Jakeem Grant’s message about what’s coming, and Dolphins audition former local standout
Always one of the league’s fastest returners, Jakeem Grant had made impressive strides as a receiver in 2017 and 2018, catching multiple deep throws for touchdowns and averaging 15.6 and 12.8 yards per reception those seasons.
But Grant never quite got going as a receiver in an injury-shortened 2019 season highlighted by 101-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Buffalo.
Grant averaged 8.6 yards on 19 receptions before an ankle injury ended his season after 10 games.
Grant, making the rounds on Radio Row at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Tuesday, pronounced himself healthy and determined to recapture his 2018 form as a receiver.
“This is healthiest offseason I’ve had since I’ve been in the league,” he said. “I left a lot out there on the field, so I’m coming back with vengeance.
“If the opportunity presents itself where I can be a receiver and get those targets each and every game like I should, I am going to go out there and shock the world that I can be a top receiver in this league.”
Former Dolphins coach Adam Gase moved Grant from the slot to the boundary, where Grant has enjoyed most of his NFL success as a receiver. This Dolphins coaching staff played him in both positions. Grant said he doesn’t have a preference.
“I can do it all,” he said.
The message from coach Brian Flores in Grant’s exit meeting after the season?
“Coach said your role is what you make it, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” said Grant, who was eighth in the league in kickoff return average at 25.1 last season. “I can play inside or out. I am going to show people, coming into the 2020 season, that I’m a force to be reckoned with.”
Receiver stands as the Dolphins’ strength heading into the offseason, with a group featuring DeVante Parker, Preston Williams (coming off knee surgery), Allen Hurns, Albert Wilson (his contract might be restructured), Grant, Isaiah Ford and Seattle 2019 fourth-round pick Gary Jennings, among others.
“We can be phenomenal,” Grant said. “We feed other each other’s energy. We are going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
Grant is entering the first year of a four-year extension that runs through 2023. The deal can be worth as much as $24 million.
DOLPHINS WORK OUT COLLINS
The Dolphins this week auditioned former Baltimore Ravens running back Alex Collins, a former standout at South Plantation High who was out of the league last season. He left without a contract.
Collins, a former fifth-round pick out of Arkansas, averaged 4.2 yards on a combined 357 carries for the Seahawks in 2016 and Ravens in 2017 and 2018, scoring 15 touchdowns.
Collins was waived by the Ravens last March after he was arrested following a car crash that morning.
Last October, he pleaded guilty to possession of more than 10 grams of marijuana and possession of a handgun in a vehicle, and received a sentence of 18 months of unsupervised probation. The NFL suspended him for three weeks for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, and he was reinstated Nov. 19 but did not sign with a team.
AIKMAN ON GAILEY
Fox lead NFL game analyst Troy Aikman, who worked with new Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey late in his career in Dallas, said he was surprised Gailey came out of retirement to become the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator.
“They are going to be able to run the football,” Aikman said of the Dolphins. “That’s his mantra.”
Though Gailey spread the field during later career stops, Aikman said Dolphins fans will be happy if they believe a successful running game is important to an offensive approach. Miami was last in the league in rushing this past season.
Gailey was the Cowboys’ head coach in 1998 and 1999. Aikman retired after the 2000 season.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 3:55 PM.
