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Robert Jones – May 15, 2021 Download PDF version

Saturday, May 15, 2021

G Robert Jones

(I know obviously your talent suggested that you could’ve gotten drafted. Were you disappointed that you weren’t and why did you pick the Dolphins over other teams that pursued you?) – “I wasn’t disappointed. At the end of the day, I just wanted an opportunity to get to this level and just play football and I was blessed with the opportunity to come here and compete. And I chose the Dolphins just because I just feel like the coaching staff, because I did work with them at the Senior Bowl, I just felt like that coaching staff wants the best out of every player, even if they were going to different teams or not. So I thought they had my best interests at heart.”

(I don’t want to get into your finances, but you got the most obscene amount of guaranteed money I’ve ever seen an undrafted rookie get – $130,000 of your contract is guaranteed. Obviously was that your biggest offer? And what was your thought process when the offers were stacking up?) – “You know, (laughter) man, it was just a blessing. When they started coming in, I was just – I couldn’t believe it. Because at the end of the day, I just wanted an opportunity. Even if they gave me $15,000 guaranteed, I was going to take it and run with it because I just wanted a place where I could go and compete.”

(I wanted to ask you about kind of a question I’m sure you get a lot in terms of competition at Middle Tennessee State and then you go to the Senior Bowl like you mentioned, now you’re here in Miami in the NFL. What has this offseason process like for you been, in terms of going up in competition? How do you think you’re acclimating to that?) – “My process is just keep developing as a player and keep getting mentally tough. When you go each level, you go up – because I started at JUCO – every level is all about a mental game and just really understanding what you’re doing. Getting here is all about me learning the playbook and just learning my fundamentals and learning how does this team want me to do certain things.”

(I wanted to ask you something you said when you worked out with the Dolphins coaches at the Senior Bowl. You thought they had their best interest in all the players overall. Just what was that experience like for you and when you came to the point where you decided “I want to pick the Dolphins, that I remember how they coached me up at the Senior Bowl??”) – “It was just, going out there – I just saw they pushed everyone no matter if they were going to play, or if they weren’t going to practice; they pushed everyone no matter what and they never singled anyone out and they always made sure they pushed everybody to their expectations. So when all the teams started coming, I just knew ‘Coach Lem’ (Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre), Coach Flores and everyone was just going to push me to my best.”

(I wanted to ask you about your start in football. It seemed like you had kind of a late start, maybe thinking about basketball when you were in high school. Tell me about what pushed you toward football and how glad you must be that you chose the right sport.) – “What really pushed was one of my coaches. His name is David Hampton. He played in the league some time ago, but he really just showed me. He told me, coming out of Chicago is rough, and he just talked to me and showed me that if I played football, I had an opportunity just to change my life and my family’s life forever. And not even going to the NFL, but really just getting a degree, because we didn’t have that many people around us – role models – who had that. So I just listened to him, he coached me up and I just followed through with the process. My other coach, Gary Griffin, got me until my JUCO, which gave me the opportunity to play at the collegiate level and that got me to Middle Tennessee.”

(Has Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre wanted you to focus on guard or is he cross-training you at both guard and tackle? I know you’ve obviously played both.) – “He really is focused on everything. The more I can do, the better chance I have to be out on the field.”

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