Cam Smith Career Update

The 2023 Miami Dolphins second-round pick has been out of the NFL this season

Miami Dolphins cornerback Cam Smith (24) looks on during training camp at Baptist Health Training Complex. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Former Miami Dolphins second-round pick Cam Smith pretty much disappeared this football season, but he could be on his way back to the NFL.

Smith, who was waived off the Reserve/Non-Football Illness list September 30, got his first post-Dolphins look from another team this week and it came from the Kansas City Chiefs.

One day after they were eliminated from playoff contention, ending their streak of seven consecutive appearances in the AFC Championship Game, the Chiefs conducted tryouts for 10 young players Monday.

Two of them were players who were in Dolphins training camp this summer. One was rookie free agent cornerback B.J. Adams.

The other was Cam Smith.

He had not appeared on the NFL transaction wire at all this season prior to this week, a bit unusual for a player who was a second-round pick just two years ago.

SMITH'S DOLPHINS SAGA

The Dolphins selected Smith in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft, but he never gained footing in Miami before they moved on from him this year when they really could have used the help at cornerback in light of the Jalen Ramsey trade, the Kendall Fuller release, and injuries to Kader Kohou, Artie Burns and others once the season started.

The issues with Smith involved a lack of professionalism, whether putting in the time or working enough on his body, that were called out by some of the team's assistant coaches and he also was slowed by injuries.

Training camp this year began with Smith very much at a crossroads and it was a bad sign when he was sidelined by a hamstring injury early on, though he did come back and had a solid showing after that.

It did come as a bit of a surprise that the Dolphins placed him on NFI when they made their cuts to the 53-man roster limit.

"Cam had some of his best ball the past two weeks," former GM Chris Grier said at the time. "He’s been really good, so we’ll see what happens. We’ll work through it and then we’ll see what happens down the road.”

What was so painful for the Dolphins with Smith is that they had only four picks in that 2023 draft, so they really couldn't afford any misses. Worse, the Dolphins took Smith when they could have selected instead Seattle Seahawks RB Zach Charbonnet, Los Angeles Chargers edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu, fellow cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (who played at the University of Miami) or Buffalo Bills starting guard O'Cyrus Torrence.

But that's in the past for the Dolphins.

Looking ahead, the only question here is whether Smith will ever get the chance to revive his career with another team.

The tryout with the Chiefs was a step in the right direction for him.