Jones-Holland Partnership Off to a Great Start

Brandon Jones and Jevon Holland quickly became a productive safety tandem once they became teammates with the Miami Dolphins, and the possibilities moving forward are intriguing, to say the least.

But even before they were paired in the secondary, the two got off to a good start by connecting off the field.

“It's strange because when (Holland) first got here, we just kind of connected," Jones said. "It's kind of weird. That relationship that we kind of made early on has definitely shown itself off the field, and we've become really good friends obviously.”

HOLLAND'S IMPRESSIVE ROOKIE SEASON

Holland was productive in all areas of the game as a rookie last season, recording 69 total tackles, two interceptions, 10 passes defended, three tackles for loss, 16 pressures, and 2.5 sacks, and Jones led all NFL safeties in sacks (five), establishing himself as one of the best blitzers at the position.

Along with their personalities, their games complement each other well.

Holland’s strength as a single-high safety tasked with serving as the last line of defense in man coverage makes Jones more comfortable when he’s playing man coverage.

“The biggest example for me is any instance where I’m in man coverage,” Jones said when asked how Holland’s game impacts his own. “I think knowing he can go red line to red line, just his speed, his ball skills. I know he’s always going to be there whenever he’s needed to be there.”

On the flip side, Jones creating pressure on the quarterback could lead opposing quarterbacks to make bad decisions or poor throws. A perfect example of this was when Miami played the Houston Texans last season. Jones pressured Texans quarterback Tyrod Taylor as a free rusher, leading him to overthrow a pass in the end zone, which Holland intercepted early in the first quarter.

Additionally, Holland’s versatility allows Jones to maintain his high usage rate as a pass rusher because the players and coaches are confident Holland will do his job in coverage no matter where he lines up.

“Whether he’s a middle-of-the-field safety, a cover-three safety, the half-field safety, whatever,” Jones said. “He’s always going to be there. I think having that confidence and knowing and having that trust in him gives the ability for a lot of people to be able to play fast.”

A GOOD COMBINATION

Holland said he made leading through how he played a point of emphasis last season because he wanted his teammates, like Jones, to know they could rely on him.

This offseason he’s attempting to be more vocal when he sees mistakes during practices.

“I feel like I tried to earn a lot of my teammate's respect through my play first,” Holland said. “They know that if something happens and I do say something, it comes from a place of love because I want them to get better and I would want them to push me the same way. It’s not necessarily me just yelling at them. That’s how I see leading. Anybody can be a leader. Anybody can say something. Now that I’m like a year in, it’s the same group and they know what I can do, I feel comfortable being able to correct it if it’s a situation that I know that I can help.”

Both Jones and Holland’s roles are vital to Miami’s defense maintaining the high level of play they displayed during the second half of last season when they allowed just more than 14 points per game from Weeks 9-18.

Holland is a chess piece capable of making impact plays at all three levels of the field, and Jones provides a defense that loves to disguise its blitzes with additional versatility that isn’t available to every team.

“I think the second half of the year team is who we are, really,” Holland said. “The first half of the year, we were trying to come together. Once we got it together, as you saw, we started winning games, coming together as a defense, and making plays. We just talk about it as who we are now and that we can build on that because that’s not the extent of who we are. We can get better. That’s everybody’s mind-set, too.”