Tag: Byron Jones

6 cornerbacks Vikings should target after Brian Flores hire

The Vikings’ new defensive scheme will need cornerbacks that can play man coverage. @TheRealForno identified six that they should target

The Minnesota Vikings have themselves a new defensive coordinator in Brian Flores.

With the hire of Flores, the Vikings have committed to another scheme change, as he runs a significantly more aggressive defense than what Ed Donatell brought in with Vic Fangio’s system.

The defense right now is one that needs a lot of work and the biggest need is at cornerback. Flores requires his corners to play a lot of man coverage and that is something that the Vikings will need to prioritize bringing in players that will be better in man coverage.

Here are six cornerbacks that the Vikings should target with projected contract numbers from Over The Cap.

Chris Grier: No decision yet on CB Byron Jones’ future

The 30-year-old wasn’t able to play a single snap this season.

In the aftermath of the Miami Dolphins’ elimination from Super Bowl contention on Sunday, the team will have a number of decisions to make this offseason, including what to do with cornerback Byron Jones.

Jones, 30, had Achilles surgery last offseason and wasn’t able to step on the field this year.

The cornerback has an $18.35 million cap hit in 2023, according to Over the Cap, which is a lot for a player who’s missed a full year of playing time.

On Monday, Dolphins general manager Chris Grier addressed Jones’ injury and future with the organization.

Miami has a lot committed to their top two cornerbacks, and both are coming off of years that they probably want to forget, despite Xavien Howard making the Pro Bowl again.

The Dolphins have some options with Jones this offseason that they’ll have to seriously consider before the start of their 2023 quest for a Lombardi Trophy.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwhebtqp7ahdjt player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

[listicle id=457304]

Mike McDaniel not counting on Bryon Jones playing this season

It would be a bonus to get him back.

Miami Dolphins fans have been waiting all season to see cornerback Byron Jones return to the field after offseason Achillws surgery held him out at the start of the year.

The questions became so persistent at head coach Mike McDaniel’s press conferences that the topic became a running joke.

On Monday, however, the joking wasn’t as prevalent, as McDaniel acknowledged that he isn’t counting on Jones playing in 2022. He said that it would be a bonus for him to return, at this point.

Miami could definitely use him with Keion Crossen and undrafted rookie Kader Kohou getting significant playing time at the position.

McDaniel did say that he’s comfortable with the team’s depth at the position right now.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwhebtqp7ahdjt player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

[listicle id=456094]

Byron Jones still not practicing, Mike McDaniel optimistic about a return in 2022

Miami could really use him in the secondary.

The Miami Dolphins have had a tough time keeping up with injuries in their secondary this season.

A number of key players have/will miss significant time. Cornerback Trill Williams and safety Brandon Jones both suffered torn ACLs and cornerback Nik Needham had a torn Achilles.

Throughout all this, Miami has been waiting on the return of cornerback Byron Jones, who had offseason Achilles surgery that’s kept him from practicing or playing all season.

After the bye week, head coach Mike McDaniel was asked to provide an update on Jones’ PUP situation, but he didn’t have much of one. He told reporters that “nothing’s changed” and he’s “hopeful and optimistic” that Jones will play at some point in 2022.

The Dolphins could really use Jones back right now. Undrafted rookie Kader Kohou has been lining up opposite Xavien Howard, and he’s been impressive, but having Jones back would make life much easier. That’s especially the case when Keion Crossen, who has stepped up to play more defensive snaps, is dealing with a shoulder injury that could keep him off of the field.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwhebtqp7ahdjt player_id=none image=https://dolphinswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=455431]

News, notes ahead of Dolphins-Lions matchup

A few things to know before the contest.

Following a dramatic victory on Sunday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins snapped a three-game skid and look to start another stretch of wins with a Week 8 matchup against the Detroit Lions on the horizon.

The 4-3 Dolphins saw their leader and quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, return for the prime-time Pittsburgh Steelers game, and he helped lead Miami to a 16-10 victory, which was capped with an endzone interception by cornerback Noah Igbinoghene. One of three Miami interceptions, the Dolphins kept a clean slate themselves and didn’t turn the ball over Sunday night.

While there’s still work to be done, there were both positives and negatives during the Dolphins’ win, and they now head to a mini midwestern road trip to face the NFC North’s Lions before a Week 9 matchup against the Chicago Bears.

The Lions and Bears have a combined 4-9 record, and Miami must take care of business against teams they’re clearly better than, even despite key injuries. The latest in injured reserve designations is budding star safety Brandon Jones, who suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season

Miami has been decimated by injuries in the secondary, from the absence of Byron Jones, who’s still on the PUP list, the Achilles injury to Nik Needham two weeks ago, as well as undrafted rookie Kader Kohou missing the last two games.

This area of the field could be what the Lions aim to exploit, as they’re statistically more offensively potent than their record indicates. Detroit is averaging 395.2 yards per game in total offense (fourth in the league), while Miami is averaging 367 (10th).

