Dolphins’ Jones out for season with ACL injury. Offensive lineman added to practice squad
Dolphins starting safety Brandon Jones sustained a season-ending ACL injury in the team’s Week 7 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, coach Mike McDaniel announced Wednesday.
Jones sustained the injury in the third quarter of the game and was quickly ruled out after walking back to the team’s locker room. The Dolphins on Tuesday placed Jones on injured reserve.
“I feel terrible, absolutely terrible for a guy that was playing at a very, very high level,” McDaniel said. “The good news about him, in particular, is when things like this happen to people like him, they tend to come out finding a way to be better, somehow, some way.”
A third-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Jones leads the team with 49 combined tackles and is tied for second on the team with two sacks.
The 24-year-old stepped into a full-time role in 2021 and was one of the best blitzing defensive backs in the NFL. Jones’ five sacks last season led all safeties.
“[Wednesday] morning, watching some of our game [against the Steelers], putting it to bed, you could hear the hurt with the team when his highlights would come on because there were a ton of them. I do know that people like him end up finding a way to be even better than they were before. But it’s a shame because it’s hard to give the credit to what he was doing or that it deserves to what he was doing on the field for our group and the whole team definitely felt that.”
Jones is the second starter in the secondary to sustain a season-ending injury in as many weeks after cornerback Nik Needham tore his Achilles against the Vikings.
“[Jones] was in the [Wednesday morning] meeting with us,” safety Jevon Holland said. “It’s tough seeing him go out there, fly around and then unfortunately he’s sitting next to me hurt. But he’s come to terms with it. He’s ready to attack it, just like Nik did, just [cornerback] like Trill [Williams] did. It’s nice to see that he’s in a positive mindset and attacking it forward, but it’s tough.”
The Dolphins used a combination of Eric Rowe, Clayton Fejedelem and rookie Verone McKinley III, who was elevated from the practice squad, to replace Jones. McDaniel was noncommittal when asked how the team would replace Jones but said Rowe, an eight-year veteran, had his two best practices of the season last week and would continue to be involved on defense.
“Those packages are ever-changing week by week,” McDaniel said.
Dolphins add OL to practice squad
The Dolphins signed second-year offensive lineman Grant Hermanns to the practice squad, the team announced Wednesday.
Hermanns, 24, appeared in two games this season on special teams with the New York Jets. A four-year starter at Purdue, Hermanns originally signed with New York as an undrafted rookie, spending time on the Jets’ practice squad. Hermanns, 6-7 and 305 pounds, played 33 games at left tackle at Purdue.
Hermanns was at practice Wednesday in a No. 78 jersey.
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 12:13 PM.
