Top NFL Draft prospect endorses Dolphins’ 2020 rookie defender

Top NFL Draft prospect endorses Dolphins’ 2020 rookie defender

No one would find it surprising to find out that one of the top wide receiver prospects for the 2021 NFL Draft, Alabama’s DeVonta Smith, once again expressed an interest in reuniting with his college quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa on Wednesday. The suggestion has been made before, so Smith typing it out during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for Bleacher Report felt par for the course. But Smith did offer some additional interesting commentary on the Miami Dolphins during the session — and it includes praise for one of the Dolphins’ maligned selections from the 2020 NFL Draft.

Smith was asked by a fan who the best player he played against during his time at Alabama. His answer? Dolphins 1st-round pick Noah Igbinoghene.

Igbinoghene has been a popular pick for Dolphins fans to pan amid the ongoing struggles of the Dolphins’ running game and the availability of each of the 2020 NFL Draft’s running backs with that 30th overall selection in the draft. Between Jonathan Taylor, JK Dobbins, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Cam Akers and D’andre Swift, Miami could have had the pick of the litter from any of these productive rookie backs instead of Igbinoghene, who was thrust into playing time in the first month of the season with an injury to Byron Jones. Igbinoghene, understandably struggled.

But the endorsement from Smith underscores the big picture. Cornerbacks don’t often immediately thrive in the NFL as rookies — especially ones that only played two years of defense in college. But yet Igbinoghene is insanely physically talented and the Dolphins wanted to prioritize that upside and make the economic decision to draft a more high-value position early in the draft versus running back, which is more of a luxury pick that teams with more advanced rosters can afford to make versus the one Miami entered the 2020 draft with.

This Dolphins rebuild was never going to happen overnight and the team’s 2020 success is a testament to the coaching and young talent already acquired. But Miami is ahead of schedule with a 10-win season in Year 2 and there’s no shame in Miami bypassing the running backs in favor of Igbinoghene, who despite his rookie struggles against Stefon Diggs is still viewed by one of the 2021 NFL Draft’s best receivers to be the best he ever lined up across from in college.