Too often left unsafe at safety
Dolphins find meshing Jones, McDonald tough
With the 2019 NFL season fast approaching, the South Florida Sun Sentinel takes a look a 10 storylines to watch for in a 10-part series ahead of the Miami Dolphins’ first day of training camp on Thursday, July 25.
The Miami Dolphins have two sledgehammers at their safety positions and if Miami’s new coaching staff doesn’t get creative, Reshad Jones and T.J. McDonald’s overlapping skill-set could be problematic again this season.
Jones and McDonald are at their best when utilized as in-thebox strong safeties because their physicality makes them excel at providing run support.
The problem is, neither has the speed, range, and instincts required to serve as a traditional center-fielder-type safety, providing the Dolphins secondary with a reliable last line of defense, which is desperately needed in today’s pass-happy NFL to prevent big plays.
Jones and McDonald have tried to make their marriage work the past two seasons, and each year their struggles caused by their overlapping styles of play have indicated that a divorce might be necessary.
It’s been such problem for the Dolphins that it has led to leaguewide speculation that both safeties either were, or are still on the trading block.
Their lack of chemistry is one of the more complicated riddles new coach Brian Flores and his staff must fix for Miami’s defense to play better this season.
Even though Jones, a threetime Pro Bowl selection, skipped most of the offseason program to train on his own, the Dolphins have already begun to experiment to find a solution.
While Miami selected Minkah Fitzpatrick in the first round of
the 2018 draft to play free safety, it is quite possible that the former Alabama standout — who played cornerback most of his rookie season — will be used closer to the line of scrimmage and work as a coverage specialist all over the field.
His emerging role as the Dolphins’ rover will affect everyone on defense, but likely nobody more than Jones and McDonald.
Miami has also experimented with moving nickel cornerback Bobby McCain to free safety, which is an out-of-the-box idea that just might work.
Outside of McCain’s small stature (5 foot 11, 192 pounds), the tryout he received at safety during organized team activities and Miami’s mandatory minicamp could have legs because of his intelligence and physical demeanor.
McCain’s established role as a leader should also allow him to be the field general of Miami’s secondary, making it possible for Miami to use its interchangeable parts fluidly.
With McCain playing deep center and serving as a safety valve, Fitzpatrick could line up against elite tight ends and slot receivers. Jones and McDonald would each work at a linebacker’s depth, closer to the action and serve as playmakers against both the run and the pass.
This approach could suffocate opposing offenses, especially with Xavien Howard shadowing the opponent’s best receiver.
This type of quarters-defensive approach — which would feature at least five defensive backs on the field in Miami’s base package — could make the Dolphins a nightmare to game plan for because it would be nearly impossible to predict which defensive back is handling what assignment before the ball is snapped.
The Patriots, who happen to be the franchise Flores is coming from, have utilized a similar nickel based defensive look as their base package for years, so the Dolphins staff wouldn’t be re-inventing the wheel.
But the key is finding a way to make Jones and McDonald play well together, injecting their power and playmaking into a defense that will need plenty of each to be respectable again.