Jones’ advice to WR Landry: Stay the course

Reshad Jones’ message to Jarvis Landry is clear.

S t ay p a t i e n t . S t ay t h e course. You’ll get paid.

“Just continue to do the right thing,” Jones said Tuesday, when asked what he’d tell Landry. “Buy into the system. Be a leader that you are for the team and for the offensive side of the ball. Just continue to do things the right way and this organization will reward you.”

I n M a r c h , J o n e s w a s rewarded with a five-year, $60 million contract, including $35 million guaranteed.

The Dolphins made the deal when Jones had one year left on his contract.

Landry has one year left on his contract and he’d like a new long-term deal, too.

When did Jones come to believe Miami will reward the players who stay the course?

“Last year,” Jones said. “They told me to just continue to do the right things. They weren’t going to do things two years before the time. Everything was right. They made it happen.”

At the NFL owner’s meetings in March, Dolphins executive vice president Mike Tannenbaum said: “There were a lot of guys that played well that were drafted here, coached here, got better here, and we want to reward those guys and take care of them first.”

Landry wants to remain a Dolphin. The Dolphins want to extend him, at a reasonable rate.

Landry has one year left on a four-year rookie contract with a cap hit of $1.1 million.

Hi s next deal could be worth around $12 million per season.

Betting big on Julius Thomas: Last year, the Dolphins got minimal receiving production from the tight end position once they lost Jordan Cameron early in the year. Cameron was shaky e n o u g h f o r P l a n A a f t e r underachieving the season before, and there wasn’t much depth behind him. The end result was Dion Sims leading the position with 256 yards and four touchdowns on 26 catches.

Miami is one Julius Thomas injury away from being in a similar spot.

While the team isn’t paying Thomas a ton, it’s banking on him being a big factor in the passing game. He’s coming off an injury-hampered run in Jacksonville in which he totaled 736 yards, 76 catches and nine touchdowns over two years. The Dolphins are hoping he’ll get back to what he was in Denver before that, when he was considered one of the best tight ends in the league.

B e h i n d h i m , t h o u g h , there are question marks. I f Thomas c a n’t make i t through a full season, the next man in line i s likely 33-year-old Anthony Fasano.

He spent 2008 through ’12 with the Dolphins, tying the franchise record for touchdowns by a tight end with seven in ’08, before playing for the Chiefs and Titans the past four years. With Tennessee last season, he had ei g ht c a t c hes for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Fasano hasn’t caught more than 26 passes in a season since leaving Miami. He’s known more for his blocking than his receiving ability at this point.

After Fasano, Miami has MarQuei s Gray, Thomas Duarte and Chris Pantale. Gray is by far the most experienced of the three. He’s got 26 catches for 318 yards in 45 career games over four years with the Browns, Bills, Vikings and Dolphins. Pantale and Duarte have never started a game or caught an NFL pass.