Jevon Holland wasn't feeling the love on Valentine's Day.
The Dolphins safety, a pending free agent, took note of Miami's social media team excluding him in a recent Instagram post to celebrate the holiday, reading between the lines that it might mean he's on his way out.
"Transparently, seeing the Dolphins post things like the Valentine's Day stuff or any type of edits and things like that. You can see guys that may not be here next year or may be somewhere else are just not in it," Holland said Thursday on his Breakin' House Rules podcast. "So, I'm like following them on Instagram, right, and I'm not in none of this s--- no more. And I'm like, OK, they've kind of moved on.
Miami's post in question delivered 11 V-day cards to fans, featuring 12 Fins players.
Although Holland was noticeably absent, he did acknowledge he understands the logic behind such an omission.
"I get it," he said. "I understand the decision to do that because I would do the same thing if I was in the same position. But from my perspective, I'm just like watching it like, I get it but OK, this is kind of the effects of being a free agent."
Obviously, a club's social media team will not be privy to all front office plans. Whether it's a little safeguarding -- or simply easier to pun it up using Jaylen Waddle -- the Dolphins aren't excluded from trying to keep Holland in the fold moving forward.
NFL Network's Judy Battista identified him as one of the players to watch during the franchise tag window. The Dolphins could also extend Holland before the free-agent negotiating window opens on March 10, or even re-sign him after he tests the market.
With that said, retaining a safety of Holland's caliber could be difficult.
Miami sits just $1.6 million under the cap, worse off than all but the five NFL teams currently over it.
And while Holland has long been an exciting player, the 2021 second-rounder took a step back this past season, likely his weakest year in terms of pass coverage based on his first interception-free campaign and a career-low 57.1 PFF coverage grade.
He'll still likely warrant a sizable deal, though, especially after the safety market seems to have rebounded. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made Antoine Winfield Jr. the highest-paid defensive back at the time of his March 2024 signing, while the Green Bay Packers gave Xavier McKinney $16.8 million a year during the same free agency period and the Arizona Cardinals locked up Budda Baker to a three-year, $54 million extension on Dec. 17. The arrow at the position is pointing up.
Holland, who has 301 career tackles with 25 passes defensed, five forced fumbles, five sacks and five interceptions with a pick-six, spoke about his deductions from the Dolphins' social media lightly, giving no indication of ill will.
While he left the door open for a return, he's eager for what awaits him in a few weeks' time.
"I'm excited. It's already going into Year 5," he said. "Just kind of crazy. I'm 24, about to be 25, it's dope. It's almost surreal, you know, stepping into another organization -- or same organization -- we still don't know. But say I do go to another place, going from Oregon to Miami, it's kind of like, I only know those two.
"I've been lucky to have a good organization with the Ducks and then going right into Miami and still being able to have a good organization with good people. It's nerve wracking, like am I going to choose the wrong one? But I just have to trust myself."
