April 25, 2025 • 32 mins
We are breaking down all things Kenneth Grant, the 13th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to your Miami Dolphins. Travis gets into the tape of the 335-pound DT, his fit in Miami, his workout metrics, where he can grown and improve and much more. Plus, Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier discuss the pick, Day 2 needs, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
With the thirteenth pick in the twenty twenty five NFL Draft,
the Miami Dolphin select Kenneth Grant, defensive tackle. Michigan Fellas,
I gotta jump in because I've been hearing about this
kid since he was a true freshman going up there
and meeting with the Wolverine coaches when Jim Harriba and
(00:22):
I would sit down, all the way back to Mike
McDonald and then Jesse Mentor or Wing Martindale, all the
coordinators have been on that side of the ball. The
first thing that that defense, and it's the Baltimore defense
wants to do, is build the run wall. And guess
who they talk about. They wouldn't talk about Mason Graham.
They would talk about Kenneth Grant as being the guy
that could be the best in the future. And one
of the reasons is this play that you're looking at
(00:42):
right there. He chased down Nick Singleton. He's got this
rare motor for a guy that's three hundred and thirty
pounds and he doesn't even understand how good he is yet.
I think his best football is ahead of him. He's
a block destructor. He's a great locker room guy, and
DJ I think he could be one of the premier
defensive tackles in the National Football League in the coming years.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield and on today's show, well,
the pick is in. As you heard off the top
of the show, Kenneth Grant, the massive Michigan defensive tackle
is here. We're talking about this player, his tape, his
metrics from his college production, his workouts, what his experts
(01:31):
said and are saying about him, as you just heard
there on the NFL Network broadcast, his testing metrics, how
he fits in the defense, how he opens up things
for Anthony Weaver and Austin Clark and company. We'll hear
from Mike McDaniel and Chris Greer as they weigh in
on the player throughout the course of the podcast. Here
from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Draft Time Podcast. We're going to get
(01:57):
into my tape study here on Kenneth Grant, who I
thought was neck and neck with Mason Graham as the
best defensive tackle in the class. He was one of
the top guys on my board overall for this pick,
for this selection. So I go home on this evening
a happy camper. I had him and Jaday Baron pretty
close as well as Tyler Warren, so I was happy
with any of those three guys. I get one of
those my favorite players here in this Classlet's go ahead
(02:19):
and hear from the coach and the GM Chris Career.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
First on Kenneth Grant.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
For us, do you tackle is a big need, A
big nose tackle, obviously, but we also we don't be
almost just a run stopper. We do think he has
ability to generate and you've first talked with the pass rush.
It's not always about sacks. The ability to push the
pocket in the middle is a huge thing in the
NFL now and we think he has a tremendous work
(02:44):
ethic an upside to do that. So we got to
know him through the process the Pro day, and so
again this was a player we're very excited.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
To add, and Mike McDaniel and how excited he is
for both the player and the person that is Kenneth Grant.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
This this is a player know I think from the
off season as it began and Chris and I talked
about the way we can impact this team and some
of the some of the things that there's real opportunities
to impact, you know, one position, but multiple positions. And
I think the most exciting part of really adding them
(03:23):
is you love players that are good players, that make
other people better players and continue to ascend to be
you know, to have the desire to be great well.
I think affects the run game, affects the pass game,
effects the pocket You talk about some of the biggest
impacts in the National Football League on pass downs is
(03:46):
where the line of scrimmage is set or how much
pocket push you can get. That in conjunction with some
of the things that we'll be able to do from
a defensive standpoint based upon you is in a skill
set in the run game as well, where you can
play various light boxes at times and have versatility as
(04:08):
well as you know, a guy that can draw some
attention from some other really good players. Either way, we
feel like if you can add really good players on
the line of scrimmage, if we had the opportunity, we're
really excited about that. And we jumped on this one
(04:31):
with elation.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And then I want to play this one. Coach was
asked about what this pick says about the direction of
the franchise. We discussed how taking a guard could change
kind of a philosophy shift, how there's different things that
Dolphins could do that would signify a potential philosophy shift,
whether it's offense, defense, culture, whatever you might say. So
coach was asked directly about what does this say about
(04:52):
the direction of the franchise.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Here's coach.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
It was important to us that we felt like we
had an opportunity to pick at thirteen. That you don't
always get that opportunity. You want to take advantage of
it and you want to make sure that you do
things so that you don't pick at that spot in
the future. In that process, it was important to have
a tonality set, you know, for the to the twenty
(05:18):
twenty five Dolphins and adding you know, a real presence
up front and a you know, just a just a
player that is going to attack it and try to
play to the tonality that that we aspire to. You know,
I think I think it's very well in step with,
(05:41):
you know, our vision as we approach the whole process
open minded, but trying to you know, figure out by
round how we can make the Dolphins better. So this, Uh,
he's been on our mind for a long time, and
we thoroughly over thoroughly vetted and so very excited about
(06:03):
what we're adding because we feel like we have a
very clear, clear picture of what that is.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
All right, let's go ahead and get into the tape
here on Kenneth Grant. I feel like those guys as
well as was that Joel Klatt off the open of
the show talking about how great Kenneth Grant is, and look,
Jim Harbaugh did call him, you know, guy's gift to football.
