Dolphins promote DL Benito Jones to active roster
The Miami Dolphins announced on Wednesday that they have elevated undrafted rookie Benito Jones to the team’s active roster. Jones, who has played in four games this season for the Dolphins and has been a staple of Miami’s practice squad for the entirety of the 2020 season, has seemingly earned the trust of the coaching staff with his sparing play over the course of the last several weeks — which saw Jones called into action predominantly to help rotate in and cover the reps Christian Wilkins was losing while on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
But Wilkins is back in the fold for the Dolphins, which means that Jones’ promotion at this point is more about him and less about anyone else.
Miami surely misses the reliability of Davon Godchaux up front, too. Godchaux has not formally been eliminated from a return to action this season after going on injured reserve earlier this season — coach Brian Flores has mentioned several teams that there is a chance we’ll see Godchaux again. For a Miami team looking to push into the postseason, that would be quite a boost. But in the meantime, Jones will do — he’s compact, sturdy and offers plenty of natural leverage as a backup nose tackle to fellow rookie Raekwon Davis.
Whether or not Jones has the athletic ceiling to be a potential long-term option for the Dolphins is still up in the air and the remaining five games of the season figures to offer a great look and Jones and help the Dolphins make that decision while simultaneously competing for a postseason spot.
Jones’ first test as a member of the full-time active roster will come this Sunday when the Dolphins host the Cincinnati Bengals — which should be a plenty enticing match up for the Dolphins’ defense to try to kickstart another winning streak in 2020.
