Tag: Sam Madison

Sam Madison says Dolphins rookie CB Cam Smith is ‘doing very well’ in camp

Second-round pick making waves?

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The Miami Dolphins entered the 2023 draft without a first-round pick, despite having two at one point.

They had one pick stripped due to tampering violations, and they traded the other at the 2022 trade deadline for linebacker Bradley Chubb before giving him an extension.

So, Miami’s first selection came in the second round when they drafted South Carolina cornerback Cam Smith.

Smith joined a deep cornerback room that also features Jalen Ramsey, Xavien Howard, Nik Needham and Kader Kohou, and that’s great news for the rookie, as he can learn from some of the best in the game. Not only that, but he will also have to earn opportunities, and he’ll be practicing against some of the NFL’s top receivers in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.

All of that means Smith will be tested early and often in camp.

On Thursday, Dolphins cornerbacks coach and pass-game specialist Sam Madison spoke with the media and answered questions about Smith’s performance in rookie minicamp, OTAs and mandatory minicamp.

“[He’s] doing very well,” Madison said. “But guess what, he’s a rookie, right? We can look around the league since football’s been in inception and they’re going to have their ups and downs. But he’s a fast learner.

“He still has a long way to go, but he’s getting better at each and every last one of those things that we’re throwing at him. We’re going to keep challenging him, we’re going to keep putting him in positions and see exactly what we can get out of him.”

Smith, like all rookies, has adjusting to do before he takes the field in September against some of the toughest coverage assignments in the league, but he’s trending nicely.

His biggest issue during his collegiate career was the penalties, and that’s something that can’t happen in the NFL. A cornerback won’t see the field if there are always flags being tossed on the field because there was too much contact.

If Smith can clean that up, he has the athleticism to be an impact player in Vic Fangio’s defense, and having that type of talent as a third or fourth cornerback is a luxury that most defenses don’t have.

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7 of the top 50 draft prospects draw comparisons to current and former Giants

Doug Farrar gives 7 of the top 50 prospects in the 2023 NFL draft a pro comparison to current or former members of the New York Giants.

One of the more entertaining parts of the pre-draft process is learning which pro comparisons are given to top prospects. It’s a measure that helps casual fans recognize potential and understand what sort of style certain players will bring to the NFL.

Pro comparisons also help break up the relentless monotony of mock drafts.

Late last week, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar offered up his comparisons for the top 50 prospects in the 2023 NFL draft class. Seven of them were compared to players who, at one point or another, suited up for the New York Giants.

Here’s a look at all seven prospects who were compared to current or former members of Big Blue.

Could Jevon Holland and Brandon Jones make up a top 5 safety duo in Dolphins history?

The two young safeties are making names for themselves.

Throughout the illustrious history of the Miami Dolphins franchise, there have been several teams within teams and specifically duos that have been fan favorites across the generations.

Whether it be the “Perfect Backfield,” the “Killer Bees” defense or the “Wildcats,” the Dolphins’ marketing department has always been busy. When dissecting a bit more, there have also been certain dynamic duos that have been ever popular in Miami fandom.

We can look at the “Marks Brothers,” Mark Clayton and Mark Duper, the cornerback and now coaching tandem of Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain and. of course, those Wildcat running backs, Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown.

When searching the field of football history in Miami, there have been few and far between popular and productive duos at the safety positions. Especially for a consistent period of time.

With current safeties Jevon Holland and Brandon Jones progressing as individual players, and gelling as a mid-secondary unit within a unit, the Dolphins may just have their most formidable pair of safeties since the Miami franchise ship set sail in 1966.

Looking back through the history of the position in South Florida, the Dolphins have had sparks of success with safeties and limited longevity with a consistent pair. Let’s talk about the top five Dolphins safety duos in team history.

Former Chiefs CBs coach Sam Madison explains decision to join Dolphins

Andy Reid encouraged former #Chiefs CBs coach Sam Madison to return home to coach with the #Dolphins.

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The Kansas City Chiefs lost CBs coach Sam Madison to the Miami Dolphins coaching staff where he’ll serve in a similar role.

After three seasons in Kansas City, Madison moved to what will be just his second NFL coaching job. His decision to join Miami wasn’t a matter of a contract expiring (he still had one year on his contract) or some sort of rift on the coaching staff. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Madison clarified why he left. He explained that Chiefs HC Andy Reid encouraged him to go back home and coach the team he played for.

“It was something that he did not have to do,” Madison said. “Meaning, you look around the NFL and normally you’re under contract and guys reach out to him and try to get interviews and they’re denied because they’re under contract. But Coach Reid did call me and talk to me about the situation and was like, ‘Sam, this is something that is unprecedented. . .’ He understood and saw my work ethic when I was in Kansas City, but he was like, ‘Your family is there, you played there and played there at a high level.’ He just wanted to give me the opportunity to go home and be closer to family.”

