Miami Dolphins
A Dolphins player received good news due to his amount of snaps played
Throughout the first week of NFL free agency, the Miami Dolphins have already relinquished 12 players. While some of those players left as their contracts with the team expired, others were released by the Dolphins in an effort to improve their current salary cap situation. As a result, Miami is third in the NFL in dead moneyaccording to OverTheCap, and is projected to lead the league next season.
This comes after Miami’s previous general manager, Chris Grier, had a tendency of handing out large contracts ,rewarding players with large contracts for their performance. Unfortunately, in many such cases their performances diminished once they received their contract extension, the most glaring case being Tua Tagovailoa.
While Grier had his faults, which resulted in him getting fired, he did have success going bargain shopping in free agency. After years of spending, Miami signed several veteran starters prior to the season, and despite a disappointing season as a whole, they were among the top contributors. And now, one of those players has earned some good news from the NFL.
Miami Dolphins Cornerback Earns Bonus
On March 16, theNFL announced the performance-based pay distributions. In the announcement, the NFL said, “The Performance-Based Pay Program is a collectively bargained benefit that compensates all players based upon their playing time and salary levels.” They added, “For the first time in program history, the top 25 earners will each exceed $1 million in Performance-Based Pay. Players have been paid nearly $3.3 billion cumulatively since the inception of the Performance-Based Pay Program, which was implemented during the 2002 season as part of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association, and has been carried forward in three subsequent collective bargaining agreements.”
One of those players who entered the top 25 was Miami Dolphins cornerback Jack Jones Jr., who received an additional $1.1 million as he played 980 snaps for Miami during the 2025 season. Prior to the 2025 season, Jones signed a $1.1 million contract with the Dolphins.
Jones started all 17 games for the Dolphins, and even registered a game-winning interception against the Washington Commanders in a game in Madrid. Jones is currently an unrestricted free agent. During the season,Jones had high praise for former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as he called him a genius.
Jack Jones’ Free Agency
Miami’s top two cornerbacks were Jones and Rasul Douglas, both of whom were signed on one-year deals prior to the season. After a strong season by the pair, they are both free agents.
Regarding whether the Dolphins should try to re-sign Jones in free agency,Sports Illustrated’s Dante Collinelli wrote,“My opinion on Jones comes down to what the Dolphins decide to do with Douglas. If he’s brought back early in the free agency process, then Jones should be allowed to walk.
If the team knows it can’t afford Douglas or doesn’t want to invest in a veteran over 30, then bringing Jones back makes a lot of sense.
My process would be to see whether either player would return for a short, one-year deal before free agency opens. If either of them jumps at it, that’s the player I would retain. Douglas is a better cornerback than Jones right now, but the Dolphins don’t have a ton of resources this offseason.”