You talk about Wink, Martin Dell and all the guys
that have coach there in Michigan, and how you know
how important that defensive line was to what they do
(06:28):
in Michigan. We'll get to all that here in just
one second. A lot of high praise for Kenneth Grant,
but you start here at number seventy eight at Michigan.
When you watch his tape, not a lot of guys
in the world that are six foot four, three hundred
and thirty four pounds and can move like that, who
were light on their feet. I'm sure you've all seen
the viral clip that played on the draft the first
clip they played against Penn State where the back breaks
(06:50):
through the line. He tries to make a move on
a safety and that move gave Grant the extra step
he needs to hawk him from twenty yards behind. The
play a lah Christian Wilkins against the Raiders a few
years ago. Again at three hundred and thirty four pounds,
that size and the strength allows you to play him
on the nose. He has plenty of reps as the
zero technique head up over the center or the one
(07:10):
shade on outside shoulder of either outside shoulder of the center,
and he has pass rush wins there. Go watch his
sack on Michael Pennix in the twenty twenty three National
Championship game. He's actually a three technique on those reps,
but he rushes the entire man, not just the you know,
not just the shoulder of the guard, the entire left guard,
which means that he has you know, two way go
(07:30):
too gap responsibility.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And when you have that and you can also just you.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Know, mount up the power and roll it into the
guy and put him on his back, that is really impressive.
Like the guard goes down like a sack of potatoes
and Grant just runs over him for the sack, and
a National Championship game with sheer power and a player
that moves like he does should not have that kind
of power. And the first rep I pulled up on
his tape was him doing a te stunt. The tackle
(07:55):
or the end rather slants in and he and picks
up the guard. And at three hundred and forty pounds,
here comes Kenneth Grant looping around the outside and beating
the left tackle around the edge. And that's Donovan Jackson,
who was a first round pick tonight out of Ohio State,
who you know, the first step quickness, the way he
can bend the arc at that size, it is just
it's really really impressive. I think he could benefit from
(08:16):
some seasonings, some NFL coaching. If there's a reason that
he didn't go top twenty in this draft, it was
because sometimes he doesn't process things super fast and the
feet can stop moving. But this is actually you know,
it would be a big concern if it never got
SYNCD up, but I don't think that'll happen here. That
to me would fall more on the coaching staff. And
we have Austin Clark, who's coached pretty much every player
(08:37):
to be a good one here. Deshan Han but Ato
Jones last year both had career years. You saw Zach's
either development, Christian Wilkins development, Like, give Austin Clark someone
to work with, and I feel pretty confident about the
work he can do. And it's little things like pad level,
you know, the feet stopping at times and maybe trying
to play like a hero rep every once in a while.
Outside of that, there's not a lot that I didn't love.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
On the tape.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Like we talked about this with Davis on the podcast
a while back, grade the flashes, and to me, the
Flashes were top five worthy in the entire class. Some
of the snap to snap consistency, maybe some of the
willingness to just eat a block and survive the rep
opposed to like there was a rep where he's getting
double with the point of attack and he tries to
fight against it upstream and when you go against it
a rip current, that's how you bury yourself even further. Right,
(09:21):
But like, even on that rep, the gap that he
leaves exposes an easy fill because he holds up the
first man on the combo block enough that it requires
a longer attachment from the secondary block, which then frees
up the linebacker to run in and shut that thing
down for no gain.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
So I think about the way he can impact.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Steeler and Jordan Brooks and Willie Gay and Jalen Phillips
and Bradley Chubb and Chop Robinson.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
You really can see the fit there.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I think he can get a little bit narrow, especially
in his approach, and his heels click a little bit.
