MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins first two draft picks in 2023 had wildly different rookie seasons.
Third-round running back De’Von Achane established himself as one of the best playmakers in the NFL, compiling 518 total yards and seven touchdowns during an explosive three-game stretch from Week 3 to Week 5. A knee injury slowed him down, but he still finished with 897 total yards and 11 touchdowns in nine full games.
But second-round pick Cam Smith played just 20 defensive snaps as a rookie, despite what seemed like a strong preseason and training camp, and was relegated primarily to special teams action.
Smith struggled to break into a cornerback rotation that featured Jalen Ramsey, Xavien Howard, Kader Kohou and Eli Apple. Former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was clear on what the rookie needed to do in the offseason.
“Just improve in all areas,” Fangio said last season. “Assignment, technique, execution, know-how — just a little bit in all areas.”
With a new defensive coordinator in Anthony Weaver and a reinvigorated mindset, Smith said he’s ready to make an impact in Year 2.
“I didn’t have the season I wanted. I didn’t really get the opportunities that I wanted, but I mean that’s that,” Smith said. “In the end, ain’t nothing given to you in this league. Stuff happens and I’m here so I feel like I’m free.”
Smith’s opportunities were limited as a rookie, in part because of the players ahead of him but also because of the potential negative impact of playing him before he was ready.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said cornerback is a position where trial by fire isn’t the best route for a player’s development.
“It’s just the natural growth,” McDaniel said. “There’s many different journeys that players take and he’s got a room of very capable players. I think you have to do right by the team and right by the player to make sure they’re appropriately versed. … You don’t just have guys learn on the fly with a position like that in my opinion because it’s like a quarterback where you don’t want to hurt their progression by having them see the field too soon. There can be scar tissue with that.”
So Smith had to make the most of his time on the sideline.
A three-year starter at South Carolina, he spent most of his time watching the Dolphins’ defense during his rookie season. It was a change from what he’d grown accustomed to, but he sought to turn the experience into an educational one.
He left college, but still considered himself a student.
“[It wasn’t] really that bad. I’m under two of the greats in the league, two of the best to ever do it, in X and Jalen,” he said. “So it wasn’t really a bad thing about it or anything like that. … I literally learned so much from them just sitting in a room with them just picking their brain and stuff like that. Just seeing what they see when I’m on the field. So it was just kind of really a learning experience. I just went to school for a year.”
But even getting to that mentality required a learning curve.
Smith said training camp was frustrating at times as he adjusted to the NFL, and he could feel it taking a toll on his outlook toward football.
“Definitely, it was some frustration,” he said. “It was during camp, so it was early, I wasn’t really homing in on it during the season. I mean, of course you think about it at certain times during games, but I wasn’t really focused on [the frustration] because when I was focused on it, I felt like I was losing my love for the game doing that.
“So just kind of staying in and honing in on what I can do and what I could control was a big thing.”
Smith said daily conversations with his mother, Alicia, kept him focus on his future, rather than his frustrations at the time — frustrations he no longer feels midway through his first full offseason as a professional.
The 23-year-old said one of the first areas for improvement he identified was his body; he played last season at roughly 180 pounds but has put on 15 pounds since the end of the 2023 season.
Smith injured his shoulder during Miami’s first preseason game last offseason and said that played a role in his motivation to bulk up this offseason, consuming up to six Ensure drinks a day to help him achieve that goal.
“Physically, I feel like I’m a much better player, just kind of gaining weight,” he said, “and actually being able to stop receivers when I press and stuff like that, not absorbing contact. So just that part of it and then mentally, just having that season behind me that I can say, ‘All right, I’m good. I got my feet wet, I did this and that.'”
He will still have to earn whatever playing time he gets this season.
The Dolphins released Howard but signed Kendall Fuller to a two-year deal, presumably to take over as the starter opposite of Ramsey. Kohou and Nik Needham remain on the roster and should be the first two options at the nickelback position — although Needham has also cross-trained at safety.
While their moves this offseason don’t necessarily point to Smith starting, the Dolphins expect positive development from him in 2024. They’re not worried about his rookie season, but all parties recognize a need for improvement.
“I’m not necessarily worried about placing blame or why his timeline is as it is,” McDaniel said. “Those timelines are unique to each individual. What I’m really pumped about is I know in Year 2, that the relationships that he’s holding within his position and the coaches and the way he’s attacking this offseason is that he’s not satisfied with that by any stretch and nor is the organization. So I’m excited for the competition and the development, because that’s really what I get into and what we’re all in this for.”