Jakeem Grant needs to be used a lot differently by the Miami Dolphins
By Brian Miller
Jakeem Grant is an enigma when it comes to the Miami Dolphins. He is fast, quick, elusive, and inconsistent but could that change this year?
Many believe that it is only a matter of time before Grant is released and if he is eventually cut, it would not be a surprise. Despite all the athletic abiltiy that he has, he has been a wasted member of the Dolphins offense and his contributions have come on special teams.
As a receiver, Grant has 1,008 yards in five seasons with the Dolphins. He only has 89 receptions and frankly, that isn’t good enough. Even when the Dolphins receiving corp was depleted, it wasn’t Grant that the Dolphins were lining up with. Could that change this year?
Miami’s two-headed offensive coordinator system will bring inevitable changes to the offense. We had hoped that the arrival of Chad O’Shea in 2019 would have opened more opportunities for Grant but they did not. In 2020, Chan Gailey’s offense could have provided him more chances and while he posted his best numbers as a professional, 36 for 373 and a touchdown, Grant still wasn’t used as much as he could have been.
Grant is a perfect player to create mismatches against but his game isn’t the deep ball. Miami, if they keep him, need to get him the ball closer to the line of scrimmage or behind the linebackers where he can use his elusive quickness to pick up the YAC yards. There is no reason Grant couldn’t be used from the slot on outside routes or underneath curls, he can take a hit.
The Dolphins could also move him into the backfield and use him in passing situations like Darren Sproles carved a career out of doing, where he can swing outside and beat linebacker or defensive edge containment. Instead, the Dolphins have prefered bubble screens that don’t typically work.
There is still value for Grant in this offense but until we know what the intentions of George Godsey and Eric Studsville are, we really won’t know what he can do and that makes him expendable for many in the fanbase.
Grant is scheduled to count $4.6 million and change against this years cap and Miami would save $2.88 million against a dead hit of $1.8 million. While we tend to spend a lot of time waiting to see what the Dolphins plan to do with Grant, the reality is we can’t dismiss as being gone, but if he stays, the Dolphins need him to be more of a Darren Sproles type player instead of what they have been using him for.