Dolphins’ Cam Smith rediscovers ‘love for the game’ after rocky rookie season

MIAMI GARDENS — One snap per game.

Hope surrounded the Dolphins’ acquisition of cornerback Cam Smith in 2023. He was their top draft pick, a claim neither Sam Madison nor Patrick Surtain nor Xavien Howard could make. Then, reality set in. The Dolphins put Cam Smith on the shelf and may as well have forgotten he was ever there, using him on only 20 defensive snaps all season.

“Definitely, it was frustration,” Smith said this week during OTAs.

Smith. taken 51st overall in Round 2, apparently sensed his transition from South Carolina to the NFL would be a bumpy ride because of the timing of the frustration. It wasn’t so much on fall Sunday afternoons. It was during training camp.

And when it hit Smith, it hit hard.

“I felt like I was losing my love for the game,” he said.

Given the priority the Dolphins put on their players loving football — the phrase inevitably comes up on draft weekend — that’s a serious issue. Smith credits his mother with helping him overcome it.

“Just kind of talking to her every day,” he said. “Just telling her everything that’s going on. And she was telling me, ‘Just kind of see it through.’ It’s like, ‘You can’t see it now, but it’s gonna help you in the future.’ ”

Now is the future, correct?

“Now, I’m here,” Smith said.

Cam Smith’s place in revamped secondary is TBA

Smith is here, potentially with a role to play in a revamped secondary still anchored by cornerback Jalen Ramsey and safety Jevon Holland but minus Howard. It’s also minus Vic Fangio, last year’s defensive coordinator, who has been succeeded by Anthony Weaver.

Of course, there have been shots fired at Fangio, who won’t be missed by some in Miami Gardens. Fangio made the call to keep Smith on the sidelines. Fangio is the one who, when asked what Smith had to do to get on the field, famously said improve in all areas. When it was announced that Fangio was departing, Smith posted an image of an open lock on social media.

“Really just kind of expressing myself,” Smith said. “Feeling like, yeah, I didn’t have the season I wanted. I didn’t really get the opportunities I wanted. But I mean, that’s that. Nothing’s given to you in this league. So stuff happening — stuff happens. And I’m here. So I feel like I’m free.”

At the same time, Smith is grateful for the knowledge he gained from playing under Fangio.

“Definitely,” he said. “A lot of the offensive side of the ball. Understanding football for real. Like he broke down everything — yardage, what people do in from the 40 to the 40, what people do from the 20s, stuff like that.”

Smith also can appreciate the upside of his 2023 situation.

“Not really that bad,” he said. “I’m under two of the greats in the league, two of the best to ever do it, ‘X’ and Jalen. So it wasn’t really a bad thing about it or anything like that. I learned a lot from Eli (Apple), all of them. Justin Bethel … just sitting in the room with them, just picking their brain. … Really, I just went to school for a year.”

Smith feels comfortable in Anthony Weaver’s system

So is he ready for a test? Smith sees parallels between Weaver’s system and terminology to what he experienced at South Carolina, calling it “basically the same.”

Smith said he would feel comfortable both on the boundary and at nickel. Even when he wasn’t getting reps in practice, he said, he was “cross-training” himself mentally to prepare for whatever role coaches throw at him in Year 2. He even chuckles now at how Year 1 ended: with him still acting like a rookie.

“As soon as we got back off the plane from Kansas City, I was going back to work out the next day,” Smith said. Veterans nixed that plan, telling him. “You’ve got to chill, got to rest your body.”

That was a foreign concept for a player whose recent history had him training “like an Olympian” for the NFL Combine. Following a break, he resumed training and says he feels stronger and bigger, having added 15 pounds after carrying just 180 last season.

“Six Ensures a day,” he said. “I gotta get it in. First time I’ve really been this big since I was training.”

He thinks it will help him endure a 17-game season this year. Last summer, he injured a shoulder in the first preseason game. This summer, he’s ready for a fresh start.

“Mentally, just kind of having that season behind me, I can say, ‘All right, I’m good.’ Like I got my feet wet. I got a did this and that. So it’s really good.”