Steve Smith Sr. has put Malik Washington at the front of the Miami Dolphins' wide receiver room. After watching him through training camp and the preseason, Smith said Washington is the No. 1 wide receiver in the room and that Miami used him in different spots to make clear he is not just filling space.
The timing matters because the Dolphins no longer have Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle sitting atop the depth chart, and the pecking order behind them is still being sorted. Washington has been the name drawing the cleanest separation, and Smith said the team is comfortable with where he is right now.
Smith went further than a simple endorsement. He said Washington will be a huge contributor and described him as a blue-collar worker who shows up with a hard hat and a lunch pail. In Smith's telling, Washington answers with yes sir and no sir, then follows with, I got it. It is the kind of description that usually follows a player who has won trust through repetition rather than flash.
That view also fits the way Washington has been used. Over the past two seasons, he had been a peripheral piece of the offense, but during camp and the preseason he and Caleb Douglas separated from the rest of the receivers in the room. The Dolphins also moved Washington around in the preseason game, a sign that his role is being built for more than a narrow package of touches.
There is still a catch. Douglas also pushed his way out of the pack, while Chris Bell and Kevin Coleman Jr. missed chunks of camp because of injury. That makes Washington the clearest current answer, but not the only young receiver with a path. The difference is that Smith's assessment gives Washington the strongest public backing yet for the top spot, even as the room remains unsettled behind him.
What comes next is the real test: whether Washington's standing in camp turns into target volume when the games count. The article points to a chance for him to move earlier in the Dolphins' target progression in 2026, but the more immediate question is whether he can hold the No. 1 label once the season starts and force the offense to treat him as more than a scheme-based option.
