Kelly: Tua Tagovailoa’s blindside is vulnerable if unproven linemen don’t step up | Opinion
Kion Smith is preparing for one of those career, if not life-altering moments, an opportunity that could make-or-break his young NFL career.
The Miami Dolphins are in the midst of investing a third season into this former Fayetteville State standout’s development as an undrafted offensive lineman, and with James Daniels sustaining a pectoral injury that got Miami’s biggest free agent addition placed on injured reserve earlier this week, Smith is being auditioned as the Dolphins’ starting right guard for the next month.
He’s being presented an opportunity every NFL journeyman dreams of — a next-man-up situation — but this moment could either be the big break he needs, or serve as the breaking point for his career.
“Got to be better,” Smith said, referring to his performance in last Sunday’s 33-8 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
The 26-year-old had a blunt, straight-to-the point conversation with someone [hand raised] he seemingly knows has been critical of him, and his unit’s performance all summer.
Smith knows there are doubters heading into Sunday’s home opener against the New England Patriots, a game where on occasion he will line up against Milton Williams, a top performer for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles before signing the biggest free agent contract of the 2025 offseason with the Patriots.
Sunday’s Week 2 game is a contest that will either alleviate some of the pressure head coach Mike McDaniel and his coaching staff are under, or turn up the volume, expediting their exit.
With everything that’s at stake, the last thing Smith can afford to do is be the weakest link protecting Tua Tagovailoa’s blindside in his very first NFL start.
“It’s going to take more dedication. More communication, hyper focus,” center Aaron Brewer said when asked about the changes being made on the offensive line this week. “We have to make sure they come in with no drop-off. You want to make a name for yourself, make sure you come in and there’s no drop off.”
Smith and his fellow offensive linemen must be able to hold the protection, giving Tagovailoa time to operate, with the awareness that New England’s defensive coordinator will likely craft a game plan designed around attacking him, and Larry Borom.
Will they be ready for the target placed on their backs?
“We pick people on this team that we think give us a chance to win football games. There is a next-man-up mentality,” associate head coach Eric Studesville said. “Those guys will be prepared. They are going to go in there and play their tails off and do everything they can to give us a chance to win.
“It’s an opportunity for somebody if they are ready for it.”
That IF is a huge part of that equation.
Borom has started 27 of the 48 games he has played in his five seasons, and most of them have taken place at right tackle, the position he will seemingly be handling for an extended period in Miami while Austin Jackson’s re-aggravated toe injury settles down.
Borom was rated one of the NFL’s worst offensive linemen by ProFootballFocus last season during his tenure as an injury fill-in for the Chicago Bears. But the Dolphins signed him this offseason with the belief he would be a better fit in Miami’s wide zone scheme because it allows him to utilize his athleticism better.
“It allows me to be more aggressive and attack things,” said Borom, a 2021 fifth round pick, talking about Miami’s scheme. “It suits me better.”
However, Borom’s struggled most of training camp and the exhibition season, filling in for Jackson, who sustained his initial toe injury early in training camp. But the Dolphins seemingly believe he would be a better right tackle starter than Kendall Lamm, who struggled as Jackson’s replacement at right tackle in the second half of the 2024 season.
Lamm is a more effective left tackle than right tackle, so it’s likely that he will sit this one out while Miami goes with the younger talent.
We will soon discover if that’s a wise position to put the team in.
When asked about the prep work he’s doing to put himself in position to make his first ever NFL start, Smith said he’s working on “all the things I was struggling with.”
The Dolphins only ran the ball -—excluding quarterback scrambles — 10 times because of how lopsided the turnovers and Miami’s defensive struggles made the game. So it will be interesting to see how the offensive line performs with the slate clean against New England, despite having backups protecting Tagovailoa’s blindside.
“I want to carry [the work I’m doing] into next week and be better,” Smith said.
General manager Chris Grier once bragged that teams tried to trade for Smith when Miami was formulating its 53-man roster back in 2023, before he lost 2024 to a season-ending knee injury he sustained in the exhibition season.
Now it’s time to show the organization that the investment it placed in him and his development wasn’t made in vain.
“They have poured their trust in me for a long time,” Smith said. “I just got to keep working.”
