The Miami Dolphins' offense has been outstanding in 2023, especially when it was significantly healthier earlier in the season.  With the scoreboard lighting up, the Dolphins were the talk of the league. 

While head coach and play caller Mike McDaniel received much of the credit, the role of offensive coordinator Frank Smith has been at least publicly underemphasized.  However, according to McDaniel, his offensive coordinator has been instrumental inside helping him carry out his job. 

"One of the million cool parts about this profession and what I get an unbelievable opportunity to do is watching people earn things over time," McDaniel told the media on Wednesday.  "Similar to my story, Frank has been in the National Football League a long time and how I first got connected with him was through stories of his relationships with players.

"He sees a lot of things very, very similarly to myself. He’s instrumental here with just my day-to-day and then also connecting me to the rest of the football staff and the players. He brings it every day. He doesn’t take anything for granted. I’m not surprised and he’s very deserving of the opportunity to interview and it’s not if, but when. Whenever that does come, I know he’s going to do an outstanding job because there’s not any guessing what I see on a day-to-day basis. So I am sure there will be plenty of teams and he’ll do a great job interviewing, and however that works out, I know that he epitomizes for me the NFL, ‘not for long.’”

Smith has been a part of recent success in multiple stops

Smith, 43, has been a right-hand man for McDaniel as the Miami offense transformed from one a bottom-tier unit to sixth in total offense in 2022.  Tua Tagovailoa topped the NFL in passer rating, becoming the youngest QB to do so since Dan Marino in 1984.  The Dolphins were also the only team to feature a pair of 1200+ yard receivers in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in 2022.  

Smith's previous stop before coming to Miami was in Los Angeles as the run game coordinator/offensive line coach of the Chargers.  LA was in the top five in scoring offense (5th) and total offense (4th) in 2021 with Smith on staff. 

Smith beginning to turn heads

Now, Smith has begun to receive acknowledgement for his contributions.  The NFLPA recently released a survey among over 1700 players asked to rate their coordinators on a scale of 1-10.  Smith came in as the top offensive coordinator across the league. 

Smith has also been announced as one of ten candidates that the Carolina Panthers formally requested to interview for their vacant head coaching position.  

---

There's little doubt that Smith is in a great position to continue to build a name for himself in Miami with an offense that should only continue to flourish under McDaniel's hand.  McDaniel is right in that Smith's time will come sooner than later.  

For now, the duo have their hands full trying to figure out how to solve the Kansas City defense they face on Saturday night in frigid Arrowhead Stadium.  

NFL insider gives update on Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Waddle ahead of matchup with Chiefs

Miami fans got some good news going into the weekend