On the flip side, it’s the Lions’ defense that’s a true indicator of the 1-5 mark. Detroit is dead last in the NFL in scoring defense, giving up 32,3 points per game, as well as total defense, allowing teams to gain an average of 412.2 yards of offense.

Here are some other news and notes heading into the Week 8 showdown:

Dolphins CB Byron Jones not ready to come off PUP

Once he begins practicing, he’ll have 21 days to return to action.

The Miami Dolphins have had a majority of their defensive starters on the field through the first four weeks of the season, but cornerback Byron Jones has been noticeably absent.

Jones underwent offseason Achilles surgery which ultimately landed him on the PUP list to start the season. This meant that Jones wouldn’t play through Week 4 and would be eligible to make his debut in Sunday’s matchup with the New York Jets.

However, according to head coach Mike McDaniel, Jones isn’t ready to return to action.

“Byron will not begin the 21-day,” McDaniel said. “We’re still going to take our time with it. It’s not progressing as fast as we, obviously had hoped from the spring into the summer, but there hasn’t been a major setback or anything. We mean what we say, I won’t put a dude on the field unless he has complete stability. There’s too many other risks that can happen around other people.”

If Jones returns to practice he would have a 21-day window where he’d have to be activated, or he would be out for the season.

Miami is being extra cautious with the cornerback and making sure that he’s fully ready to go when he steps out on the field at the Baptist Health Training Complex.

For now, the Dolphins will rely on guys like Kader Kohou and Nik Needham to continue stepping up and filling that hole.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwhebtqp7ahdjt player_id=none image=https://dolphinswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=453910]

Dolphins have decision to make with CB Byron Jones

Jones missed the first four weeks.

The Miami Dolphins have made it through the first four games of the season, going 3-1 over that stretch. One of the more impressive aspects of their start has been that they’ve done it without cornerback Byron Jones.

Jones was placed on the PUP list to start the year after offseason surgery, meaning he would have to miss the first four weeks. Miami was able to survive without Jones, using Nik Needham and Kader Kohou opposite Xavien Howard. However, when Howard left the game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, the secondary was obviously lacking experience and ability.

For their Week 5 matchup against the New York Jets, Jones could return to action. Head coach Mike McDaniel led many to believe that he would be back for the start of the regular season, but they’ve clearly been patient with him as he recovers. It’s not exactly known if Jones is ready to go, as McDaniel said he had no update when he was asked about the situation on Friday.

Jones’ return, assuming he’s healthy, would drastically improve the secondary, as Needham would be able to return to the slot, and Kohou, the undrafted rookie, could be the fourth corner, providing depth.

At the same time, Miami would have to clear a roster spot for Jones to be activated, as they just filled their last open hole with wide receiver River Cracraft. The wideout has been somewhat productive this season, so he may not be the one to go.

The Dolphins could opt to move Cethan Carter or Hunter Long to injured reserve, as they’ve both missed time to start the season, or they could surprise everyone and release Noah Igbinoghene, who’s been a healthy scratch in two of the four games and has played just nine snaps, all on special teams.

However, until we know that Jones is healthy and ready to come back, there’s no need to worry about the corresponding move.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwhebtqp7ahdjt player_id=none image=https://dolphinswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[vertical-gallery id=453793]

Notes for Dolphins vs. Patriots, Miami’s depth chart release

Some quick thoughts on the game, and Miami’s release of their depth chart.

The Miami Dolphins will be opening their 2022 season against the New England Patriots this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET at Hard Rock Stadium. It will mark the 11th time in team history, and the third-straight year, that these franchises open the season against each other.

Miami’s all-time record against New England is 59-54, and the teams are 5-5 in openers against each other. The Dolphins are 3-1 when opening the season at home against the Patriots. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is also 3-0 against New England so far in his career.

This opener is coach Mike McDaniel’s first regular season game as head coach of the Dolphins. Across the field will, of course, be Bill Belichick, and as McDaniel jokingly put it during Monday’s press conference, “Can there be a larger disparity in career win-loss total?”

While McDaniel is looking for his first win, Belichick is third all-time with 290 regular season wins, behind only Don Shula and George Halas.

McDaniel realizes this is not a coaching matchup, and told the media, “luckily, the schedule came out a long time ago, so I digested that and knew what Week 1 was, and luckily it’s the Miami Dolphins versus New England Patriots and not a one-on-one square-off between head coaches.”

The Dolphins will look to start fast out of the gate, and newly acquired wide-receiver Tyreek Hill has a career habit of that. In his six NFL seasons, Hill has scored six touchdowns in Week 1 games, while averaging 95 receiving yards in the opening contest through those seasons.

In addition to Hill, there are playmakers all over the field for Miami, as they hope to extend their current home win streak of six games and three-game streak against New England.

The Dolphins will be without their star cornerback Byron Jones, and, as per Miami’s depth chart, Nik Needham is listed opposite superstar Xavien Howard. Slot duties could be handled by depth corners Keion Crossen or Kader Kohou, or even more creative with safeties rotating in the nickel corner role with Needham filling in for Jones.

