MIAMI (AP) -- Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson knows the risk of giving second chances to players with off-the-field problems.

He's also well aware of the potential reward.

The risk has little to do with the salary cap or team chemistry. It's all about Johnson's reputation.

"The only risk to any situation is the risk toward my reputation," he said. "The way my reputation is, I don't know if I risk anything there."

Having a penchant for giving players second -- and sometimes third -- chances, Johnson has had mixed success with it this season. Dealing with the troubled players, though, seems to be wearing on him as Miami (9-5) prepares for Monday night's game against the New York Jets (6-8).

The Dolphins roster includes three convicted felons and a receiver who faced federal indictment this summer. Critics say Johnson wants to win at all costs. He does, but he also has a formula for figuring out where to draw the line.

"You've got to make a decision as to whether you want to take a risk, and you've got to evaluate what the risk is and what you're going to give up, what the downside would be and what the upside would be," Johnson said.

Johnson used a fifth-round draft pick on rookie running back Cecil Collins. Not a lot, Johnson said, for a player who was the highlight of training camp and led the team in rushing before breaking his leg -- and then his probation.

Collins, on probation since pleading guilty in Louisiana for unauthorized entry into two women's apartments, was arrested Dec. 16 on two counts of burglary. He allegedly climbed into a couple's bedroom window at his apartment complex.

He was released on bail for the burglary charges and arrested a day later after a Louisiana judge issued a warrant for a probation violation. He has been in jail since and is facing up to 20 years in prison.

"It's a pretty big distraction," linebacker Zach Thomas said. "It can kind of contaminate a lot of players, where you start thinking negative and the next thing you know your preparation hurts and it hurts you in a game."

In addition to Collins, Johnson signed troubled receivers Robert Baker, Tony Martin and Lamar Thomas.

Baker was released from jail in March after serving 10 months for drug trafficking; Martin was acquitted in August on charges of laundering drug money; and Thomas was twice charged with attacking his fiancee, and spent nearly three weeks in jail in 1997 for violating probation.

Baker and Thomas are out for the season with injuries, but Martin -- signed as a free agent from Atlanta in April _ is paying big dividends for the Dolphins. Martin leads the team with 61 catches for 935 yards and four touchdowns.

This isn't anything new for Johnson, whose Miami Hurricanes were the bad boys of college football in 1987, when they won the national championship. With the Dallas Cowboys, he assembled back-to-back Super Bowl champions who subsequently embarrassed the NFL with a series of off-the-field transgressions.

Talented but troubled running back Lawrence Phillips was signed by the Dolphins in late 1997, then released last summer after he was charged with hitting a woman at a nightclub.

"He was on the street and we tried for a while, but we didn't like what we saw, so we released him," Johnson said. "It didn't cost us any draft picks; it didn't cost us any money."

It cost Miami a $100 waiver fee to give Dimitrius Underwood, a first-round draft choice by the Minnesota Vikings, a second chance. After joining the Dolphins when the Vikings cut him, Underwood attempted suicide and fled from a mental health center. Miami released him last week.

"Almost everybody is deserving of at least a second chance," defensive end Rich Owens said. "People make mistakes; nobody is perfect. Occasionally, someone who gets a second chance messes up again, but generally the guys who get a second chance make it work. But people don't want to hear that. They are more interested in who's messing up and who's misbehaving."

The recent off-field problems seem to be wearing on Johnson. He said after Sunday's 12-9 win over San Diego that "it's taken the fun out of coaching."

There is growing speculation Johnson won't be back next year. But if he is, don't be surprised to see him giving more players second chances.

"I don't think you can have a hard line on saying, 'We're not going to take a chance on anybody who's ever had a problem before, because if you do that, then you bypass the Randy Mosses and Warren Sapps," Johnson said. "And you bypass people that are completely innocent like Tony Martin."

NY JETS Season schedule and results

MIAMI Season schedule and results

September 12 New England L 28-30 September 19 @Buffalo L 3-17 September 26 Washington L 20-27 October 3 @Denver W 21-13 October 11 Jacksonville L 6-16 October 17 Indianapolis L 13-16 October 24 @Oakland L 23-24 November 7 Arizona W 12-7 November 15 @New England W 24-17 November 21 Buffalo W 17-7 November 28 @Indianapolis L 6-13 December 5 @NY Giants L 28-41 December 12 Miami W 28-20 December 19 @Dallas W 22-21 December 27 @Miami 9:00pm ET January 2 Seattle 1:00pm ET

September 13 @Denver W 38-21 September 19 Arizona W 19-16 October 4 Buffalo L 18-23 October 10 @Indianapolis W 34-31 October 17 @New England W 31-30 October 24 Philadelphia W 16-13 October 31 @Oakland W 16-9 November 7 Tennessee W 17-0 November 14 @Buffalo L 3-23 November 21 New England W 27-17 November 25 @Dallas L 0-20 December 5 Indianapolis L 34-37 December 12 @NY Jets L 20-28 December 19 San Diego W 12-9 December 27 NY Jets 9:00pm ET January 2 @Washington 4:15pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

Copyright 1999 STATS, Inc. Commercial distribution without the express written consent of STATS is prohibited.