Every year before NFL free agency starts, teams are looking to unload players with big salaries, or rumors teams are looking to move on. For the Miami Dolphins this year, the player is cornerback Byron Jones. The Dolphins gave Jones a five-year 82-million-dollar contract with 40 plus million in guarantees just a couple of years ago. Jones’s contract reset the market for defensive backs. 


The problem with that was it upset Xavien Howard because a year after giving him a market-breaking deal. Howard is a better player than Jones as he has made multiple Pro Bowls and has made many game-changing plays. Howard, in 2020, had ten interceptions and was among the finalists for defensive player of the year. He held out last year to get a new contract redone. The Dolphins and Howard came to a compromise on a restructured deal last year, but Howard wants to redo his contract because he wants to be the highest-paid defender on the team. Hopefully, Howard and the Dolphins can come to a new agreement, but it’s a problem created by general manager Chris Grier, and now he has buyer’s remorse with Jones. 


The other problem that complicates things is Jones just had surgery on his ankle and Achilles tendon area that bothered him last year. It’s complicated because Jones’s contract is guaranteed from injury, triggering this month. Due to the recovery time of 2-3 months, Jones’s salary this year is guaranteed at 14 million dollars, so the Dolphins can’t release him unless they are willing to eat the guaranteed money, which would be significant. Unless the Dolphins find a trade partner willing to take on most of that money and give up a reasonable draft pick compensation, I don’t see Jones going anywhere. 


Keeping Jones around isn’t a bad idea. I know he had a tough 2020 season, but he did rebound and had a better 2021 season. He got burned a lot in 2020, but not as much last year. Jones doesn’t wow you with interceptions, like Howard, but he a solid number two. I get he’s paid like a number one corner, but that’s the way free agency goes, especially the first week, as teams overspend on players that aren’t worth the big contract. Jones will never be a corner that comes up with five or more interceptions a year, like Howard, but sometimes stats can be overrated. Last year Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs had 11 interceptions, and while he made a lot of plays, he also got burned a lot and gave up over 1,000 yards in coverage. Jones only gave up between 650-700 yards. Now corners, no matter how good they can be, are always going to get beat from time to time, but Jones was better this year. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the scheme; being in better shape or technique was better. In the AFC East, the top 3 corners are in no order Howard, Tre’Davious White, and JC Jackson. After that, I think you can make the case Jones is the 4th best corner because the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills don’t have better corners outside of Jackson and White, respectively. The New York Jets don’t even have one good starting corner, let alone two, so for the Dolphins to have two of the top corners starting on their defense is a good problem to have. 


There have been rumors the Dolphins would like to take a run at Jackson, but then you would have to pay him a higher salary and still have to redo Howard’s contract on top of finding a way to get rid of Jones. Be careful what you wish for because the Patriots have a history of letting their corners go and not performing else, such as Malcolm Butler and Asante Samuel, so if the Patriots are willing to let Jackson hit the market in the prime of his career, that speaks volumes to me. Plus, the Dolphins have a lot of cap space, and that needs to be spent upgrading their offense. I’m not saying the Dolphins should look at cornerback, but they are pretty set for the most part on defense. Also, this draft is loaded with defensive backs supposedly, and if the Dolphins want to draft one to develop on the roster, they can draft one and revisit the Jones situation next year. 


I think the Dolphins should keep Jones and redo Howard’s contract. They have a good thing going at the defensive back position, so why mess with a good thing. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side if you make a change. Plus, redoing Howard’s contract could give the Dolphins more cap relief this year. I think this is something the Dolphins should, and we shouldn’t judge a corner on the interception he gets. We should judge him by the whole body of work year after year, and I think Jones should stick around. 

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