a lot like a guy who knows the odds of seeing Byron Jones dawn a Miami Dolphin’s uniform this year very unlikely. If he can’t comment on whether or not Jones has even been around the facility helping out, not whether he thinks he’s going to be coming back this year or not, that’s code for this guy is out and things are not good between the team and Jones.

Every week Mike McDaniel gets asked about whether or not Byron Jones is going to be practicing and every week McDaniel has something funny to say about it that distracts everyone from actually thinking about the situation.

Last week, McDaniel said this.

Thank you Mike McDaniel for making me laugh instead of getting mad about the fact that Byron Jones was said to be “hopeful to return for week one.” That’s right. This song and dance has been going on since mid-August.

"“He’s still in that part of the timeline where it’s unknown. As of now, he hasn’t had any setbacks. So we’re still extremely hopeful,” McDaniel said in his press conference. “I believe in the player and the human being so we hold the same optimism as we did before for him coming back Week One, ready to adjust if need be.”“He’s exactly where we thought he would be at this point,” McDaniel said. “But in terms of football drills, whether he’s pedaling or running or moving side to side, he’s just moving. He’s not playing with other people around him right now, so I’ll let you know when that comes about.”"

These were the words of Mike McDaniel on August 16th and amazingly Byron Jones’ status has stayed the same gloomy and confusing throughout the entire season.

Jones had surgery on his ankle back in March and the thought was that the timetable was thought to be two months of recovery. Well, it’s December, which means it’s been longer than two months.

Oh and due to the time Jones had the surgery, a surgery that could have been done right after last season ended, Jone was able to secure his base salary of $14M for the season. Pretty savvy of Byron Jones if you ask me but that doesn’t make the Dolphin’s secondary any better a secondary that has been decimated with injuries. So you can see how most Miami fans have already washed their hands of Byron Jones and fully expect him to be cut after this season.

I get it. McDaniel isn’t going to come out and flat-out say that Byron Jones is 100% finished. I’m sure there’s a strategic/legal reason why he can’t but it’s one I can’t think of. But knowing McDaniel and I base that on how smart he has been this season, I’m sure there’s a good reason.

Maybe I’m looking way into this. Maybe McDaniel has been telling the truth the entire time and there will be a time later in the season as the playoffs approach where Byron Jones shows up out of nowhere and is able to play. Seems unlikely, but I’d love it if that were the case.

We don’t truly know what the exact story is because none of us are there. But it does just seem that something is happening behind the scenes that aren’t too good. That sucks because this team, which is so much fun and is finally doing something of note, could use the services of Byron Jones.

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