Madison, a former draft pick by the Dolphins in the second round of the 1997 NFL draft, was still living in the Miami area when Steve Spagnuolo recruited him to his staff in 2019. He still has family, a house and calls the area home. Even though he still had a year remaining on his contract, Reid understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It was my first time being in that situation, so I really didn’t know what to expect,” Madison said. “I didn’t know any of the rules or anything like that and I asked him, ‘Coach, can you please give me some information or some guidance on what I should be doing or what should be expected.’ Because my hiring process last time was totally different. He gave me a very good rundown of what to expect and he gave his graciousness to be able to have the opportunity to go out there and talk to the Dolphins.”

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Dolphins hire former cornerback Sam Madison as assistant coach

A legend returns to Miami.

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The Miami Dolphins are continuing to fill out Mike McDaniel’s coaching staff, and the newest addition is one that fans of the team will be familiar with.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, former Dolphins cornerback Sam Madison is joining the staff as the team’s cornerbacks coach and pass game specialist. The move is to fill the void left by cornerbacks coach Charles Burks, who was originally reported to be staying in Miami but is now joining the Cincinnati Bengals.

Madison was a second-round pick of the Dolphins back in 1997 and played nine seasons with the team before finishing out his career with the New York Giants. As a player, he was a four-time Pro Bowler, two-time First-Team All-Pro, two-time Second-Team All-Pro, and a Super Bowl champion.

The 47-year-old has spent the last three seasons as the secondary/cornerbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. During his tenure, the Chiefs made it to the Super Bowl twice and won it once.

Miami lost a well-respected coach in the secondary this offseason, so if there were any worries about how players feel about Madison, All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu calmed those feelings.

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Chiefs CBs coach Sam Madison leaving to join Dolphins coaching staff

The #Dolphins are hiring #Chiefs CBs coach Sam Madison as their CBs coach and pass game specialist according to a new report.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a new coaching vacancy on the defensive side of the ball.

According to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Miami Dolphins are hiring Kansas City Chiefs CBs coach Sam Madison as their CBs coach and pass game specialist. Madison was originally drafted by the Dolphins in 1997 and spent eight seasons with the team, earning four Pro Bowl selections at the position. He’ll now get a chance to coach for his former team and return to his home in Davie, Florida.

Madison also played with Steve Spagnuolo as a member of the Giants during the 2007 and 2008 seasons. He was a part of the Giants Super Bowl XLII team, winning a ring both as a player and as a coach with the Chiefs in 2019.

The 2019 NFL season was actually Madison’s first as an NFL coach. He’s served as cornerbacks and defensive backs coach in Kansas City for the past three seasons and he’s been able to do a lot without a lot of investment in the position. This will be the second hit to Spagnuolo’s staff this offseason with LBs coach Matt House leaving to become defensive coordinator for the LSU Tigers. While Kansas City still has defensive backs coach Dave Merritt on the team, they’ll likely look to promote from within or hire a dedicated CBs coach to supplement the work that Merritt already does for the Chiefs.

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Chiefs CB coach Sam Madison addresses L’Jarius Sneed’s sophomore slump

#Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed is having a rough sophomore season, but CB coach Sam Madison is confident he’ll turn things around. | from @EdEastonJr

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The rough days in the NFL happen too commonly for young players still trying to carve out a consistent path. Each season brings challenges and obstacles that can make or break players, a lesson quickly learned by Kansas City Chiefs second-year defensive back L’Jarius Sneed.

Sneed was a surprise budding star for the Chiefs during his rookie season, making impactful plays against some of the best quarterbacks and receivers in the league. However, he has been the target for opponents this season, and many Chiefs fans want answers regarding his decline. Chiefs cornerbacks coach Sam Madison was an elite defender in his playing career and he continues to be optimistic about Sneed’s future and improvement this season.

“Oh yeah, Sneed, just a different person,” Madison told reporters on Thursday. “When you’re in the NFL now, a majority of the time, 10-15-20 years ago you look at base – two tight ends, two wide receivers, you only have two corners on the football field. Now you have to have three corners on the football field pretty much 75 to 80 percent of the game. We brought him in, thought he’d be an able corner, had the injury, moved him and put him at nickel then we were like ‘oh he can really do this’. Transitioning, going back and forth and having the opportunity to really learn the nickel and master that.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Sneed’s effectiveness has dropped considerably from his rookie season to the first five weeks of 2021. Last season Sneed was a breakout star with three interceptions and two sacks as a rookie garnering a favorable grade of 72.9. This season’s rate currently sits at 52.2, allowing a 152.8 passer rating with 19 receptions on 23 targets. That’s the worst mark in the NFL by a corner with over 200 snaps on the year.

