Former Dolphins CB Sean Smith headed to Chiefs

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Vontae Davis must be psychic.

Two and a half weeks ago, Davis tweeted that his friend and former teammate Sean Smith was talking to the Kansas City Chiefs before completely backtracking, as that would've represented tampering and an NFL no-no.

Well, Davis was right. He's a regular Adam Schefter. According to Smith's agent David Canter, who denied that Smith talked to the Chiefs at the time, announced Thursday that his client agreed to a three-year deal with Kansas City.

Sean Smith can stop worrying about franchise tag

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Miami Dolphins cornerback Sean Smith was preparing for life under the franchise tag while "rooting strongly against it," according to Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post.

Apparently, Smith has nothing to worry about in that regard. (photo: Graham Hisskoul, Flickr)

The Miami Herald's Armando Salguero reported Monday that the Dolphins "will NOT use their tag on Sean Smith. Period."

Fins teammate: Sean Smith guesses wrong... a lot

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Miami Dolphins cornerback Sean Smith, soon to be a free agent, is reportedly seeking an annual salary of $8-10 million. Ninety-nine percent of the human population knows he's not worth that.

Smith, while boasting exceptional speed and size, isn't an elite cornerback. He's really not close. In fact, Smith was targeted more than any other cornerback in the NFL last season -- a whopping 113 times. (photo: Tommy.Chang, Flickr)

Clearly, Smith doesn't put a scare into opposing offenses if they're willing to go at him that often. Despite all the balls thrown his way, he intercepted just two of them in 2012.

Henne returning to Miami, auditioning for Jaguars job

BY SEAN DONOVAN

This week will mark just the second time in the Jacksonville Jaguars' 18-year history that the team has played a regular-season game in Miami.

But one Jaguar, starting quarterback Chad Henne, is no stranger to South Florida. (photo: Alan Kotok, Flickr)

Henne, who started 31 games for the Dolphins from 2009-11, now leads the 2-11 Jaguars into the stadium he started his career in. One possible advantage for Jacksonville is that the venue isn't the only thing Henne has seen before.

He will face a defensive unit that features many players the former second-round draft pick has played against in practice.

Dolphins' defense closes in fourth quarter for win

BY SEAN DONOVAN

After giving up leads in consecutive games, the Miami Dolphins' defense needed to improve its late-game performance. And improve it did, with multiple fourth quarter stops clinching Miami's 17-13 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Dolphins were anchored by a number of fantastic individual efforts, perhaps none more important than those of secondary players Sean Smith and Reshad Jones.

One week after lining up across from Larry Fitzgerald, Smith drew the assignment of covering the NFL's second leading receiver A.J. Green. Green recorded nine catches for 65 yards and a touchdown with most of his completions being for short gains.

Green was targeted 13 times, and rarely had enough space to operate when downfield to do the damage that he has to many teams this season.

Dolphins' Davis wise to keep quiet this time around

Photo: Graham Coreil-Allen, Flickr  

BY SEAN DONOVAN

Almost one year ago, Dolphins cornerback Vontae Davis stated he and Sean Smith made up the league's best cornerback duo.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’re the best tandem in the league,” bragged Davis, a little over two weeks before Tom Brady and the Patriots would scorch them like the South Florida sun in the season-opener. Brady threw for a career-high 512 yards that Monday night in Miami.

Before the 2011 season, Davis had established himself as one of the more consistent corners in the NFL, and Smith was coming off a great season that seemed to assure that the Dolphins were set at the position for many years.

But after that Week 1 debacle, it took both players a while to bounce back, and Smith never really did. The promise shown in 2010 was all but erased by the inconsistency and mental lapses that plagued him this past season.

Pro Football Focus rated Smith the fifth-worst CB to step on the field in 2011, out of 199 players. Opposing quarterbacks had a 90.7 rating when throwing in his direction and he was burned for five touchdowns.

Dolphins look forward to getting Davis back

Miami Dolphins cornerback Vontae Davis is expected to return Sunday after sitting out last week due to a team-imposed suspension. Davis had already missed three other games this season with a nagging hamstring injury.

Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reported Davis was disciplined for showing up late to practice smelling of alcohol last Saturday. Davis also reportedly got into a confrontation with receiver Brandon Marshall earlier in the week. Whatever the case was, Davis did not make the trip to Kansas City last week.

Still, the Dolphins (1-7), who are coming off their first victory of the season, look forward to getting back their third-year, first-round corner when they host the Washington Redskins.

“His character and the way he goes about it definitely energizes the defense in the secondary,” Dolphins cornerback Sean Smith told the media Friday. “So I definitely look forward to having him out there.”

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