Will Reshad finally have a quality player to team up with?
Reshad Jones has shone premier talent – but even he can’t play two spots.
Has the Miami Dolphins safety Reshad Jones found the Robin to his Batman this season to help protect the top of the defense? Give the uncertainty, at this point, of their perimeter players at corner – they might need it now more than ever.
Few would argue that Jones had one of the best statistical seasons by a safety in the history of the NFL: 135 tackles, 5 interceptions and 2 were returned for touchdowns, 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, and 10 passes defended. Anyone with vision a step above blind would have seen that Reshad was clearly the best player on the Defense last season – but, as good as he is, even he can’t man two spots.
The Dolphins have rotated Walt Aikens and Michael Thomas at the other safety position, and neither has played like starting caliber safeties. A big question for this season is, can Isa Abdul-Quddus be not only be a stabilizing force, but a play-maker as well?
Jones has been given a lot of freelancing freedom in the Dolphins past schemes – not much is likely to change because there’s usually a good payoff. But, sometimes he mis-reads and a hole in the defense opens. Man defense can cover a lot of that up, but a Zone defense is less forgiving.
The one knock on Reshad is his aggressive play at times opens up the defense to the big play.
That’s why for Reshad to truly roam the field like a heat sinking missile, he needs someone else at the top of the defense with game enough to cover Reshad’s “mistake” when it comes.
This Dolphins coaching staff and management has identified this problem and signed Safety Isa Abdul-Quddus to fix this issue. Many football gambling fans have picked him to be a sleeper acquisition and possible rising star as Isa has played in the league for 5 seasons and has seen his playing time and production increase in each season.
However, he really has only started part of one season in 2015. So even though Isa was ranked as one of the better safeties last season, he has an extremely limited amount of starting experience. So it’s hard to say if he is going to be able to be a top tier safety for an entire 16 games.
A major positive in his skill set (one that perfectly suits Miami’s need) is that Isa has displayed a very strong ability to protect against the big play and was rarely out of position and excelled as a field general. If he can continue this trend, or even better yet, expand his game, then this could allow Jones more freedom to roam the field and be even more aggressive. Go Fins!!!