Will Jonnu Smith finally change how the Miami Dolphins target tight ends?

The Miami Dolphins have averaged 26 points per game since Mike McDaniel arrived by featuring a heavy dose of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Miami’s offense averages just under 34 pass attempts with the receiving duo seeing roughly 18 targets per game.

Miami’s receivers gashed opposing secondaries and the running back group ranked fifth with 125 total targets in 2023. The tight ends, however, were ignored with just 52 total targets last season — an average of just three per game.

Hill and Waddle will again headline the unit but the addition of Jonnu Smith should force McDaniel to consider scripting tight-end targets for the first time since arriving in Miami. A former third-round pick, Smith features a dynamic skillset and is the only tight end to reach 20-plus mph as a ball carrier since the start of the 2022 season, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

“It’s a lot of familiar concepts,” Smith said of learning Miami’s offense. “I’ve been around this offense for quite some time now – my first stint in Tennessee and obviously Atlanta. So coming in a lot more comfortable with the terminology, a lot more comfortable with the concepts and knowing what we want done as a offense. I would say the transition for me has been a pretty smooth one.”

Smith joins the Dolphins after setting career-highs in receptions (50) and yards (582) last season with the Atlanta Falcons. He scored at least three times in four of his eight seasons, setting a career-high with eight touchdowns in 2020.

“Man, the sky is the limit with these guys,” Smith said of joining the Dolphins. “I feel like I’ve said this every year literally because it’s been my honest opinion. That’s just the way my career has went, that’s just the journey I’ve been on and the people I’ve been around.”

Tight end Durham Smythe was third on the Dolphins with 35 receptions last season, trailing just Hill (119) and Waddle (72). Smythe finished with 366 receiving yards but couldn’t find the end zone. Smith takes over as the top-receiving threat among a tight end group that caught 41 total passes in 2023.

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“This is by far the most explosive, talented stacked team I’ve ever been a part of,” Smith said. “I’m not even going to say offensively, just as far as a team. Now, what does that mean right now in the beginning of June?

“Nothing – we’ve got to go out there and continue to put the work in. We all know that and we all believe in that. So as long as we have the mindset that we know who we are and what we can do, and we come in here and work with that mindset, I think we will be very satisfied with the results.”