Omar Kelly: Dolphins secondary is full of players on their last chance

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Jul 29, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI — No matter how talented a player might be, his employment in the NFL isn’t guaranteed because playing professional football is a privilege, not a right.

There’s usually a moment when the NFL will send a troubled player that exact message.

New Miami Dolphins cornerback Jack Jones received it this summer when the league closed its doors on him after his April release.

Jones, a 2022 fourth-round pick, was fired by his second NFL team in three seasons that April, and despite his experience as a starter and reputation as a playmaker (seven career interceptions, four returned for touchdowns), nobody signed him until last week, when the Dolphins had roster spots available because of injuries.

“You go through those rough patches where you question it all. You question whether you are going to play again,” said Jones, who has started 21 games, 16 of them with the Las Vegas Raiders last season. “Thank God I got this opportunity.”

Jones’ performance on the field the next few weeks, and his behavior off it, will likely dictate whether it’s his last because the book on him is that he’s got to mature to live up to his talent, which seems to be undeniable.

“Good player. I’m worried about those Miami streets getting him,” an NFL coach said when asked about Jones this week. “He definitely needs a mentor, a big buddy.”

The New England Patriots released their 2022 fourth-round pick in his second season after he missed curfew before a game. Bill Belichick flat-out said it was time for the organization to move on from Jones, who was arrested June 16, 2023, after authorities at Boston’s Logan Airport found a Glock box with two guns and ammunition inside a bag with Jones’ name on it.

Prosecutors dropped the gun charges that September after Jones agreed to serve one year of pre-trial probation and 48 hours of community service on other counts, according to court documents.

The Raiders claimed him off waivers during the 2023 season, and he started 19 of 24 games he played for Las Vegas the past two seasons. But Jones was one of the first players new Raiders coach Pete Carroll purged right before OTAs opened, releasing the 27-year-old.

From that point, the phone went silent.

“Personally, with the talent I’ve got I feel like I shouldn’t be on three teams in four years,” Jones said. “It lit a spark in me to do right, on and off the field.”

Now we will see what he does with it.

The same applies for Mike Hilton, an eight-year veteran the Dolphins added the same day Kader Kohou sustained a leg injury early in Saturday’s practice.

Hilton doesn’t have the off-field luggage Jones carries with him. But he is an undersized, 30-year-old nickel cornerback who started 10 games in one of the NFL’s worst secondaries last season.

“Going into free agency, I definitely expected some team to come at me, and it didn’t go that way,” said Hilton, who tallied 73 tackles, five pass deflections and one interception last season with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Jones and Hilton quickly became Miami’s most experienced cornerbacks upon their signing, and their on-field play the past few days hints they could each carve out a prominent role with the Dolphins if they can stay healthy and quickly learn defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver’s scheme.

With Kohou sidelined for an extended period, Hilton will have an opportunity to prove he can handle the starting slot role. If he does well his presence on the roster might free Kohou up to play on the boundary, which is where there’s an ongoing audition to replace Jalen Ramsey and Kendall Fuller, Miami’s two starters in 2024.

Jones is competing with Hilton, Kendall Sheffield, Storm Duck, Ethan Bonner, Cam Smith, Isaiah Johnson, Cornell Armstrong and rookies Jason Marshall Jr., BJ Adams and Ethan Robinson to determine who mans those spots.

“All of us are veterans and pros,” said Hilton, who has started 56 of the 123 NFL games he has played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals. “We know what we have to do to execute.”

Hopefully they also know what they have to do to stay employed.

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