Dolphins Make Another Cornerback Move

The Miami Dolphins finally added a starting-caliber cornerback. 

The team has signed former New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Jack Jones, and released cornerback Ryan Cooper Jr. to make room on the roster.

The signing comes one day after former Buffalo Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas was still unwilling to accept the team’s standing offer. It’s also likely a reaction to the team losing Artie Burns to a torn ACL earlier in the week. 

The Dolphins desperately needed a starting cornerback either way, but it was clear the team wanted Douglas and just got tired of waiting for him to accept their offer. 

Jones enters Miami with a good chance to be one of the team’s starting cornerbacks opposite Kader Kohou. That leaves the battle for the final starting spot — outside or the slot depending on Kohou — to players like Storm Duck, Kendall Sheffield and Cam Smith. 

Let’s take a quick look at Jones’ background to see what the Dolphins are getting. 

Jones’ Scouting Report 

A 2021 fourth-round pick by the Patriots, Jones hasn’t quite been consistent since entering the league. However, he’s clearly a physically talented player who likes to make plays on the ball. 

He started 16 games for the Raiders last season, recording three interceptions, 16 pass breakups, 69 total tackles, and three tackles for loss. 

While Jones got his hands on the ball a good bit last season, he also allowed a lot of big plays. He allowed a quarterback rating of 98.5, and he gave up a whopping eight touchdowns in coverage. His missed tackle rate of 17.6% is also a brutal number to see on paper. 

We’ll dive deeper into Jones’ film in the coming days, but the numbers, and the fact that the Raiders cut him despite needing cornerback help themselves, make it pretty clear he was not good last season. 

The Raiders cut Jones in April after multiple attempts to trade the cornerback, additional ESPN reporting indicated. 

The best stint of Jones’ career probably came in his seven games with the Raiders last year. He had two interceptions, four passes defended, and allowed a passer rating of just 63.0. 

He also had a strong rookie season with the Patriots, playing in 13 games and recording two interceptions, six passes defended, and a passer rating allowed of 64.8. 

Despite his promising rookie year, he ran into some trouble in New England. Jones was benched before a game against Washington in 2023 for missing curfew and was subsequently cut by the team. 

This was not Jones’ first incident either. In 2023, he was arrested trying to board a flight at Boston’s Logan Airport with multiple firearms. In 2018, he was arrested at a Panda Express in Santa Paula, California, for commercial burglary. 

He pleaded guilty and served 45 days of house arrest. The Patriots also suspended him for two games in his rookie season for a violation of team rules about injury disclosure. 

Jones did not land in any legal trouble last year and made the most starts of his career with the Raiders. For the Dolphins, there’s really no downside to giving Jones a chance. 

He’s got the best ball skills in the cornerback room right away, and the only player with more recent starting experience is Kohou.