What was to be a pivotal season for Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Kion Smith is over before it got started.
Smith suffered a torn ACL, according to multiple reports after tests Saturday that followed the knee injury suffered in the first quarter of Friday’s preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons.
Smith was placed on season-ending injured reserve Saturday, and the Dolphins signed offensive lineman Chasen Hines back onto their 90-man training camp roster in a corresponding move.
Smith went down as he seemed to get his left knee rolled up on on an early play in the exhibition where he allowed a third-down pressure that led to an incomplete pass from quarterback Skylar Thompson.
He was attended to by trainers for several minutes on the field but then was able to walk gingerly on his own, first to the medical tent on the sideline and then into the locker room.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, after the game, did not have an update but offered: “I think Kion has been really developing in his craft, so we’re hopeful, but I’ll get an update (Saturday).”
Smith, who mostly has played tackle but started Friday’s exhibition at left guard, has been on an upward trajectory in his career as he entered his fourth NFL season and third in McDaniel’s offense. Primarily a practice-squad player for Miami in 2021 and 2022, he made the team’s active roster for the first time in 2023.
He was vying for a roster spot again as a reserve lineman in 2024, but now the Dolphins’ equation for their top four tackles is simplified between starting left and right tackles Terron Armstead and Austin Jackson and backups in veteran Kendall Lamm and rookie Patrick Paul. Paul was a standout in Friday’s action.
Meanwhile, Liam Eichenberg and Robert Jones are currently leading the battle to start at the two guard spots, with Lester Cotton and Jack Driscoll also competing as Isaiah Wynn works his way back from the physically-unable-to-perform list.
Smith played in his first nine career NFL regular season games last season for the Dolphins. In 2022, after spending all of 2021 on the Dolphins practice squad as a developmental undrafted rookie out of Fayetteville State, he dressed for three games but did not play in those.
Incidentally, Smith’s first NFL offseason and training camp was with the Falcons in 2021. After he was waived following a camp that saw him go against the Dolphins in joint practices and a preseason game, he was signed to Miami’s practice squad two days later.
Hines was with Miami earlier this camp, but he was waived on Wednesday in order to make room for the signing of former Miami Hurricanes and St. Thomas Aquinas wide receiver Mike Harley.
