Dave Hyde: Geno Smith, in his winning second act, takes on hometown Dolphins

Damon Cogdell hesitates to say it.

“I don’t want to tell people, ‘I told you so,’” he says.

The former Miramar High coach remembers saying to be patient more than a decade ago when his quarterback, Geno Smith, struggled in his opening NFL act. He said for everyone to wait, just wait, when Smith then played in just five games in six years with four teams. And now …

“I told everyone so,’’ he says.

Two quarterbacks come with stories to appreciate Sunday. The Miami Dolphins’ Skylar Thompson is writing his first act in the NFL, trying to step from the shadows in replacing starter Tua Tagovailoa over the next four games and keep this season going.

Seattle’s Smith is writing his second act. He’s making it something to remember. He led Seattle to an overtime win at New England last week, making it his ninth comeback win since 2022 to lead NFL quarterbacks.

Not that America knows that — or much anything of his reinvention in Seattle.

“Keep sleeping on him,’’ Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said this week.

The football world nodded off on Smith after a lot happened in in early NFL years, not much of it good. He struggled as a second-round rookie with the New York Jets in 2013. His big headline in 2015 was when he had his jaw broken by a punch from a reserve Jets defensive lineman. Ryan Fitzpatrick took the starting job and kept it.

Smith looked like a software program that crashed over the following years. After backing up Fitzpatrick, he did the same over the next six years for Eli Manning with the New York Giants, Philip Rivers with the Los Angeles Chargers and Russell Wilson in Seattle.

“Once he started to bounce around the NFL a little bit, it was painful to see him go through that,’’ says Cogdell, now the University of Fort Lauderdale coach. “But I understand he had to go through that to get to where he is now. He matured. He became the guy you see now.”

Smith always knew how to play. He started as a freshman at Miramar, where he rose to become the Sun-Sentinel’s big-school player of the year in 2008 as a senior. He started three years at West Virginia, breaking school records and leading the nation with 42 touchdowns his senior season.

But it wasn’t until he became a career backup that he fully grasped how to study football to succeed in the NFL. Working with Rivers, for instance, taught him, “how to break a game down and watch film,’’ Smith, 33, said this week. “He’d also listen to the defense, listen to them talk and their communication, watch their signals

“He was great at recognizing Cover-0 from the defense. He’d throw a touchdown against Cover-0 and yell at the defensive coordinator for calling it.”

Sometimes, you see, it’s now how you start. Sometimes it’s how you grow along the way.

“All of that helped me get to a point here I have a level of understanding of the game to what I’m looking at now,’’ he said this week. “I don’t think there’s one particular year (things clicked). But as a 12-year-veteran you see a bunch of looks.  A lot of the overload pressures we see are the same overload pressures I’d see with Rex Ryan as a rookie.”

Smith took over for an injured Wilson in the 2021 season. He won the job after Wilson was traded, led the league in completion percentage and became the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year as Seattle made the playoffs. He’s been a Pro Bowl quarterback the past two years. He signed a three-year, $75 million deal in March.

Somewhere along his second act he became the player Miramar High knew he was.

“Geno was doing in high school what he’s doing now,’’ said Ivan McCartney, a receiver at Miramar and West Virginia with Smith who is now a University of Fort Lauderdale assistant. “He’s got a strong arm, is a great leader and then his athleticism — a lot of people don’t know about that. He had a Euro-step he used in games to get by people. It’s good to see him playing like he is.”

Smith isn’t Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. But after two games his 498 passing yards rank second in the league, his 73.9 completion percentage ranks fourth and his 97.8 rating ranks eighth. The guy who spent years holding a clipboard is redefining himself.

Cogdell doesn’t want to talk about his former quarterback playing the hometown Dolphins.

“I don’t want to mess up the mojo,’’ he said. “I’ll stand in the back and cheer.”

A lot of players don’t get a second act. Smith is making the most of his. And there, along for the ride, are those like Cogdell, standing in the back with an I-told-you-so joy in their tone.