Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Allen aims to snag starting safety job
Competition good for team, veteran says
Reshad Jones should be an expert at making new friends by now.
Jones has shared the backend of the Miami Dolphins’ secondary with eight different safeties throughout his seven years as a starter.
That’s eight instances where Jones, a 2015 Pro Bowl selection, has had to familiarize himself with a new partner and develop a working relationship with the player who is supposed to compliment his aggressive style.
This offseason, Jones will have two newcomers to familiarize himself with as Nate Allen and T.J. McDonald will compete to see who serves as the Dolphins’ starting free safety.
“I wasn’t expecting them to hand me anything, obviously at this level you have to come in and compete every day and earn your spot,” Allen said Saturday at the Fins Weekend Fishing Tournament. “The competition with all the guys they’ve got and brought in will make everyone better.”
McDonald is at a bit of a disadvantage in this competition because he’ll have to serve an eight-game suspension to start the season for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse. He pleaded guilty in January to one misdemeanor count of reckless driv-
ing involving drugs or alcohol following a May 2016 arrest in California.
McDonald will be allowed to attend team meetings and work out at the facility, but he won’t be able to practice or play in games until the first week of November.
“It’s going to be difficult anytime you can’t play,” McDonald said Friday at the Fins Weekend Golf Tournament. “Right now I’m just taking advantage of the time I’ve got to learn the system and get to know my teammates and when my time comes I’ll be ready.”
McDonald’s impending absence means Allen should be viewed as the front-runner to replace Isa Abdul-Quddus, who was released this offseason because of a career-threatening neck injury he suffered in December.
Allen, who was signed to a one-year deal worth $3.4 million this offseason, has started 76 games in his seven seasons in the NFL, but he had a rough stretch the past two seasons with the Raiders because of a knee injury, which sidelined him for all but five games in 2015. Allen served as a backup in 2016 until injures led to him starting the final four games, where he contributed 25 tackles and one interception.
Allen, who has 13 career interceptions, believes he will bring “wisdom and experience” to Miami’s secondary.
“It’s crazy when I think about how many years it’s been, what you learn and what you pick up. The game slows down so much and you start seeing it from different perspectives,” said Allen, who turns 30 in November. “Your body does slow down a little bit and you have to be more mental about everything and put yourself in [favorable] positions.”
The Dolphins also have Michael Thomas, who they re-signed on a one-year $1.8 million tender as a restricted free agent, and Walt Aikens, a fourth-year veteran. But both safeties are viewed by Miami’s coaches as special teams aces.
Thomas was primarily used as Miami’s backup nickel cornerback, and Aikens didn’t play a single snap in Miami’s base defense last season despite the unit being decimated by injuries.
“We feel like that position is something that we didn’t do as well as we needed to [in 2016]. Last year, we got a little thin and some guys had to really step up and play and try to fill into some roles and they were playing multiple roles,” head coach Adam Gase said Friday. “We wanted to make sure that didn’t happen this year and we wanted to sign enough guys that we felt comfortable at that spot.”
Jones missing 10 games because of a shoulder injury that has been surgically repaired didn’t help matters. His absence stripped the Dolphins of the defense’s biggest playmaker, and a leading tackler.
Thomas and Baccari Rambo, who wasn’t resigned, shared his workload the rest of the season, and both were used as Miami’s starters when Abdul-Quddus suffered his neck injury against the Bills.
Miami’s vision is for Jones, who the team signed to a five-year, $60 million extension this offseason, to pick up where he left off and be a force in the middle of the Dolphins’ defense.
But to achieve that he needs to find a safety partner who can cover for his improvising style the way Ryan Clark covered for Troy Polamalu in Pittsburgh for many years.
That safety hasn’t been easy for Miami to find, but the Dolphins are hopeful.
“I’m going to be ready when my name is called,” said McDonald, who has started all 53 games he’s played in his career and contributed 64 tackles, one sack and two interceptions last season for the Rams. “It doesn’t change how I attack the game and how I go about getting ready.”