Dolphins guard Shelley Smith waited more than two weeks to make his public debut with Miami. Smith got married in Phoenix to his high school friend , whom he started dating toward the end of college. The same weekend of his wedding, he signed a two-year $5.5 million ($1.5 million guaranteed) deal with the Dolphins.
“It was an absolute whirlwind,” Smith said. “Me and my wife didn’t expect things to quite work out that way. I ended up missing my rehearsal dinner; I missed some different wedding events. But at the end of the day, it all worked out great. I made it back for my wedding day, I made the wife happy, and I got to sign with the Dolphins.”
“We didn’t really take a honeymoon yet. We kind of enjoyed our time in Arizona a little bit; then we came right here trying to get situated and get back to work.”
Smith will more than likely become a full-time starter for the first time in his career.
Smith knows he fills a need for the Dolphins, but after working his way up from rarely-used reserve to part-time starter, he’s not ready to anoint himself the starter yet.
“I’m very excited to get the opportunity. Like always you have to earn it so I’m going to work my butt off to try and earn a starting spot on the offensive line.”
With limited action last year, Smith was graded by Pro Football Focus as the league’s 23rd best guard of 81. He was the fourth-best run-blocking guard and 58th in pass protection.
“For me a big thing is I just try to play hard for the whole 60 minutes. I try to be consistent with what I do, and I’m sure most of the offensive linemen you talk to will say they love run blocking, and I love run blocking.”
Smith said he hasn’t discussed with coaches whether he’ll start on the left or right side. He played on both sides in St. Louis and it will likely depend on who the Dolphins plug in at the other spot.
“I’m kind of leaving that up to the coaches and I’m not sure what they’ll have me do exactly,” Smith said. “I’ve played a lot on either side of the ball, so wherever they want me to line up, that’s where I will be.”
Dolphins General Manager Dennis Hickey said Smith received high praise from new offensive line coach John Benton. Benton was the line coach in Houston when Smith began his career there as a sixth-round pick out of Colorado State.
We are excited to add Shelley Smith to the Miami Dolphins. Obviously, we had some knowledge of Shelley through (offensive line) coach John Benton, our head offensive line coach who worked with Shelley. (Benton) had nothing but good things to say about not only the player but also the person, which is always important for us. As we watched film and saw the fit, especially for the scheme we will be employing with (offensive coordinator) Coach Bill Lazor, I just like the fit in his athleticism, ability to climb to the second level and do a lot of things we are going to be asking him to do. We are very excited to add Shelley Smith to our team, a quality character person, a good player, an ascending player we are excited to add to our roster.”
