Miami Dolphins need to get Cam Smith more involved with the defense

Chris Grier thought very highly of Cam Smith, enough that he took him with his 2nd round pick, the first he had to work with in last April's draft. So far, Smith has been a special teams player.

Smith has played a total of 41 snaps on special teams. That's 73% of the plays for the Dolphins. He has registered no snaps on defense. Is Eli Apple playing that well or is Cam Smith struggling?

Apple hasn't been perfect for the Dolphins by any stretch. He does have two passes defensed and nine combined tackles but he lacks consistent run support. On defense, Apple is the veteran that Vic Fangio can rely on and right now it is more about finding someone to hold down the position until December.

Still, Cam Smith should be playing and the fact he is not is a red flag. No, I'm not going to label him a bust or a bad draft pick but a 2nd round selection should be playing on Sunday's and so far, Smith is not.

During camp, Smith had shown some quality signs of progress. He was getting in between the quarterback and receiver to knock down passes but Fangio said that he needed to grow and develop more as well as being more consistent.

We can only theorize that none of that has happened yet as Smith remains on the sideline watching the defense. We knew that Howard and Apple were going to take a lot of snaps but the fact Smith has taken zero is a little concerning or at the very least, confusing.

Justin Bethel has taken 19 snaps in the secondary and Kader Kohou has taken almost 98% of the snaps on defense. That isn't a surprise as Kohous continues to impress with his play on the field.

Smith, however, isn't alone. None of the other CBs have taken a single snap so far this year on defense. They, however, were not drafted in round two.

There is a lot to like about Smith and at some point he is going to get his reps but Dolphins fans have seen these types of draft picks before. They can't grasp the speed of the NFL or they can't grasp a playbook, or something else prohibits them early on from taking the next step.

Smith was expected to challenge Apple for the starting job after Jaylen Ramsey was injured and so far it hasn't been a competition.