But that to me is a sign of just a
lack of reps. He only has one thousand and fifty
reps in his career and a lot of tred left
on those tires. If you've seen a rep of him
one gapping and losing, please share it with me, because
I have not seen it yet on his tape and
I've watched six of this guy's games now. And the
way I think that could incorporate with what we do.
(10:07):
How we have all those electric first step athletes with
premiere ten split times, Like gosh, you got all these
guys that with options to mug up in the A
gaps and show pressure from Brooks to Dotson to Gay
to Chop condensing inside a nosebacker. And I think about
that next to a pairing of Seiler and Grant Seiler,
who has the best length and hands in the damn
game at the position. And then Grant, who I think
(10:28):
can be an elite one gap penetrator of the minute
he puts on an NFL helmet. That's a tough, tough
ask for sixty snaps from imposing offensive line. He's got
plenty of good plenty good at dropping the anchor as
a two gapper against the run. In fact, a lot
of folks think that run stuffing is his mo from
the start, Stack it up with the nose. Does a
ton of that in his college tape because he was
(10:49):
frequently doubled there at Michigan. But when they cut him
loose and told him to rush the outside shoulder of
the center or the inside shoulder of the guard, he
just blows right past them. Then he had a pretty
good arm over and swim move to free himself as well.
I do think the secondary of moves could use some polish,
But you know, that's what coaches for. That's what coaching
is for. That's how you develop players. They always say, like,
(11:09):
don't get too over hyped on pass rush arsenal because
that stuff can be taught. It's the traits and the
rare movement that you really put the high grades on,
and that's what Kenneth Grant has. He is really really
electric off the football. I think he'll draw a lot
of holding calls because guys are bracing for the strength
and the momentum of three hundred and forty pounds and
how he knows how to play to that size and power.
(11:30):
As they dig their cleats into the ground, he just
crosses their face with a quick first step and now
they've got to uproot themselves and try to match his speed,
which I don't think any offensive lineman can do. You
know the Mike McDaniel comment, like every single offensive lineman
every single week in the NFL is outmatched by the
athletic ability of the defensive line. Like that's Kenneth Grant,
three hundred and thirty four pounds, thirty one inch vertical
(11:50):
jump like you know, a blazing fast ten split.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
He's They're not supposed to move like that.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And every rep where I've seen him as a zero
tech and Michigan walks up backers to show pressure where
they career at these one on one chances, he just
flat out smokes these big ten interior offensive lineman, like
it's over before it even begins. It reminds me of
watching Chop versus Michigan last year. They pretty much abandoned
the entire passing game because they had no answer for him.
And this is every time Michigan was able to generate
(12:17):
a one on one, zero or one technique rush, which
is something we get a lot right, but Nito Jones
got that last year. Had the best pressure rate of
his career, best PFF pass rush grade, whatever you want
to call it, seven point six percent. Pressure rate was
two percent higher than his previous career high with allions,
and I think that that just opens up even more
interesting ways of usage for Kenneth Grant his hands. The
(12:39):
way he impacts guys by his punch, there's a physical
jolt across the bow. But the best part is when
he gets attached, he then controls the rep and it
happens all the time. He subscribes to the belief that
you beat the hands, you beat the man. He learned
that probably from Mason Graham, who I thought had the
best hands of the entire class at defensive tackle. And
he just does it all the damn time. When you
(12:59):
move him down in competition at all, like not the
literal national champs in Ohio State Buckeyes. Every other tape
was ragged alling guys pretty regularly. This was from my
film study on the prospect profile back in March. Quote,
all right, I've seen enough. I just saw him kick
out to the five technique against Ohio State and jab
step wide with an arm over re establish his gap
and then close on the ballcarrier. This is my top
(13:21):
defensive tackle in the class. I think he should go
in the top ten, could be top five all things said.
So that's the player, that's the tape. Very excited about
this guy. I'm excited to see what he can do
here in Miami. Let's go ahead and take our first
break right there, come back and talk about how he
fits the Dolphins defense and coach Weaver. That's next Draft
Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by
(13:42):
I Don't Nation. So the player profile is intriguing. It's impressive,
big man, moves well, physical, tough, all that fun stuff.
