Dolphins Take Calculated Gamble With Recent CB Signing

Watch him identify the crossing route coming across the field and leave his man to make a play on the ball. What makes Jones’ ball production so impressive is that he “dropped” a few interceptions last season. He could have easily come up with the ball on this play, but it’s an impressive play either way. 

We already know that Jones is an excellent ball hawk and quality zone cornerback, though. The real question is whether he actually gave up eight touchdowns last season. We’ll get to some that were his fault, but Jones was the victim of great quarterback play at times last year. 

This touchdown throw by Andy Dalton is a good example. 

Jones might be a step late here, but it’s clear that the free safety in the middle of the field stumbles. Plus, this might be one of the better throws of the season. Most quarterbacks don’t even try this throw, let alone drop it in the bucket like Dalton did. 

Technically, Jones should get charged with allowing a touchdown on this play. But we’d wager 95% of the league’s cornerbacks give up a touchdown here. Dalton beat Jones with another perfect throw in the red zone earlier in the game, too. 

While those two touchdowns were just a case of perfect offense beating good defense, Jones made his fair share of mistakes in 2024. 

Watch him bite on this Drake London double move and get burned for the touchdown. 

The No. 1 thing that stands out on Jones’ tape is his aggressiveness. It leads to so many of the impressive pass breakups on his resume, but it also leads to touchdowns like the one above. 

Jones is a reckless player. He’s more than willing to abandon his post at the cost of giving up a big play. Cornerbacks need to be playmakers in the modern NFL, and the Dolphins shouldn’t try to strip Jones of what makes him effective. 

The key is finding a balance. Jones can’t attack every route and pass with the idea that he’s going to make an interception. It leaves him way too susceptible to getting beaten deep. 

The two plays in this clip are the perfect encapsulation of Jones’ game. 

In the first play, Jones makes an impressive read, undercuts a screen, and returns the INT for a pick-six — great stuff. Later in the game, the Bengals show a similar screen, but the blocker runs downfield for an easy touchdown — not so great stuff. 

Cincinnati saw how aggressive Jones was on the first screen and used it against him later. Offenses did stuff like that to him all season, and it’ll continue if he doesn’t become more measured. 

Jones’ Run Defense 

We’ll keep this section brief because there isn’t much to say about Jones’ run defense other than it’s not a strength of his game. 

Like most outside cornerbacks, Jones likes to let the play come to him rather than trying to make plays and disengage from blocks. That doesn’t necessarily make him a poor run defender on its own. 

The issue for Jones is tackling. His 17.9 missed tackle rate from last season is offensively high, and although not all of those are against the run, he’s got some rough misses in that category. 

This miss against Najee Harris — one of the least shifty backs in the NFL — stood out for obvious reasons. 

Not all of Jones’ misses are this bad, and he puts in requisite effort. There’s a universe where the Dolphins can clean up his tackling, and he becomes an average run defender. That doesn’t seem like an overly likely outcome, but it’s possible. 

Final Word on Jones 

Jones’ tape is a roller-coaster ride. He has some incredibly impressive pass breakups along with some of the worst blown coverages you could imagine. 

He was much more consistent in the back half of the 2023 season, but his playmaking mentality will always have its fair share of upsides and downsides. The Dolphins are just going to have to live with that this season. 

From a talent perspective, Jones is an upgrade over many of Miami’s cornerbacks. He has the instincts and talent to be a quality starting cornerback for multiple seasons. 

That last part has to be extra appealing to the Dolphins. Jones won’t turn 28 until December, so if he performs well enough this season, Miami could give him a small extension. The team’s need at cornerback isn’t going away anytime soon, so that upside is alluring. 

There are a lot of “ifs” with Jones, though. We covered his off-field issues, and his tape shows a player who takes too many risks and shouldn’t be asked to play much man coverage. 

This is the type of gamble the Dolphins should be taking this time of year. If you’re going to wait till basically August to address cornerback, you should at least add one who can be a long-term piece.