I don't think the Dolphins trade for anybody but ck touches on something that I think may be on the Dolphins radar and that's the Packers WR corp. Not so much James Jones and while Jones is a good route runner, knows the offense and has size and speed he also drops a lot of passes which is why he keeps moving down the depth chart. They have another kid that a lot of Packer fans talk about. He was on their practice squad last year, I believe he was an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina and his name is Tori Gurley. Fans seem to love this kid and if the Packers don't put him on the 53 we'll have a good opportunity to snag him. He's already familiar with the offense and he knows Philbin.
Gurley is a guy that I believe Jeff Ireland showed interest in last year as well. I could see the Dolphins being buyers on him if he's cut. But keep in mind part of this James Jones rumor is because the Packers also like Gurley and would like to find a way to keep him.
As for the drops, there's no denying that drops are a part of James Jones' history. However, I think people might be surprised exactly where those drops fit within the context of other wide receivers. Simple fact of the matter is if you look down the list of receivers with the most drops this year, you'll find a list of guys you'd probably love to get your hands on drops or no. This year's list includes Roddy White, Brandon Marshall, Wes Welker, Victor Cruz, Greg Little and Dwayne Bowe.
The last two seasons James Jones has caught 100 passes and dropped 14 balls. That's a drop for every 7.14 catches. Roddy White over the same time period is at 8.69x. Brandon Marshall was at 6.19x over 2010-2011. Wes Welker was at 8.07x over the two years. Victor Cruz was at 7.92x however that's just 2011 because he didn't catch anything in 2010. Greg Little was at 4.36x, and again that's just 2011 because he wasn't in the NFL in 2010. Dwayne Bowe is at 8.50x for the two years.
Larry Fitzgerald is the most ridiculous I've seen with only 6 drops in 170 catches 2010-2011 which equates to 28.33x. DeSean Jackson on the other hand is probably the dropsiest of the guys considered to be excellent receivers, having dropped a ball for every 5.10 catches in 2010 and 2011.
Chad OchoCinco dropped one for every 9.22 catches over 2010 and 2011. Brian Hartline dropped one for every 7.09 catches in 2010 and 2011. Davone Bess dropped one for every 11.91 catches.
Essentially yes James Jones drops the ball, but so do a lot of other premium wide receivers, and technically Brian Hartline (who isn't much noted for drops) has dropped the football at an even higher rate the last two seasons than Jones.
I'd be interested in knowing Joe Philbin's opinion of Jones. To be honest, I found it interesting that it seemed like until this year, James Jones was higher in the rotation and pecking order than Jordy Nelson. I mean, Nelson got more snaps overall than Jones in 2010, but Jones had more pass snaps (530 to 433) so Jones was more the pass catching specialist while Nelson was more the guy you could bring in and have run block for you. Jones also had 98 passes thrown his way to Nelson's 89 passes.
Jordy Nelson was only drafted one year after James Jones. Jones was drafted in 2007 and Nelson in 2008. Fast forward to 2010, Jones was higher in the pecking order as a receiver. He had to have been showing the coaches something in practice. I think where Nelson permanently surpassed Jones was in the 2010 Super Bowl when he caught 8 balls for 140 yards and a TD. He'd only caught 45 balls for 582 yards and 2 TDs during the 2010 regular season, whereas James Jones had caught 50 balls for 692 yards and 5 TDs.
So again, I would love to know Philbin's opinion of Jones. It only became apparent to Joe that Jordy Nelson had surpassed James about one year ago, and Jordy has become one of the very best WRs in the league. He's caught 20 TDs over the ast 3 seasons. Very possible Philbin might be feeling that if James Jones didn't have a Greg Jennings and a Jordy Nelson in front of him, he might be a genuine 1000 yard type receiver.