Heard a lot about his character as well, in a
good way. So, Kenneth Grant, the man here in Miami
gives you a big, big body inside and fills a big,
big knee, and look, I think the expectations that he's
(14:02):
gonna play right away, right, I mean he's got to
he's got to earn it. And that's talking about where
he fits. We talk about instant impact players in the
podcast a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
You don't just show up and start in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
But we saw his rep count increase each year at Michigan,
topping out at nearly six hundred snaps this past season.
And if you're looking at the skill, the fit, the talent,
all of that, he's going to have a really good
chance to carve out a massive role in this front
and be a part of many, many of the different
packages this group can feature. And possibly my favorite part
about the entire thing is, like you talk about playing
(14:33):
the run from two high structures, That's what the league
is these days. It's all about trying to defend the
run while keeping the umbrella on your roof and in
your coverage and free up athletic linebackers to cover space
both both going vertically backwards and downhill against the run.
And having two big, strong, long, quick athletes on the
interior defensive line, I mean you can take care of
(14:54):
three interior offensive line. With those two guys, they can
both two gap, they can eat up blocks on duo
and double teams, and now all of a sudden, Jordan
Brooks has no one to take him on, and then
that's a proposition that will not result in a good
result for the offense. You can get Willie Gay getting
one on one matchups against the running back as an
interior mugged up linebacker rusher or Tyrrell Dotson or Chop Robinson,
(15:16):
and you can keep your two safeties up on top
of the defense, play some press or fill type of
coverage underneath, and all of a sudden, you've got the
quarterback taken an extra beat to throw the football. And
if you can dominate upfront, you can help your defensive
backfield a big way too. So I think the way
you can structure this coverage with the defensive coordinator being
a very having a very solid first year, and how
he did structure things with a couple of potentially dominant
(15:40):
defensive tackles. We can't go that far yet on Kenneth Grant,
but just watching the tape, I feel pretty good that
he'll be a pretty damn good pro if you get
him to realize that ceiling. With Zach Seeler, you have
one of the best, like two high run stuffing fronts
that in the league because of what those guys can
do from a physical standpoint. You talk about the Michigan
coaches there, man, buddy, they man, They've had some good
(16:03):
freaking coaches. Jesse Minter was the coach there on that defense.
That was part of Kenneth Grant's recruiting class. And guess
where he is right now. Oh, he's a defensive corner
for the Los Angeles Chargers. Wink Martindell has been there
the last couple of years. He was famous for his
aggression and his games up front and all the twists
and the stunts they run. And I talked about the
ability to run games that he showed at Michigan at college. Well,
(16:26):
that's what coach Weaver does here. One of the primary
staples of this Dolphins defense under coach Weaver is learning
multiple positions and the different rush games from those positions,
so the offensive line cannot communicate their protection and you
get free runs. It happened all year last year, in
the first year. Now you've got this guy to add
to the equation. A second year in the system. You
(16:46):
got your edges back, Like I think you have to
be excited about the potential that Weaver has with his
rush packages, with the personnel he has this year compared
to what he featured last year. Maybe it's not as
deep right now today at cornerback obviously, or maybe even sayfty,
but the focus on the front and getting that thing
squared away right now, that looks pretty good. Just the
(17:07):
way that he can help keep those linebackers free. You know,
I think Zach Sealer has to be pumped about this
because of what Grant can do from a pick standpoint,
from a stunt standpoint. In fact, he was asked about that.
Chris Green was asked about Zach Stealler. How pumped was
he to get this guy? And how excited are you
to have those two guys in the middle of your defense?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
So excited about it? Obviously, He's again someone we spent
a lot of time with to get to know because
he's a good football player. You know, him and Mason
in there together. They did a good job the last
two years. They're a hard team to run the ball
on that he played against a lot of good players
that have been drafted and even the guys in practiced
there at Michigan's offensive line the last few years has
(17:45):
been really good ends And so the kid just turned
twenty one years old, So I just think there's a
huge upside with the room he's going into with Zach
and the guys that work, and with Weaver and Clark
who are great teachers and great motivators. And when he
came here, that was the one thing he was after
(18:07):
he met those guys and got to sit in with
Mike and I for about a half hour or so,
and he was really excited. And he was and so
when we called, he was like here making me nervous.
He's like, he's like, are you calling to draft me?
