Omar Kelly: Dolphins intent on turning up volume on tight end contribution

MIAMI — The question was a simple one.

How can the NFL’s top ranked offense get better? What’s the next step in the evolution of Mike McDaniel’s offense?

“What did we learn from the season?” Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith asked, summarizing Miami’s postseason discussions about an offense that set the NFL pace by producing 401.3 and 5.1 yards per carry. “Where are the areas that we need to grow?”

The staff provided a succinct answer.

Miami’s coaches realized they needed a tight end to threaten the seams of defenses and attack linebackers regularly, keeping defenses from playing cloud coverage, and to achieve that Miami needed big, physical targets that would come alive in the red zone and end zone.

Adding a tight end or two who is a pass catching weapon, a run-after-catch threat, would serve as a pressure valve for the offense. So Miami signed Jonnu Smith, who has scored 21 touchdowns in his previous seven seasons, to a two-year deal worth $8.4 million, and then added Jody Fortson Jr., who has scored four touchdowns in the 19 regular season games he’s played in for the Kansas City Chiefs.

“If we can make it so that they don’t, they cannot double the two guys on the outside. Now [defenses] are going to have some issues,” tight end coach Jon Embree said, referring to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. “Now they got to back up. Now the run game [works better].

“Everything ties them together,” Embree explained. “So just having another weapon and having it not be in the receiver room gives our offense even more flexibility, and it makes us even more dangerous.”

Jonnu Smith has a reputation for being a run after catch specialist. He led all tight ends in yards gained after the catch per reception last season because he has a knack for shedding tackles. Fortson, who spent five seasons as Travis Kelce’s understudy, is a high-point catcher, known for jumping at the highest point to bring down receptions.

How those newcomers will mix with Durham Smythe, Julian Hill and Tanner Conner, the holdovers from last year’s tight end room, is yet to be determined.

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