Dolphins trade Grant to Bears: The fallout. And offensive coordinators dish on problems
The Miami Dolphins traded receiver Jakeem Grant to the Chicago Bears on Tuesday, paving the way for first-round pick Jaylen Waddle to assume a larger role in the return game.
Grant’s trade to the Bears — in exchange for a 2023 sixth-round pick — means Waddle and perhaps cornerback Noah Igbinoghene likely will be the Dolphins’ returners.
Grant was third in the NFL in punt return average last season.
The former sixth-round pick out of Texas Tech finished his Dolphins career with 101 punt returns for 978 yards (a 9.7 average) and three touchdowns and 89 kickoff returns for 2,602 yards (a 24.8 average) and two touchdowns.
As a receiver, he caught 91 passes for 1,001 yards and five touchdowns in 70 games, including eight starts. He played sparingly as a receiver this season, catching two passes for -7 yards.
Grant, who fumbled a punt return Sunday but was one of the league’s top returners the past five years, was nearly traded in preseason, with Grant’s blessing. But nothing materialized and Grant instead opted to stay with the Dolphins, while taking a pay cut and eliminating the final season of his contract (2022).
The removal of Grant from the roster could create a spot on the active roster for receiver Preston Williams, who has been a healthy scratch the past two games after catching seven touchdowns in 16 games over the past two seasons.
Albert Wilson — who was inactive in Week 3 and active in Week 4 — also could get more opportunities on the active roster.
To replace Grant’s return work, the Dolphins have two accomplished college returners.
Waddle averaged an incredible 19.3 yards and two touchdowns on 38 punt returns at Alabama. He averaged 23.8 yards with one touchdown on nine kickoff returns in college.
Waddle fumbled a punt earlier this season when an injury briefly sidelined Grant.
Igbinoghene did not return a punt at Auburn but averaged an impressive 27.3 yards on 44 college kickoff returns with two touchdowns.
OFFENSIVE COORDINATORS SPEAK
Dolphins co-offensive coordinators George Godsey and Eric Studesville made clear Tuesday that everyone on their units must improve, coaches included. The Dolphins are averaging just 252 yards per game; only the Bears average fewer. The Dolphins’ 15.5 points per game are ahead of only the Jets.
”We all have to look at ourselves in the mirror,” Godsey said. “We all have work to be done that can be better. It starts with us, coaches, putting the guys in better situations and getting some of our guys more targets early and making sure they get involved. There are definitely some plays we would like to have back, coaching and playing. There are plenty of games left.”
When Godsey says some players need more targets early, does he mean DeVante Parker?
“Yeah, we all know we’ve got to get him the ball,” Godsey said. “He’s a productive player for us. If we can get him the ball early [it would help]. It doesn’t need to be every play, but him, Mike [Gesicki], get the backs involved, get all the other tight ends and receivers involved too, it will help the execution.”
Keeping in mind that opposing coaches Bill Belichick and Jon Gruden have said that Godsey is calling the plays, is Godsey disappointed by his play-calling?
“We’re sitting here 1-3 and there are a lot of things we would like to take back, whether it’s an individual play or coaching,” he said. “We know we’ve got to do better.”
Why not play more up tempo to get out of this rut?
”We got to move the ball to get in some type of tempo,” Godsey said. “First downs are a big part of it. We didn’t convert at a consistent basis last game.”
Are receivers not getting enough separation? ”Separation is a big word and there’s not a lot of it at this level,” Godsey said. “... DeVante can get open early in the route and if it’s a contested ball, can jump up and get it. If you look at his career, he’s made a good living doing that. There’s zero separation and he’s making the catch.”
But asked if he would like to throw downfield more, Godsey said: “We would like to get as many as we can. We’re going to have to get the ball in some chunks and eliminate 10-15 play drives that we just haven’t been able to get together as a unit.”
There’s also this question: Are there too many people involved in play selection? Flores won’t say who is calling plays among Godsey, quarterbacks coach Charlie Frye and Studesville, who said the entire offensive staff “creates” plays that are put in the game plan.
Godsey didn’t dispute a question that said he’s calling plays. Trent Dilfer — a friend of Frye and Tua Tagovailoa — said Frye is calling the plays, but Frye refused to confirm or deny that.
Using multiple people for the coordinator job “hasn’t been an issue,” Studesville said. “It’s more execution and doing things of what we’re calling. A collaborative effort... has been good with us putting ideas together and formulating what we want to do. We just got to execute it better.”
Studesville said Frye conveys the play-call to the quarterback and Frye is permitted to add “any kind of tips and reminders that they’ve gone over in meetings.”
Both coordinators suggested pass protection is one reason Malcolm Brown is playing ahead of Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed.
“Malcolm’s done a nice job since he’s been here,” Studesville said. “He’s a big, tough, physical runner. He’s a smart guy that understands all the facets of the game. He’s done a nice job in pass protection for us.”
This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 10:59 AM.