And so very excited to have him, and we think
he'll be a great addition.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
And then lastly on the fit, like the ability to
call heavy fronts with Seiler and Grant as a three
and a five and then plot Benito Jones as the
nose tackle, like you can get flexible that way. You know,
last year the Dolphins ran a bunch of those looks
where Zach and Kalais played five tech and three tech
and there's a lot of injuries off the edge, so
you had to kind of, you know, stretch those guys
thin and get more reps from de Sean Hanna, Benito Jones.
(18:46):
He called on Emmanuel Ogbaf some of those heavy reps
off the edge, like your three man fronts all of
a sudden with you know, with Seiler, Grant and Benito,
good luck doubling those guys and moving those guys off
the football. You can get Chubb and Chop and JP
behind him with Jordan Brooks, like it's just a lot
to contend with in that front seven. And like what
a Dolphins fans clamor for the last several years, get
(19:08):
better than the trenches, get better alongside defensive tackle rotation,
get me tough teams that can win situational football and
hostile environments and difficult situations like this is a player
that helps you do that on the defensive side in
terms of your tone setting on the defensive front and
the flexibility of different positions is a bonus. And the
pass rushing stuff. I had Jamal bush Rod doing the
radio show with me tonight for three hours in de
(19:30):
Row about the draft show, and I was pulling up
clips of him and he was talking about, you know,
Kenneth being a run defend wizard, and he's like, maybe
I have that backward. Maybe he's more of a pass
rusher because I'm watching these clipsure show me that guy
has tons of juice. So Jaman has seen that from
the other side of the football and he did a
good job breaking him down the show with us as well.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Some alignment stats here from Kenneth Grant. He lined in.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
The B gap this year. What's the B gap, Travis?
That is the gap between the guard and the tackle.
So lots of three technique work there. That was a
three hundred and eighty six workload for him. One hundred
and seventy snaps in the A gap that's a zero
or one technique over the center, and then he had
just five snaps in the sea gap that's an edge position.
But the fact that he played any snaps off the
edge at three hundred and forty pounds tells you about
(20:14):
how much of a unicorn this guy is in terms
of his size and athleticsism combination. Right, So good stuff
all around the metrics. Let's go ahead and start with
this three hundred and thirty four pound big hoss, right,
and with those guys weight can fluctuate sometimes, and that's
where your scouts really make their money, pounding the pavement
and getting to know the players' habits, whether it's talking
to the equipment staff, the training staff, the librarian, the
(20:36):
overseas study hall, whatever it is. You got to find
out what this guy's all about. And here is Chris
Career on finding out about you know, Kenneth Grant's weight
sometimes at Michigan being at three hundred and fifty pounds,
once you learned about his conditioning.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Here's Chris Career.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
You know, the college games obviously a lot faster for
the most part because you know, a lot of the
no huddle offenses go really fast, so you will have
times the bigger players. That's always been and you know,
a complaint that people have against big players the weight.
With us, we got to know him through the offseason
and what he played at during the season. We're not
concerned about it. He's not either, and I think he
(21:12):
showed throughout the whole offseason process of working it, and
we've we did a lot of background studies and information
gathering on it and feel very comfortable with him. And
from talking to the people at Michigan, they don't really
view it as an issue as well.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
And I tend to love that he's only played one
thousand and fifty four snaps in his college career. That's
not a lot of wear and tear on those tires.
He played five hundred and forty seven this year after
four h three as a sophomore, just one oh four
as a freshman there at Michigan. But hey, playing on
Jim Harboss fronts at Michigan means you're pretty good as
a freshman, so he just kept getting better. Fifty two
pressures on five hundred and fifty career pass rush snaps.
(21:46):
That's a ten percent rate from a position where pass
rushing is kind of a secondary type of deal. And
that was kind of Dexter Lawrence in college too, is Clemson.
He was a run defender who people questioned how much
juicy had, and he fell into the teams for the
same reason. And there just aren't that many nose tackles
to give you that kind of juice and play as
a zero or a one technique with that much regularity.
(22:07):
Forty one run stops on four hundred steps against the run,
just a dominant, dominant player on the stat sheet on
a workout on the field on the tape, twenty seven
pressures last year for an eight point two percent pressure rate.
