Reshad Jones Has Benefited from the Miami Dolphins New System

One player that has benefited from the new defensive scheme in Miami has been Reshad Jones. In his third year out the University of Georgia, he is finally showing the abilities he displayed in college. Up until this year he was being looked at as a potential bust. In his first two years he had no more than one interception each season, was lost in the secondary at times, and wasn't taken seriously by most starting quarterbacks.

He has good size (6'1" 210 pounds), good strength (24 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press at the combine), a 39.5 inch vertical, and a 4.54 40 yard time coming out of college. In three years at Georgia he totaled 11 interceptions and 206 total tackles.

When he was drafted there was expectation that he would soon take over the starting job at strong safety, but soon it became clear the pros were too much for him. It wasn't all his fault, because some rookies need time to adjust to the speed and complexities of the NFL. He came to a team that had Defensive Coordinator Mike Nolan and Todd Bowles as an assistant, so it is hard to imagine him failing. The answer is clear: Nolan's system was not for him and Kevin Coyle's is. Coyles, as a secondary coach with the Bengals, had a reputation of being able to get the most out of his players and turn lost causes into somebodies again.

Up to this point Jones has 81 tackles, a sack, two forced fumbles, and three interceptions.

Jones has shown that he is becoming a strong presence in a secondary that needs a leader, and it is this writer's opinion that after this season he will be exactly that.

Thanks for stopping by. Email me at shawn@dolphinshout.com.