Needham is a natural boundary cornerback, although he was moved to the slot last season and proved to handle the transition admirably. He was among the NFL’s top-producing slot corners in 2021.

Other depth chart notes include the initial starting offensive line, which will see Terron Armstead at left tackle, Liam Eichenberg at left guard, Conner Williams at center, Robert Hunt at right guard and Austin Jackson at right tackle.

Handling the kickoff returns will be the duo of Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Waddle, while Hill will return punts.

The running backs and wide receiver charts are status quo, as is the tight end room. Mike Gesicki, who’s adapting to the McDaniel need for his tight ends to block, is listed as the starter with Durham Smythe and Hunter Long behind him, followed by Cethan Carter and rookie project Tanner Conner.

As for the defensive front seven, Melvin Ingram is another veteran Miami added in the offseason who’s listed as a starting outside linebacker opposite second-year stud, Jaelan Phillips. Jerome Baker and Elandon Roberts will man the middle with rookie Channing Tindall, Duke Riley and Sam Eguavoen adding depth.

Additionally, Andrew Van Ginkel could be making his return from an appendix removal just a few weeks ago to provide a rotation in the pass-rush along with newly signed Trey Flowers.

The Patriots flew down to Miami on Tuesday in order to get themselves acclimated to the September heat and hometown humidity of South Florida. McDaniel had a bit of advice for his opponents after starting with, “I feel very lucky, almost overly lucky that I get to work on my tan all the time.”

He concluded his presser with, “I’m sure there’s a lot of players and coaches for the Patriots that’ll be excited to bronze up a little bit before the TV regular season starts. So I know that for a fact that if you don’t put sunscreen on, you will get bronzed. So, factually, they better SPF up.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwhebtqp7ahdjt player_id=none image=https://dolphinswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=452735]

Byron Jones’ absence could be distressing in Dolphins’ first four weeks

A lower leg injury has cost him more time than expected.

Heading into the 2022 season, the Miami Dolphins have placed cornerback Byron Jones on the reserve/PUP list, meaning he will miss the first four weeks of the year.

Jones had surgery on his lower leg this offseason, and it kept him out of minicamps, OTAs, training camp and the preseason games. However, head coach Mike McDaniel always portrayed an air of confidence when it came to this injury, leading many to believe that Jones would be ready to go for the opener against the New England Patriots on Sept. 11.

In Jones’ absence, Nik Needham has been playing some outside cornerback spot opposite Xavien Howard, which is obviously a change from his normal slot role. That inside role has been a place where Needham has succeeded. Last year, Pro Football Focus had him playing 272 coverage snaps in the slot without conceding a touchdown, the most of any slot cornerback.

Needham’s potential movement would mean one of Keion Crossen, Noah Igbinoghene, Elijah Campbell and Kader Kohou will be playing inside. Crossen’s been a career special teamer, Igbhinoghene’s a disappointing former first-round pick, Campbell’s a former AAF/XFL cornerback with a bit of experience and Kohou is an undrafted rookie.

None of the options are particularly ideal.

Luckily, the Dolphins start off the year with games against the Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens, who aren’t particularly deep at wide receiver, but they do have some potential threats at tight end to make up for it.

The following two games get tougher, as Miami hosts the Buffalo Bills before traveling to Cincinnati to face the AFC champion Bengals. They were seventh and eighth in passing yards in 2021, respectively.

Buffalo’s receiving corps is led by Stefon Diggs, who will likely draw Howard in coverage, but Gabriel Davis is a budding star for the Bills and could end up causing some trouble.

For Cincinnati, they’re loaded with talent at wideout, as Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd could be considered one of the best trios in the league. Add in the fact that it’s Joe Burrow throwing them the ball, and that offense really strikes fear into opposing defenses.

Miami could still add at cornerback, with veterans like Janoris Jenkins and Joe Haden still on the market, but for them to come in and get adjusted to the system and ready to play could take some time.

Either way, the loss of Jones puts the Dolphins’ defense in a tough spot to start the season.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwhebtqp7ahdjt player_id=none image=https://dolphinswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=452647]

Dolphins place CB Byron Jones on reserve/PUP, will miss four weeks

This isn’t good news.

While the Miami Dolphins are clearing roster spots to meet the Tuesday deadline, they’re giving one of their defensive starters a chance to get healthier.

The team announced on Tuesday that they’ve placed cornerback Byron Jones on the reserve/PUP list, as a result, he will miss the first four weeks of the 2022 season.

Jones had been on the active/PUP list this summer following his leg surgery this offseason.

Miami will now go into the season with Xavien Howard and Nik Needham as the team’s two starting outside cornerbacks and will need to rely on some of the unproven depth pieces to make up for Jones’ absence.

Be sure to keep up with all of Miami’s roster moves via the cutdown tracker.

[listicle id=452505]