Miami Dolphins plan to discipline Reshad Jones. And it will be obvious to everyone

Reshad Jones, who unexpectedly decided to sit out most of last weekend’s game against the New York Jets against the wishes of coaches and teammates, will face discipline for that misdeed during Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

The Dolphins Pro Bowl safety is expected to sit out the first quarter of Sunday’s game in what will be the most obvious disciplinary action the team will take against the player. He will be allowed to join the game the final three quarters against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

Rookie Minkah Fitzpatrick will start at safety in place of Jones.

Although it’s unclear if there are any other disciplinary actions for Jones, team sources have said there will be no “conduct detrimental to the team” fine that could allow the Dolphins to go after 2019 guaranteed monies Jones is scheduled for next season. That will be about $11 million the Dolphins will not attempt to go after.

Instead the team believes this episode will be in the past once Jones serves his in-game penalty.

“Coach’s decision,” Jones said, when asked about the punishment. “When I got out there, I did whatever I could to help the football team.”

Although Jones seemed reticent about admitting he did anything wrong when he spoke with reporters last week, locker room sources say he did apologize in front of the entire team. He told reporters Sunday that he believes he and his coaches are in a good place.

The discipline today is entirely about that episode at the game and not anything that happened afterward.

Jones played only 10 plays against the New York Jets. He was part of a planned rotation in the secondary and was taken out after 10 plays to allow Fitzpatrick to play in his place. When it was time for Jones to return, he refused to do so -- going against the wishes of coaches and teammates who approached him and implored him to go back in.

The issue led to questions about whether Jones knew of the planned rotation. It also raised questions whether defensive coordinator Matt Burke communicated displeasure by Jones about that plan to coach Adam Gase during the week.

It is clear Jones knew about the plan beforehand. And Gase and Burke have no communication issues, according to team sources.

Follow Armando Salguero on Twitter: @ArmandoSalguero

This story was originally published November 11, 2018 at 3:58 PM.