The only thing that has changed for Sneed, is that he’s playing both cornerback and nickel for Kansas City this year.

“I had the opportunity to play with (Patrick) Surtain who played here,” said Madison. “He played nickelback for five years before he even started playing corner. He mastered that and then he was able to go outside. So this is something (L’Jarius Sneed has) been able to do and he’s doing a really good job. But the little, small details of being able to move inside back to outside, he hasn’t really had the outside part of it. His mindset is built for it though, we’re able to have a smaller quicker guy in there yet people still run the ball in those situations and he’s able to go in there and make those tackles and be aggressive at it as well.”

Sneed has the continued support from Madison to eventually shake off the issues he’s had so far this season. He doesn’t feel his current role is too much for him to handle. Mastering his roles in the middle of the season will be a chore, but it’s necessary as the Chiefs seek to correct the problems on defense before it is too late.

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Chiefs CB coach Sam Madison details DeAndre Baker’s progress

An update on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad cornerback.

It has been nearly a full month since the Kansas City Chiefs have signed ex-Giants CB DeAndre Baker to the practice squad. The plan, at the time, was to get Baker up to speed and eventually elevate him to the 53-man roster. Naturally, fans who were excited about his arrival have been a bit impatient, with many wondering why the former first-round draft pick has yet to join the active roster.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo commented on Baker’s situation ahead of the Week 12 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He wouldn’t, at the time, predict any sort of timeline for his arrival on the 53-man roster. He also explained why they’re taking things slowly with Baker.

“Yeah, I’ll be honest with you, I won’t even go down that road,” Spagnuolo said. “That’s really hard. I will tell you this, I just grabbed him coming off the field to say how’d your first week go. He said probably the right thing, he said, ‘Coach, it got a little bit better every day.’ Listen, we’ve got to remember that this young man has not played football this year. It’s different than bringing somebody else out from a practice squad or from another team. We kind of threw him in the fire early on the very first day. I’m saying it myself; I don’t know if that’s really fair. It’s going to take a little bit to get up to speed and I think just his body getting ready to play the speed of football, so we’ll take it slow.”

The team has thrown him into the mix from the get-go, simultaneously they’re taking things slowly with Baker, knowing that when he joined Kansas City it’d been nearly a full calendar year since he last played football. Spagnuolo and the rest of the coaching staff have the luxury of depth at the cornerback position. They don’t need to rush Baker into the lineup before his body and mind are ready.

Approaching Week 14, Chiefs cornerbacks coach Sam Madison provided us with an update. The team is still throwing everything they can at Baker and he’s accepted the challenge, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s ready. He’s still learning to do things the “Kansas City Chiefs way” as Madison would call it.

“He’s moving along, he’s been coming in here early mornings getting a lot of different coaching points and understanding the defense and throwing a lot of different things at him,” Madison said on Thursday. “[We] put him out there against our number one wide receivers by being that he’s on the practice squad and he’s answered the call. Just trying to make sure that he’s on the same page, and like I told you guys before trying to do it our way, the Kansas City Chiefs way and he’s responding. So we’re just going to keep repping him and getting him work, getting his legs back up under because a lot of these guys have a number of weeks on him, because he was out so long.”

Baker is in the process of getting caught up to his teammates, learning the terminology and defensive scheme. That comes on top of the general growing pains of a second-year player in the NFL. Baker is working exclusively on the scout team, facing off with guys like Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman on a daily basis. He’s met that challenge and is showing off some of his natural ability. He’s also shown what he’s been able to pick up so far.

“He has some skills, he has some tools, so I see why he was a first-rounder and why people rated him the way he did coming out of college,” Madison continued. “But we’re just going to keep working at him and (Brett) Veach as well as Coach (Andy) Reid they’re doing a very good job with him as well as Coach Spags (Steve Spagnuolo).”

It’d seem that Baker still has a ways to go, but thankfully the Chiefs can elevate him and give him a shot at any given time. For now, the Chiefs Kingdom will just need to trust the process and hope that he continues to show up in practice.

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Chiefs CB coach Sam Madison explains why Kansas City signed DeAndre Baker

Chiefs CB coach Sam Madison talks about the newest cornerback in his room.

The Kansas City Chiefs recently signed former New York Giants CB DeAndre Baker to the practice squad. The former 2019 first-round draft pick was recently cleared of all charges that led to his release from his former team.

The decision to sign Baker was an easy one from the perspective of the Chiefs. Cornerback coach Sam Madison gave his evaluation of Baker and the decision to bring him back when he spoke to the media on Thursday.

