MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Jack Jones stepped to a covered lectern Monday at the Baptist Health Training Complex, wearing a practice jersey without a nameplate, minutes after his second practice with the Miami Dolphins.
He had arrived two days before on a one-year contract after spending the past two seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders; it typically takes new signees a couple of days to get their last name stitched on their jerseys. The aqua penny with white numbers is the third practice jersey Jones has worn in the past four seasons, despite building a reputation as one of the league's better ball hawks.
Since he was drafted in 2022, Jones' four defensive touchdowns rank second only to DaRon Bland. But the Raiders released Jones earlier this offseason after failing to find a trade partner. The experience "woke me up," he posted on his X account.
"It just lit a fire under me," he said. "Personally, I feel like with the talent I've got, I shouldn't be on three teams in four years. It lit a spark under me to do right, on and off the field."
Jones is one of a trio of cornerbacks the Dolphins signed in the early days of training camp, as they completely overhaul their secondary. Hours after Jones took the practice field for the first time, Miami agreed to a deal with nickel cornerback Mike Hilton. The week before, Cornell Armstrong returned to the team that originally drafted him in 2018.
These signings come after the team released Kendall Fuller in September and traded Jalen Ramsey to the Pittsburgh Steelers in June. The Dolphins also lost Artie Burns and Kader Kohou for the season with torn ACLs in the first week of camp, ensuring that the team will enter the 2025 season with a different starter at all five secondary positions.
There will be opportunities for all three to see playing time, particularly Hilton, who started 36 games for the Cincinnati Bengals over the past four seasons. Once he's up to speed, he should take over Miami's vacant nickelback role.
"Mike Hilton for me comes with some scars from the other side of the ball," Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. "Playing against him in years past, he was the one guy in the defensive backfield that realistically and from a physicality standpoint, you're like, 'I wish they wouldn't be in nickel. I wish he wouldn't be on the field. I wish they would have a linebacker on the field.' That's how convicted he would play and how physically he plays the game from the defensive back position."
Jones also has an opportunity to start, but he will have to prove his reliability off the field as much as on it.
He was arrested in 2023 as a member of the New England Patriots after TSA agents at Boston's Logan International Airport found two loaded guns in his carry-on luggage. The charges were ultimately dropped, but the Patriots cut him midway through the season one week after he missed curfew the night before a game. He was also arrested for commercial burglary in 2018 as a 20-year-old.
"Jack is in a really cool spot," McDaniel said. "Had multiple conversations with him, including one at 6 a.m. today in the special teams coordinator's office, about seizing opportunities and choosing to define your name and legacy by your actions. I think he's eager to really compete. I like that about him and I think he knows, like all the guys that are coming to this team, you can't help but feel the standard with which the locker room moves and operates and holds each other to."
Jones said he understands why teams were hesitant to sign him this offseason and thanked the Dolphins for taking a chance on him.
He said he has learned to slow down and to view things differently.
"I would say (what's changed about me is) being more calm," Jones said. "Just my whole life growing up, I was just a little emotional and that's what helps me on the field. It can help me, but it also could hurt me at the same time. Once I stepped back here and realized that, it helped me slow down, step back, take the pride out of it, and really look at the situation as what it is and not what I want it to be."
Cam Smith (2023 second-round pick), Ethan Bonner, Storm Duck and Kendall Sheffield will also compete for the open starting jobs this summer, with McDaniel suggesting the team could tap into the veteran free agent market.
The Dolphins will play six games against top-10 passing offenses from a season ago.
While Miami's pass rush is expected to be one of the best in the league if Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb and Chop Robinson remain healthy, McDaniel will keep a close watch on his defensive backs as they prepare for a challenging slate this season.
"I need them within our scheme to own the techniques and fundamentals so that in every defensive call, there is a strength and weakness," he said. "So within that call, you need to -- whether you have the hard job or the easy job -- you have to execute with dependability and consistency so that the rest of the unit can play off of that. ... Specifically with our defense, which has probably equal to the amount of our offense in terms of the illusion of complexity and the variance and versatility, you need guys that are super consistent with what we're asking players to do.
"It's a consistency and dependability thing within our defense because our strength is how we rush the passer, our strength is how we play together, our strength is how we get to the ball. I'm looking for corners to match safeties to match edge players in that way -- different skills, different tools, different responsibilities but very similar in needing to own one of the 11 spots so the other 10 can depend on it."