Looking into Miami Dolphins’ running back De’veon Smith
By Jairo C.
With Jay Ajayi coming off the concussion protocol, Drake leaving Monday’s practice, and entering the concussion protocol. Let’s take a gander at another current Miami Dolphin running back, De’Veon Smith.
Stephen Ross must be over the moon that the Miami Dolphins signed undrafted free agent De’Veon Smith out of his alma mater Michigan University.
Here are De’Veon Smith’s combine and pro day numbers. Discern what you’d like from them.
5’11 223 lbs
- 22 Bench
- 29′ Vertical Jump
- 9′ Broad Jump
- 7.33 3-Cone Drill
- 4.56 20 yd Shuttle
- 11.75 60 yd Shuttle
- 4.85 40 yd
- 4.45 20 yd Shuttle
- 7 3-Cone Drill
In De’Veon Smith’s 4 season’s as a Wolverine he amassed 2,235yds/22 TD rushing and 251yds/ 1 TD receiving. In Jim Harbaugh’s heavy run offense De’Veon carried the rock a total of 495 times. If you watch any of his film you’ll notice he has a special kind of disdain for gravity as he rarely, if ever, goes down on first contact. He won’t wow you with breakaway speed but what he brings is a short-yardage running back that still has a place in the NFL. As one scout wrote
"Big back, North-south runner, directional change to avoid square contact, and fall forward… lacks pro acceleration, and very little threat to take runs to the house"
Because of De’Veon’s lack of speed, his ceiling is much lower than most. Maybe it’s just because I’ve got an old school mentality when it comes offenses but, I like a ground and pound running back that falls forward. Someone that as the game continues, linebackers will start to avoid, much like Marshawn Lynch “over and over and over and over”. De’Veon won’t break the game open but he won’t lose yards and dig the offense in a hole offensively. That’s what defenses are looking for, anything and long. So that they can pin their ears back and attend your quarterbacks funeral.
The odds are stacked against De’Veon Smith making the roster. But with the sweep of injuries hitting the Dolphins backfield in Jay Ajayi and Kenyan Drake, it’d be smart to continue to give De’Veon some work in these preseason games. Dolphins have depth at running back with the top two and Damien Williams, who is reliable, but this is a long season. Dolphin fans can attest with all these bad news coming from training camp. Rest your starters and find out what you have in De’Veon Smith.