If you watch the tape on Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jakeem Grant, you’ll see that he’s close. To what exactly? To shaking the narrative that he’s simply a return man — and instead that he’s a legitimate NFL receiver. When Grant has been on the field, he’s had success creating separation and making strong plays on the football in the air.
But the durability component has been the troubling trend for Grant over the last two seasons — he’s ended both the 2018 and 2019 seasons on injured reserve and he missed a total of 6 games for the Dolphins in 2019. But Grant looks to be back to full capacity as of late.
The diminutive receiver shared a clip from a recent workout and the injured ankle that ended Grant’s season doesn’t look to be a problem in any way. And Grant wants the world to know that he’s not a specialist too; he seems intent on proving it in 2020.
Grant’s skillset is predicated around short area quickness and explosive speed. Those traits will be in high demand in Chan Gailey’s spread offensive look — where Grant’s dynamic speed will have the opportunity to be the big-play catalyst Miami will be searching for out of the slot. New quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has thrived throughout his career in college by dispersing the football to speedy slot targets who can take advantage of his accuracy to convert catches into catch and run opportunities. That’s the void Grant can fill and confirm once and for all that he is indeed a receiver first and foremost.
But he’ll need to have his best career season and continue to be wary of contact in highly congested areas if he’s going to be the critical X-factor on Miami’s offense that he has the potential to be.
The good news? Grant looks ready to rumble when training camp kicks off to showcase what he’s got in the tank for another year.
