Byron Jones Not Likely for 2022
The time has come that we can stop asking whether cornerback Byron Jones will play for the Miami Dolphins in 2022. Head coach Mike McDaniel suggested Monday it's not likely to happen.
Jones has been on the Reserve/PUP list all season after undergoing surgery on a leg in the offseason and McDaniel has been asked at the start of pretty much every week throughout the regular season whether this was the week Jones would return.
The answer always was that Jones wasn't quite ready, but the tone changed Monday.
"I'm very happy and comfortable with the players that we've been playing with at that position all season and I'm more focused on that," McDaniel said. "And I see Byron as a bonus. I don't rule out anything, but my expectations ...that'd be an awesome addition, but I'm really not counting on it or just more focused on the guys that we do have."
Rookie free agent Kader Kohou has emerged as the starting cornerback opposite three-time Pro Bowl selection Xavien Howard after opening-day starter Nik Needham sustained a torn Achilles tendon in the Week 6 loss against the Minnesota Vikings.
Offseason free agent acquisition Keion Crossen also has gotten playing time at cornerback, as well as Elijah Campbell and Noah Igbinoghene, though Igbinoghene has been inactive for each of the past four games.
THE GREAT BYRON JONES MYSTERY
Jones posted a pictured of himself on Instagram on March 9 showing his legs, a sock on his right foot and none on his left foot with the message: "Having a shaved leg is cool but it is NOT worth the free surgery afterwards."
That's about the extent of details that have surfaced regarding the surgery,
The Dolphins restructured Jones' contract in late March, according to ESPN reporter Field Yates, to create cap space and Jones made light of it later with a tweet.
Jones, however, never did get to practice with Hill in 2022.
McDaniel indicated Monday that Jones had been around his teammates at times during the regular season.
"He has been involved and been in meeting rooms," McDaniel said. "And during the course of the year, there's been portions of the year that it was best served for him to try to utilize that time, whatever the schedule was, to rehab and do things of that nature."
Fair or not, Jones' situation is reminiscent of what happened last season with wide receiver Will Fuller after he sustained a finger injury in an early-October game against Indianapolis.
Then-coach Brian Flores was asked repeatedly about Fuller's status on a regular basis but it turned out that Fuller never did return — and his profile on NFL.com now can be found under the "retired" players section.
Jones has not addressed his playing status at all on social media since the start of training camp.
Adding mystery to Jones' situation were comments made by McDaniel at the opening of training camp.
"Byron is kind of approaching it the same way (as Raheem Mostert) where he’s fully expecting to get himself ready for Week 1," McDaniel said. "We have to be very cognizant of competitors and making sure that they don’t do harm to themselves and the team by rushing anything. I’ve been very happy since I’ve been here and in this organization with a lot of things. One of those things being our training staff and how diligent they are, how they personalize things and they try to get players ready at the pace that’s best for themselves, which is the best thing for the Dolphins. So, we shall wait and see.”
McDaniel later said that Jones simply hadn't progressed as quickly as hoped, without providing details, and the first sign he wouldn't be ready for the start of the regular season came when he was put on the Reserve/PUP list when the Dolphins got down to the 53-man roster.
It's now looking like he'll spend the entire season on that list.
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WHAT ABOUT JONES' FUTURE WITH THE DOLPHINS?
Jones has been with the Dolphins since 2020 when he signed a free agent contract that at the time made him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL.
He had two mostly productive seasons with Miami in 2020 and 2021 and his coverage ability combined with that of Howard allowed defensive coordinator Josh Boyer to use a lot of cover zero and be ultra-aggressive with his blitz packages.
Jones has two years left on his contract with cap numbers exceeding $18 million each of those two years, according to overthecap.com.
It's certainly not unreasonable, given his season-long absence, that the Dolphins might think about moving him next offseason or ask him to take a pay cut. If they do decide to move on, the most likely scenario would be to release him with a post-June 1 designation, which wouldn't create any cap savings but would carry $5.87 million of dead money (per overthecap.com), as opposed to more than $20 million of dead money with a pre-June 1 designation.
It's also not inconceivable that Jones could be back with the Dolphins in 2023 once his situation is completely resolved, just like McDaniel didn't necessarily shut the door on him playing in 2022.
It's just looking like there will be no Byron Jones for the Dolphins in 2022 and perhaps not after that, either.
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