Revisiting Reshad: Examining Jones' Place in Franchise History
Safety Reshad Jones made Monday his first public comments since being released by the Miami Dolphins in the offseason, telling the Palm Beach Post he won't be playing in 2020.
Given his injury history and the money he's already made throughout his career, it actually would be surprising to see Jones play in the NFL again.
"“I definitely can play again,” Jones told Joe Schad of the Post. “I just don’t know if I will. I had a couple teams call my agent, but I can’t pass a physical right now. So a lot of teams when they call it’s just no point. They find out I have to have surgery. So right now, a lot of teams don’t want to talk because I can’t get on the field or pass the physical. But it’s not career-ending. I don’t think it is. The doctor said I can get a surgery and play again. But in year 10, with all I have accomplished and financially I am set, I have a couple things I have to weigh out.”
Jones said he needed neck surgery, but that's been put on hold because hospitals have been overloaded because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As he mentioned, money certainly shouldn't be a driving factor given that Jones has career earning of $58.1 million, according to overthecap.com.
If Jones indeed has played his final game in the NFL, he can leave the game with his head held high.
After arriving as a fifth-round pick out of Georgia in 2010, he severely outplayed his draft position and went on to play 128 games, the most in franchise history for a safety.
Jones made the Pro Bowl in the 2015 and 2017 seasons, and his six career touchdowns are second in team history for a defensive player behind only the nine recorded by Hall of Famer Jason Taylor.
So let's examine Jones' place in franchise history from a few different vantage points.
First, we'll look at the 2010s, and it says here that Jones was the second-best player for the Dolphins behind only defensive end/linebacker Cameron Wake, with center Mike Pouncey and wide receiver Jarvis Landry also deserving mention.
If we're looking at the draft, Jones would have to rank as a solid second among the best fifth-round picks, with top honors having to go to Zach Thomas.
The other two fifth-round pick who could give Jones a run for second place would be linebacker Bryan Cox (picked in 1991) and running back Jim Kiick (1968).
Finally, we come to Jones' place among the best safeties in Dolphins history.
Jones is one of six Miami safeties to be selected to the Pro Bowl, along with the 1970s tandem of Jake Scott and Dick Anderson; Tim Foley, who went from cornerback in the early 1970s to safety later in the decade; Brock Marion; and Yeremiah Bell.
Given their role in the Dolphins' Super Bowl runs, Scott and Anderson probably would have to rank first and second (in that order) among all-time Dolphins safeties, and third place is a toss-up between Marion and Jones — though it's fair to mention that Marion benefited from playing with Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain, to this point the best cornerback tandem in team history.
Any way you slice it, even though his departure came without much hoopla in the form of a press release, Jones left his mark with the Dolphins.
