Dion Jordan working to shake off the rust and improve each week

Written by Matthew Cannata at 4:30 PM EST | Twitter: @PhinManiacs

Dion Jordan returned from his six game suspension and took the field on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars and played 30 snaps. Jordan wasn’t very effective but that was to be expected as he worked to shake off the rust he has acquired since the last pre-season game. Moving forward though, the coaching staff expects him to get better each week.

“I think he played well for his first opportunity back,” Kevin Coyle said. “He’s only had a week of real work under his belt in terms of his football preparation, actual practicing. There are some areas that he can certainly improve upon. I thought he gave really good effort, I thought he made an impact on special teams as well as on defense, which was real positive. We’re looking forward to having him back and the contributions he can make.”

One pattern that showed up throughout the game was the fact that Jordan played on just about every first down that the Jaguars had. Coyle noted that this was done on purpose because of the intangibles he brought to the table.

“One, he’s gotten bigger and stronger in the offseason since his shoulder has healed up. Secondly, it was the type of game where we had planned on having a pretty good rotation with our front people and the weather also had something to do with it. It was a hot day. I think we were out on the field a lot in the first half and consequently we tried to keep people fresh, roll people through. Everybody’s numbers were a little bit, for some of the guys that were getting really high numbers, their numbers were down. But it was fairly even across the board, so we got a lot guys some good work.”  

Last season, Jordan proved to be effective at times covering the tight end and the Dolphins plan to use him in that role moving forward again. Joe Philbin doesn’t think that he has lost a step since last year and is ready to put him in those situations if needed.

“Time will tell a bit more. He’s only had the one game out there. Just watching him in space on some of the special teams stuff that he did and watching him move around, he looks good moving around to me. We’ll see as the season develops.”

Jordan can be a special talent if he puts it all together and we’ll see as the season goes on if he is able to do so. If he does, then the defensive line will become even more dangerous than it already is. 

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