The Miami Dolphins added new targets for their offense in the offseason, including tight end Jonnu Smith. Playing for the Atlanta Falcons last season, Smith will enter training camp on his fourth team. Smith began his career with the Tennessee Titans, where he spent four seasons. They selected him in the third round (100th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. Smith played the 2021-2022 seasons in New England with the Patriots and was underutilized in the passing game. His best overall season was 2021, with former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Smith had eight touchdowns on his 41 receptions and 448 yards that season. He has 219 career catches for 2,423 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 106 first downs created. He specializes in yards after the catch, which the Dolphins haven’t had from their tight ends in some time. Height: 6-3 Weight: 248 lbs. Exp.: 8 Years School: Florida International How Acquired: Signed as an unrestricted free agent (from Atlanta), 2024 2023 In Review Smith caught a career-high 50 passes last season and gained 583 yards with three touchdowns. He was relatively reliable with a 71.4 catch percentage and turned 26 receptions into first downs. His average yards after the catch in 2023 was 7.2 yards, which was third best in the league among tight ends, right below David Njoku and George Kittle, both at 7.5 yards. Contract/Cap Info Smith and the Dolphins agreed to a two-year, $8.4 million contract, which includes a $2.75 million signing bonus, $3.96 million guaranteed, with an average annual salary of $4.2. million In 2024, Smith will earn a base salary of $1.21 million with a signing bonus of $2.75 million, including a workout bonus of $100,000. Smith’s 2024 cap hit will be $2.11 million with a dead cap value of $3.96 million (per sportrac.com). 2024 Preview Joining a room with veteran Durham Smythe, who is the Dolphins’ longest actively tenured offensive player, Smith brings a different component. Smythe, who performed well when the offense called his number last season in the passing game, is better suited as a second tight option than a team’s primary at that position. Smith’s ability to create yardage following a catch is something a Miami Dolphins tight end has not been able to consistently achieve recently. Since his rookie season in 2017, Smith has been among the best in the NFL in this area. Second-year Julian Hill is more of a blocking tight end, and free agent Jody Forston will also compete in training camp. The Dolphins also have undrafted free agent Tanner Conner from 2022 and 2024 rookie free agent Hayden Rucci from Wisconsin battling in training camp.
Jonnu Smith is definitely a likely upgrade over Smythe. Nothing against Smythe - I do like him a lot as a player and he's underrated as a receiver - but it's clear that he's better off as a number two.
I like adding him to the roster. As much of a fan as I am of Cheetah and the vertical game, we now have too much depth at receiver to focus on him the way we did last season. I remember how much I envied the Colts when they had Manning. Their receivers ran every route as if they were getting the ball because they knew he'd send it to the player with the best opportunity. It made Manning that much more effective by spreading it out. We have to feed Jonnu and OBJ because they're going to have opportunities to make plays. They won't have many opportunities that are 30 yards downfield, but that means either they get single coverage or Hill gets it. McDaniel needs to be disciplined enough to make the defenses pick their poison and not be greedy. I'd love to see Jonnu AND OBJ get 500+ yards, even if that means Hill's (and Waddle's) production is less than it was last season.
Thank you for making that point about the Manning-era Colts, because its one that I agree with and have made myself. Even having Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, they still heavily involved the TEs and RBs in the passing game, and just got it to the open man, making their offense practically unstoppable at times. That's the next step that Tua and our offense need to take, instead of jamming it into coverage to Tyreek every play. Jonnu Smith is highly effective on play action, and our old friend Ryan Tannehill took advantage of that frequently in Tennessee. He had 8 TDs in 2020, and was heavily involved in almost any game that they did well on offense that year. He was banged up a lot in 2021 and 2022 and it really seems like it hurt his production, and then they've changed coaches and QBs and the system has been in flux more recently. At 29, I don't expect Smith to be a long term solution for the Fins, but hopefully he can be a solid bridge player for a couple of seasons until we get a long term answer through the draft. As for Smythe, I was surprised to see that if he stays healthy, he'll have played in the second most games at TE in Dolphins history by the end of this season. And one of the players ahead of him on the list is Ed Perry, who was mostly a long snapper. Leaving just Bruce Hardy and Jim Mandich as guys ahead of Smythe on the team list in that regard. He is 10th among TEs in receiving yardage for Miami, but has just 3 TDs on his career. Though its also sad that only 11 TEs in team history have over 1000 career yards.
