Miami Dolphins cornerback Byron Jones was not activated off the physically-unable-to-perform record on Tuesday and positioned on the reserve/PUP record.
Jones will now be compelled to take a seat the Dolphins’ first 4 video games of the 2022 common season after being held out of coaching camp and the group’s three preseason exhibitions.
Jones underwent decrease left leg surgical procedure this offseason and has taken longer than anticipated to recuperate.
“It really was just working through the process with him, just letting him take his time, go through the rehab work,” Dolphins basic supervisor Chris Grier mentioned on Tuesday in a joint press convention with coach Mike McDaniel addressing the group’s cuts to get all the way down to a 53-man energetic roster. “Like the whole lot, he had good days and dangerous days. … We’re simply being affected person, not placing stress on him to hurry him again.
“He was still optimistic about hopefully being here in a couple of weeks, but [that wouldn’t have been] fair. You can’t rush him out there with this. We just want to make sure he’s ready and right when he comes back.”
Grier added the group could look so as to add a cornerback however not with specific urgency.
“Like everything, we’ll be searching the waiver wire [Tuesday and into Wednesday], but for us, we feel good about the group we have,” he mentioned. “That’s not a position, right now, we feel is critical for us.”
When McDaniel final up to date Jones’ standing on Sunday, he mentioned the group had Tuesday “pinpointed” because the date for a possible return to the roster, “but it’s a fluid situation that has to do with him and a lot of other players.”
In his two seasons with the Dolphins, Jones has two interceptions in 30 begins with 95 complete tackles and a pair of compelled fumbles.
The Dolphins might be with out their No. 2 cornerback for a tricky four-game stretch to open the season towards the New England Patriots, on the Baltimore Ravens, house towards the Buffalo Bills and on the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Dolphins have All-Pro Xavien Howard, Nik Needham, Keion Crossen, Noah Igbinoghene and undrafted rookie Kader Kohou as cornerbacks that made the group’s 53-man energetic roster on Tuesday, the NFL’s cut-down day. Safeties Eric Rowe and Elijah Campbell are additionally able to enjoying cornerback.
Having Howard and Jones on the boundary and Needham obtainable to cowl the slot in man-to-man protection is crucial to the Dolphins’ blitz-heavy protection the place additional linebackers and safeties are sometimes dashing the passer.
Crossen signed with the Dolphins this offseason as a particular groups ace, however he usually impressed all through camp together with his move protection defensively. Igbinoghene, a first-round decide in 2020 who hasn’t seen a lot of the sector in his first two NFL seasons, didn’t reap the benefits of his elevated preseason alternatives with Jones out and Howard usually sitting. Kohou is an upstart undrafted rookie out of Texas A&M-Commerce who may function Needham’s backup nickel nook, the place he began within the preseason finale with Needham on the boundary.
Beyond Jones’ absence, the Dolphins’ cornerback depth in camp was devastated by the losses of Trill Williams and Mackensie Alexander following back-to-back exhibitions towards the Buccaneers and Raiders. Alexander was signed in response to Williams’ season-ending knee ailment.
On Gesicki commerce talks
Grier denied that the Dolphins ever reached out to different groups to provoke commerce conversations over tight finish Mike Gesicki, though he mentioned the group fielded calls from two groups .
“We did not make any calls on Mike,” Grier mentioned. “We had calls from two teams that reached out to us about Mike. We never made any phone calls about him. Mike was going to be here, and I think everyone made a big deal about him being on the field. But Mike’s a competitive kid. He has been challenged to do some things he hadn’t been asked to do before, and he stepped up.”
The query was raised after a Pro Football Focus report final week mentioned Gesicki’s title was “brought up” in commerce conversations amid a preseason the place Gesicki is studying a brand new offense. A supply advised the South Florida Sun Sentinel then that the report wasn’t true.
“Each and every day, he’s doing one or two things better to his standard of the way he wants his football to look,” McDaniel mentioned of Gesicki. “That’s all you can ask for.”
Tuesday follow report
Among the Dolphins not training within the half open to the media have been Howard, extensive receiver Jaylen Waddle, Rowe, Crossen, Needham, linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, and tight finish Tanner Conner.
McDaniel doesn’t usually reveal accidents. But Van Ginkel had his appendix eliminated final week, Conner has been carrying a brace on his left knee, and Waddle has been seen with a sleeve on his proper leg and his proper ankle taped.
Needham had been battling a hand harm. He went into the locker room briefly throughout Saturday’s preseason finale towards Philadelphia however returned to the sideline.
— Grier spoke for the primary time for the reason that NFL handed down a penalty for Dolphins tampering violations surrounding pursuit of quarterback Tom Brady and coach Sean Payton.
Grier declined to remark intimately on Tuesday, stating: “It really doesn’t affect how we do business around here.”
The Dolphins, together with having proprietor Steve Ross fined and suspended, have been docked a 2023 first-round draft decide and 2024 third-round choice.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com