Dolphins Cornerback Questions All Over the Place
The Miami Dolphins invested heavily into the cornerback position the last few years, but that position is filled with question marks a week ahead of the start of free agency.
The latest development involved starter Byron Jones, who recently underwent surgery on his left leg, making his $14.375 salary for 2022 fully guaranteed, according to NFL Network reporter Cameron Wolfe.
Jones himself posted a photo of himself on Instagram on Wednesday showing himself before the surgery.
With the Dolphins offseason program scheduled to begin April 4, it's likely now that Jones won't be back on the field until the start of training camp in late July.
There was some buzz at the combine about the Dolphins potentially trading Jones this offseason, according to Wolfe, but this latest development certainly isn't going to facilitate things because teams aren't necessarily in a hurry to take on big-player contracts while they're recovering from surgery.
Jones is about to enter the third year of the five-year contract he signed in March 2020. His analytics in his first two seasons with the Dolphins were not impressive, as he allowed an opponent passer rating when targeted of over 100 in both 2020 and 2021 — though the defense's blitz-happy scheme often left him in one-on-one coverage.
The Jones news dropped amid a time of potential flux for the Dolphins cornerback position.
The Xavien Howard watch
GM Chris Grier told South Florida reporters at the combine last week that he had had conversations about redoing Xavien Howard's contract, as per the agreement that ended the Pro Bowl cornerback's "hold-in" last summer, but nothing has materialized of yet.
While Grier said last week he anticipated Howard being back with the team in 2022, this still is an issue that needs addressing this offseason.
Howard did not participate in the offseason program last spring, including the mandatory minicamp, and it probably should surprise no one if we saw a repeat of that in 2022 if his contract isn't restructured before April 4.
The various scenarios this could play out include another redone deal for Howard, trading Howard, holding firm and then Howard coming in on his existing contract, Howard holding out in the spring and then "holding in" in training camp, or in a most extreme situation Howard retiring.
The uncertainty, though, could affect how the Dolphins conduct business at cornerback in the offseason.
Jousting for J.C. Jackson?
After not getting tagged by the Patriots, cornerback J.C. Jackson is expected to be one of the most pursed free agents when the NFL league year kicks off next Wednesday (March 16) and there was more than one report this week suggesting the Dolphins would be in the mix for his services.
With 25 picks in his four NFL seasons, Jackson is an absolute ball hawk and the idea of teaming him with Howard certainly was interesting, but the Jones injury will complicate things in that aspect as well.
Let's assume, for a second, the Dolphins can't trade Jones because of his injury, so maybe then the Dolphins would want to pair Jackson with Jones and move Howard.
But the idea of adding Jackson, redoing Howard's contract and keeping Jones seems unlikely because that's three major contracts at the cornerback position, and it just doesn't make great business sense in a salary-cap league to allocate so much money to just one position.
The Dolphins' Free Agent Cornerbacks
Besides the Jones and Howard situations, the Dolphins have three pending free agents at cornerback.
The most valuable just might be Nik Needham, who is scheduled to be a restricted free agent and a player the Dolphins likely will tender to give themselves at least to right to match any offer sheet.
Veteran Justin Coleman is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent and Jamal Perry is a pending RFA, and it's probably 50-50 that either or both will return.
Could the Dolphins Draft a Cornerback?
While the idea seems to be that the Dolphins need to help their offense early in the 2022 NFL draft, it says here that depending on how things play out at the cornerback position, we shouldn't be shocked if that's the position Miami attacks with one of their first two picks.
Because of their contracts, it's entirely possible (if not likely) the Dolphins will be looking to move on from Howard and/or Jones before too long and having a quality corner on a rookie contract to eventually step in wouldn't be the worst idea.
It also happens to be a very good draft for the cornerback position, and the list of prospects who could fall around the Dolphins' first pick at number 29 or their second pick at 50 includes Andrew Booth Jr. from Clemson, Kyler Gordon from Washington, Tariq Woolen from UTSA and Roger McCreary from Auburn.
