Anthony Schwartz once made an ascension as a touted college football recruit and world-class track sprinter in South Florida.
That journey took the speedy wide receiver through Auburn and then the Cleveland Browns as a third-round NFL draft pick.
But his third professional season saw him cut by the Browns and then picked up by the Miami Dolphins to spend the second half of the 2023 season on the practice squad.
Shortly after the season, Schwartz was signed to a futures contract, signaling that his hometown team was bringing him back this offseason for workouts with and, presumably, training camp beginning in late July.
He’ll have an opportunity to compete for a roster spot with the Dolphins and revitalize his NFL career in South Florida, where he first sparked the momentum that eventually carried him into the pros.
And the Dolphins currently only have three active-roster wide receivers from last season under contract for 2024 — Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Erik Ezukanma. Cedrick Wilson Jr., Braxton Berrios, River Cracraft, Chase Claypool and Robbie Chosen are all unrestricted free agents, and Miami can opt to field a combination of those it chooses to bring back and outside acquisitions.
An opportunity could arise for Schwartz if the 6-foot, 186-pound blazer can capitalize on his 4.27-second 40-yard dash time clocked at his Auburn pro day in 2021.
“Get a healthy offseason around me, and I think I’ll be back to that speed that I know I’m at,” Schwartz said on Dolphins’ locker cleanout day last month following the team’s postseason elimination against the eventual Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs.
“Just ready to begin working on everything I have to improve on. I know (quarterback) Tua (Tagovailoa) stays down here, so hopefully able to get a little chemistry with him and just being able to come in the spring and the fall and fight for a spot, just be able to help this team win.”
Schwartz signed with the Dolphins’ practice squad Nov. 13 after he was waived by the Browns Sept. 19, following a training camp hamstring injury. He spent the latter half of the year in Miami but never got an elevation up to the active roster for a game, despite playing 25 games his first two seasons with Cleveland.
“It was a great experience just being able to compete in any way,” he said about practicing on scout team and going against cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard, “being able to compete against two of the best DBs in the game and just be around a lot of guys that I’ve looked up to.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to carve myself out a role next year, but it was fun just being able to play for the hometown. Wake up, go to an NFL practice and then go home like it was nothing. Everything felt normalized and felt fun again.”
Schwartz said he simply had a goal of making scout team player of the week every week, and he did get it a couple of times.
“That was pretty much my whole mindset the whole time, just competing and, whether it ended up in a call-up or not, wasn’t tripping about it,” Schwartz said. “It was just about competing and getting back into the grind, getting back to the player that I know I can be.”
Schwartz had 10 receptions for 135 yards and a touchdown as a rookie in Cleveland in 2021. That dipped to four catches for 52 yards in 2022 but with a rushing touchdown.
After not making the Browns’ roster last season and ending up with the Dolphins midseason, he appreciated working in the same wide receivers room as Hill and Waddle.
“Just how to carry yourself,” Schwartz said. “Those guys are all some of the best in the business. Being able to see how they work, how dedicated they are to their craft and, on the practice field, trying to emulate what they’re doing, trying to bring stuff into my game.”
And he also picked up things from facing Ramsey and Howard in practice.
“Seeing how the elite guys play, trying to see how they’re seeing what I’m doing that they’re jumping on, keying on, so I can just use those keys against them,” he said. “If I’m able to catch anything on those guys, then I can catch on anyone. … They’ll get me. I’ll get them sometimes. It’s just great being around those guys.”
Schwartz may not possess his same track-specific speed that saw him run the fastest high school times in the nation in the 100-meter dash (10.07 seconds) and 200 (20.41) in 2018, when he was named Gatorade’s National Athlete of the Year. Adding on weight to play football and differences in training don’t allow one to hit those kinds of times.
Nonetheless, he said he was told he was consistently hitting 21, 22 mph in practices with the Dolphins last season.
