Benito Jones Becoming The Next Warren Sapp?

The defensive tackle is progressing steadily in his second stint with the Miami Dolphins.

Buffalo Bills guard Connor McGovern (66) blocks Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Benito Jones (95) during the first half at Highmark Stadium in Week 9. / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

It's been easy for Miami Dolphins linemen not named Calais Campbell or Zach Sieler to get overshadowed this season. Still, it was impossible not to notice Benito Jones in the victory against the Las Vegas Raiders last season.

Back for a second stint with the Dolphins in 2024, Jones has been relatively quiet this season until a performance that had defensive coordinator Warren Sapp comparing him to Hall of Famer Warren Sapp.

Jones didn't get a sack in the 34-19 victory against the Raiders, but Pro Football Focus (PFF) credited him with three pressures, one more than in the first nine games of the season combined. One of those pressures forced Gardner Minshew to move in the pocket and right to Zach Sieler for the sack.

Now, rushing the passer isn't necessarily at the top of Jones' job description because he needs to be a run-stuffer first, but this was a complete performance.

"Early in the season, when we were having some of our run issues, I told him I don't care if you get zero sacks on the season; I need you to grind these run blocks out," Weaver said. "And now he's turning into Warren Sapp all of a sudden. So I don't know if he's just not listening to me. No, I joke around. But I think Benito, just like all of our guys, the challenge is just to get better weekly. And I think that's what you're seeing out of him.

"There's ability there to both impact the game in the run and the pass game. And it was pretty cool last week to kind of see those flashes. Now we just got to turn it to actual sacks and not pressures."

A DIFFERENT JONES

Jones' first stint with the Dolphins lasted from 2020, when he arrived as an undrafted rookie free agent, to August 2022, when he was waived and subsequently joined the Detroit Lions.

He returned to Miami this offseason as part of the Dolphins' interior defensive lineman shopping spree, Which followed the team's loss of Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis to free agency.

As it turned out, Jones and Campbell were the only two newcomers on the defensive line among the half-dozen or so who were signed.

Jones' second stint with the Dolphins got off to a slow start as he battled a knee injury in training camp, but he's been coming on of late, and Sunday was his best effort yet.

"Yeah, I think Benito probably played his best game the other day, for sure," defensive line coach Austin Clark said. "And he got dinged up a little bit missed a lot of camp, and I think he's continuing to grow. He's doing a much better job with his pad leverage. I think he's in great shape. He looks a lot different than he did in 2020 when we first got him, and fired up about where he's going absolutely."