“A press corner, a physical guy, a ball hawk, a guy that’s always around the football,” Madison said of Baker. “I’ve known this kid for a very long time, from Florida. We don’t really know, so we just want to get him in the building, get him used to the Kansas City way of doing things and implementing that. When you have an opportunity to get a first-round talent and implement him into your scheme and your system. Brett Veach and Coach Reid did an awesome job of having an opportunity to get him. Getting him and getting him caught up to speed on the way that we do things, that’s going to be the most important part.”

Baker will work to get up to speed when it comes to learning the defensive scheme while he’s on the practice squad. Despite some struggles as a rookie in New York, Madison is confident that he’ll be able to put Baker into a position in which he’ll see success with the Chiefs.

“It’s going to start right here and it’s going to start up here,” Madison said. “It’s our job to get him into a position to be successful. When we were doing and I was doing my evaluation of him, I thought if I had the opportunity to work with him, as well as Coach (Dave) Merrit, I think that we’d be able to get him into the position. And that’s what we’re going to have to do, you know. (Brett) Veach brings the talent and Coach Reid brings it and it’s our job to get them to playing fast, understanding the system and you know believing in themselves. And that’s one of the things with the group of guys that we have in our room, they don’t shy away from work.”

While the plan is to eventually elevate Baker to the 53-man roster, nothing will be given to him. Madison emphasized that he’ll have to earn a role in his already talented room.

“Being that he’s been out of football for a time and a while now, he just has to catch up to speed and the speed of the room,” Madison continued. “Having guys like (Bashaud) Breeland, Tyrann (Mathieu), and (Charvarius) Ward as well, who has picked up his level of play, he’s going to have to fit in exactly where these guys are and understanding that we do still have some very talented young corners on our team. (L’Jarius) Sneed as well as Bo Keyes and the rest of the guys — (Rashad) Fenton. Seeing the way that we’ve played so far, hopefully, you’ve just got to add to what his skillset is to what we already have in the room.”

The hope is that Baker will show the work ethic and promise to carve out his own role within the Chiefs’ defensive secondary. What exactly that will look like remains to be seen. If he can manage to get up to speed over the next few weeks, you could perhaps see an elevation to the 53-man roster before the regular season comes to an end.

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Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo, Sam Madison on pending return of CB L’Jarius Sneed

Will Sneed be available to play against the Raiders in Week 11?

Kansas City Chiefs rookie CB L’Jarius Sneed was designated to return from injured reserve on November 4th. While he’s been cleared to return to practice, he hasn’t yet been activated from injured reserve and the team still has until Wednesday, November 25th to do so. That’s why you haven’t seen the rookie corner appearing on any injury reports so far this week. 

When speaking to the media on Thursday, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was tentative when putting a timeline on the return of his talented rookie. The last thing they want to do is rush Sneed back before he is ready to return.

“Yeah, look, I mean we’re talking one day,” Spagnuolo said. “We had him in some walkthroughs on Tuesday, yesterday morning’s walkthrough. I don’t know what the reps were. It’s a little hard now. I’m anxious and excited to get him out there again today and then tomorrow on Friday when we get a little speed against him. We’ll tread lightly, you know. It has been a while, he’s got to get oiled up. I’d like to think that we can get him right to where he was playing earlier in the season. That probably is not realistic so, we’ll take it one step at a time.”

Sneed had the NFL lead in interceptions through the first two weeks of the season before suffering a collarbone injury in Week 3 against the Baltimore Ravens. While Spagnuolo doesn’t believe it’s realistic to expect him to pick up where he left off, cornerbacks coach Sam Madison is hopeful that the young corner can get back to that level of play.

“The way that he started off at the beginning of the season, I’m trying to see if he can pick up right where he left off,” Madison said. “He was playing at a high level. Just from his maturity since he stepped into the building, you can really see it on a daily basis with this kid. I’m just really happy to see how he worked his way through. Normally, when you get young guys in this situation that get an injury, they will fall into a tank. Every single day, this kid came in with a smile on his face, he was talking football, he was encouraged, he didn’t have a slump, and he didn’t get into a slump. Just happy to see him running around out there. He did a lot of conditioning throughout the course that he was down. Out there on the scout team, he was moving around extremely well.”

The work ethic and attitude that Sneed has shown in his recovery could allow him to get back out on the field as early as Week 11. There’s little question that the Chiefs could use his speed on “Sunday Night Football” to combat the speed of Raiders receivers Henry Ruggs III and Nelson Agholor. Ultimately, the decision rests in the hands of Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo. They’ll make their determination based on what they’ve seen in the practice week.

“It’s just going to be a situation where Coach Reid makes a decision if he’s going to be up or going to be down and Coach Spags (Steve Spagnuolo) feeling comfortable enough to implement him into the defense,” Madison said. “Just trying to work his way back in so he doesn’t have any setbacks.”

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