Dolphins sign TE Durham Smythe to extension through 2025 season
The Dolphins have signed tight end Durham Smythe to a contract extension through the 2025 season, the team announced Monday, keeping a reliable contributor in Miami amid a shakeup to the position room this offseason.
According to NFL Network, the extension is worth $7.75 million with $5.5 million fully guaranteed. The deal also includes a base salary increase to $4.5 million in 2023 and has a max value of $8.75 million.
Smythe, who turns 28 in August, recorded 15 receptions for 129 yards this past season, a decline from his career-high numbers in 2021, but was a trusted blocker in the first year of head coach Mike McDaniel’s scheme. He signed a two-year deal worth $7 million last offseason and was set to earn a base salary of $2 million in 2023.
A fourth-round pick of the Dolphins in the 2018 Draft, Smythe has recorded 88 catches for 809 yards and three touchdowns in his career. In 2021, he set a career high with 34 receptions for 357 yards. While fellow tight end Mike Gesicki struggled to fit in McDaniel’s scheme that relies on tight ends to block, Smythe played the most snaps of any tight end on the team.
“The difference between many tight ends is those guys that have that ability to block — they’re really invaluable,” offensive coordinator Frank Smith said in October. “Especially in college football, there’s more spread tight ends than there are in-line tight ends. I think that you can’t lose vision or sight of what Durham has really done to his play from the day he got here and what him and [associate Head Coach/tight ends coach] Jon [Embree] have been really trying to work on.
“So I think that ultimately — I don’t think necessarily you’re looking at it like, ‘OK, here. What do they do well?’ I think Durham has really grown in the last several months and that’s a credit to how hard he’s worked with ‘Embo.’ It’s fantastic.”
The Dolphins lost three tight ends this offseason, as Gesicki signed a one-year deal with the New England Patriots in free agency. Miami also released Cethan Carter and traded Hunter Long to the Los Angeles Rams in the deal that brought cornerback Jalen Ramsey to Miami. The Dolphins signed former Denver Broncos tight end Eric Saubert to a one-year deal and could target a tight end with one of their four picks in the NFL Draft. Tanner Conner, who did not record a catch as an undrafted rookie last season, is the only other tight end on the roster.
Smythe is one of multiple Dolphins who could receive a contract extension this offseason. McDaniel told the Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Post at the NFL’s annual owners meetings last week that the team is having conversations with defensive lineman Christian Wilkins on a new deal. The agent for fellow defensive lineman Zach Sieler said he is also pushing for an extension, while Connor Williams, who has one year remaining on his contract, could receive a new deal after performing well at center in 2022.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is also eligible for an extension but it’s likely he continues to play out his rookie deal in 2023. The Dolphins have already exercised his fifth-year option, keeping him under contract through the 2024 season.
