Jakeem Grant’s 101-yard kick return TD put him in the Dolphins’ record book

No one could stop Jakeem Grant.

The Miami Dolphins special teams ace brought the ball out of the end zone on a kickoff return with the Buffalo Bills special teams unit diving helplessly at his feet.

Grant flew past them toward midfield and hurried down the right field sideline into the opposite end zone.

He was barely touched, taking the ball 101 yards for a touchdown.

Grant hadn’t recorded a touchdown this season before Miami’s 37-20 loss to the Bills Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. He now leads the Dolphins with four career special teams touchdowns, and he’s the only Miami player with multiple kickoff return and punt return touchdowns in his career with two of each.

The only player to touch Grant on the second-quarter kickoff return was fellow special teams member Walt Aikens, who caught up with him and tackled him in the end zone in celebration.

“To be honest, I thought it was one of the Buffalo players,” Grant joked after the game. “I started to get mad. But then Walt said, ‘OK, Jakeem.’ And I was like ‘Oh, OK. I’m not upset no more.’

“I had no energy after that any way, but it was just an unbelievable moment just to show people that I can still take it back to the house.”

Grant said he knew he could take it all the way once he hit the second level.

“It was just me and the kicker,” he said, “and I was like, ‘No way he’s gonna tackle me. If he tackles me, my teammates will never let me live that down.’”

The 5-foot-7, 171-pound receiver entered the game fifth on the team with 16 receptions for 132 yards. He hauled in three passes for 32 yards against the Bills, in addition to two touchdowns.

Grant found the end zone again in the fourth quarter with his team down three scores. On second and goal from the seven-yard line, running back Kalen Ballage received the direct snap and handed the ball off to Grant, who took it in for his second touchdown of the season.

But Grant still wasn’t done on special teams.

After a Bills touchdown put them up 37-20 later in the fourth, Grant nearly broke free down the field again on the following kickoff return, but he instead settled for a 50-yard gain.

“I felt really close,” Grant said of almost returning the kickoff for a touchdown. “I knew I was gonna beat the kicker, hands down. I was just trying to give a little outside stick and split ‘em, too. But he made a nice tackle on that one.”

He finished with 198 return yards on five touches, averaging 36.9 yards per touch.

Grant, in his fourth season in Miami, signed a four-year extension with the Dolphins in August after logging 58 kick returns (1,453 yards) and 59 punt returns (583 yards) during his first three seasons.

“It felt great,” Grant said of Sunday’s performance. “It’ll feel even better if we came out with a win, but that’s just to show other teams that we can be very dangerous on special teams.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2019 at 6:05 PM.