Kelly: Miami Dolphins banking on Jack Jones’ evolution | Opinion
Imagine a team putting together a minute-long highlight video of another player showing out in practice, and it subsequently showcases your shortcomings.
That’s how the Detroit Lions’ social media team did Jack Jones last Thursday, embarrassing the Miami Dolphins cornerback while showing how dominant Amon-Ra St. Brown was during both team’s first of two joint practices.
“Ya’ll seen the tape, he cooked me,” Jones said Wednesday, nearly a full week after that embarrassing performance.
The better question is why Jones, who joined the team after the first week of training camp because of Kader Kohou’s season-ending knee injury, was the primary Dolphins cornerback covering a three-time Pro Bowler, who has produced 4,851 receiving yards and scored 34 touchdowns in four NFL seasons?
The story supposedly centers on Jones and St. Brown’s rivalry from their high school days growing up in California, and Jones’ desire to work on some fundamental changes the Dolphins are hoping the 27-year-old can make to his game.
It doesn’t hurt that Kendall Sheffield is nursing an injury that got him shut down this week, and Ethan Bonner’s battling a hamstring injury that might have him sidelined a couple of weeks.
Those injuries put Jones front and center in Miami’s young and experienced cornerback unit, which is searching for two new starters on the boundary after trading Jalen Ramsey and releasing Kendall Fuller in February.
During Thursday’s practice Jones showcased exactly why one of his former coaches labeled him a “$100 million talent who is his own worst enemy.”
Jones pulled down one of the two interceptions the Dolphins corralled against Trevor Lawrence, stepping in front of an off-target red-zone pass..
But later in the practice he got roasted for a 45-yard pass from Lawrence to Brian Thomas Jr., which set the Jaguars up to score a potential game-winning field goal in that situational period, which began with Jacksonville trailing by two with less than two minutes placed on the hypothetical game clock.
With Jones, a 2022 fourth-round pick who got kicked off Arizona State’s team and got fired by the Patriots in his second season and by the Las Vegas Raiders this past offseason, you have to take the bad with the good.
The Dolphins are aware of what they have gotten themselves into, but are seemingly banking on Jones’ upside and willingness to change.
“I love Jack [Jones]. Jack to me is a juice guy. He’s a guy that feeds and plays well off of energy, so when he makes a play, your defense is going to feed off of it and the opponents are going to hear it, too,” defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said. “The one thing I love about Jack is some of the things we’re asking him to do are kind of foreign to him, and really just aren’t in his wheelhouse.”
Weaver is referring to Miami’s coaches forcing Jones, who is known as a zone cornerback, to press bump and run in press coverage.
That’s how Jones was mainly covering St. Brown last Thursday when the Lions star receiver was shake-and-baking him.
However, in a real game it’s likely that the Dolphins would have given Jones help over the top of St. Brown instead of leaving him by himself. And that’s the value of joint practices, which presents a safe space for players and teams to work on things, unless a social media team needs to generate some buzz by showcasing highlights.
“I got better from that. I’m learning the technique I’m not used to doing,” said Jones, who has started 21 of the 42 NFL games he played in the past three seasons. “[St. Brown] made me better.”
The Dolphins are trying to rewire most things about Jones’ game, and it has been quite a humbling experience for the third-year veteran, who has pulled down seven interceptions in his career and returned four of them for touchdowns because of his knack for identifying and jumping screen passes.
However, Jones’ risk-taking ways leave him vulnerable on double moves and other slight-of-hand things offenses do to bait zone cornerbacks such as Jones.
The Dolphins are laboring to make him a more diverse cornerback so he can become part of every game plan, or better yet, avoid becoming a target for opposing offensive coordinators.
“We’re asking him to trust us in trying to build and add some tools to his toolbox,” Weaver said earlier this week about Jones, who allowed eight touchdown passes last season. “I’m thrilled where Jack’s at, and just know he’s going to make plays for us this season.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM.
