Old Achane Friend Could Help Dolphins

Texas A&M wide receiver Ainias Smith's older brother Maurice played for Miami for two seasons

INDIANAPOLIS — The Miami Dolphins hit big when they drafted De'Von Achane out of Texas A&M last year, and his childhood rival and former college teammate should be of interest to them in this draft.

The Dolphins need to replenish their wide receiver corps with five impending unrestricted free agents on their roster, and Ainias Smith could be a good fit in the middle rounds of the draft with his multiple skills and ability to return kicks.

Smith has met with the Dolphins at the scouting combine, spending some time with wide receivers coach Wes Welker.

"I had watched him,when I was a little kid and just being able to sit down and talk to him in the interview was pretty crazy for sure," Smith said Friday. "He was just saying how I have kind of reminded me of him, and it was pretty crazy."

SMITH'S INTRIGUING SKILL SET

Smith caught 180 passes in five years at Texas A&M, including a career-high 53 in 2023 when he also had a college-best 795 receiving yards and averaged an impressive 14.3 yards on 20 punt returns.

He had 293 rushing yards as a sophomore in 2020 when he also caught 43 passes, so he could fill a variety of roles at the NFL level.

"A lot of teams been talking to me about playing receiver in the slot," he said. "They really want to know if I can be able to play on the outside. I feel like this is a great opportunity for me to just go ahead and showcase myself in that position. And then on top of that, like a lot of teams have also been saying I can play a little bit of running back, probably like in third-down situations or something like that, but a lot of teams are also been looking for a return guy, so try to get me back there probably some of the punt returns, kick returns, something like that.

"So I've been saying to teams, I like Steve Smith and the way he had played. You can look at DeSean Jackson. Right now the Deebo Samuels of the world. Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey, people like that that can play multiple positions and very versatile, very good with the ball in their hands and that's how I look at myself for sure."

THE DE'VON ACHANE AND JAYLEN WADDLE CONNECTION

If the Dolphins did decide to make a move for Smith, he not only would join the team that employed his brother Maurice as a defensive back in 2017-18, he would hook up with some familiar faces.

Smith not only played with Achane at Texas A&M, they grew up in the same neighborhood. And he's also very familiar with Jaylen Waddle with all three of them from the Houston area.

"Man it would be crazy," Smith said about the idea of playing for the Dolphins. "I know a couple of the guys that on offense, Jaylen Waddle being one, De'Von being the other. Grew up playing against De'Von and stuff like that, so it would definitely be crazy, especially with Tyreek Hill being on the other side. It would be wild."

Waddle Not Going Anywhere