He had twenty three pressures in twenty twenty three and
that was a ten point four percent pressure rate. And
the run stuffing even better twenty two stops this past
season on two hundred and seventeen rundown reps and a
(22:27):
great stat to kind of bring us home here on
the stats part of this whole thing. The only defensive
tackles that had a better pass rush win rate from
the zero and one technique position, so over the center,
a not very popular pass rushing position over the last
five drafts were number one Byron Murphy, a guy that
I thought would have been a good first round pick
(22:48):
last year, but he went before we picked to Seattle,
and then Jalen Carter for the Philadelphia Eagles, who helped
them win a Super Bowl this year, and Elijah Knty,
who has been off to a good start in Tampa
Bay with his career. There Next was Kenneth Grant, so
that's all you got about his pass rushing. He also
batted five passes last year, which was third among interior
defensive lineman. A couple more things here before our third
(23:08):
and final segment. He did not work out in Indie,
but he did go thirty one inches on the vertical
jump on his pro day, which was good for eighty
one or eighty first percent tile among all defensive tackles.
Of course, at three hundred and thirty one pounds, was
a ninety fifth percentile for weight. Oh and at eighty
third percent tile ten split. Freaky, freaky traits man. The
shuttle of the three co on, the forty and the
(23:29):
broad all came in around average, around the fortieth to
sixtieth percent tile. But hey, when you are ninety fifth
percent tile in size, all of a sudden, being average,
everything else becomes a little bit more impressive. And this
all tracks on tape. He is very explosive to me.
It's the easiest comp in the entire class. Dexter Lawrence
was ninety seven percentile weight, seventy fourth percentile ten split.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
He did not jump it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
He smooth on his feet, just like Sexy Dexi, and
he's strong as hell again. Jim Harbaugh refers to him
as the gift from the football gods. He was a
basketball and shot put stand out in high school as well.
Also play left guard on the offensive line. Hey, maybe
you put him in the backfield and there's an offensive
package where he plays some fullback forth. I don't know,
you get crazy.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Kenneth Grant, fun player all around, a player that I'm
very excited about. Let's pause for our last break right there,
come back on the other side, finish us up with
Day two preview, rest of Round one reactions. I have
one more SoundBite from Chris Career talking about team needs
as well. He once again talked about the free agent
market and how the Dolphins are in contact with some
of those players. So again, nine more picks over the weekend,
(24:31):
and with some free agent acquisitions to happen as well,
this team is far from being done as far from
done being built. So let's go ahead and talk about that.
On the other side. Draft Time Podcast brought to you
by Auto Nation. Let's bring it home here with some
talks discussions about the rest of the first round. The
Travis Hunter trade was wild, right, and seeing that like
(24:51):
an hour before the draft, that there was talks that
was going to happen was pretty cool. I thought Travis
Hunter's reaction coming out to the stage, going to Jacksonville
was pretty sweet. They got Brian Thomas Junior and Travis Hunter.
But it's interesting because they gave up first round pick
next year. They gave it pick thirty six this year,
and if you don't win, if you're not a good
team this year, like that's some high draft capital next
(25:12):
year giving up, and so good for the Browns for
capitalizing on that. They cop that future one and the
thirty sixth pick. And of course the big news of
the night is that Shadur Sanders is on the board
in the first or does not come off the board
in the first round. I should say that's probably the
biggest shock of the first night, and I imagine he
goes pretty early tomorrow night, you know, Cleveland impossible landing spot.
Feels like that could happen and they come out of
(25:33):
this thing with Mason Graham, Shadur Sanders in the top
forty pick and a one next year. That would be
a good draft for the Cleveland Browns trying to get,
you know, further away from the post to Shawn Watson
era there though I do have a hard time saying
no to Travis Hunter. So kind of a little bit
of both on that for me, maybe I'll maybe I'll
revisit that when I have some more time to think
about it. Tyler Booker going twelve to Dallas shocked me.
(25:55):
I thought that was the biggest surprise of the entire
first night in terms of a guy going early. Also
thought that Teed McMillan going eight to the Panthers was
a huge shock. You know, they have a couple of
guys from now who are more body you know, like
body controlled, contested catch guys. I thought maybe a separator
made more sense for them there, but they go. Teed
McMillan didn't see him that high in mock drafts. The
Falcons have had edge rusher issues for like twenty years
(26:18):
since Jonathan Abraham left there, and they are Jonathan Abram. Yeah,
and they get not just Jalen Walker. They spend next
year's first to go back up into the first round
and get James Pierce. The Patriots and the Jets get
their offensive tackles Will Campbell and armand Membu. I thought
Membo was the better player quite personally, a higher on
my board, but both of our division rivals there get
(26:39):
starters at tackle and can now go up against JP
and Chubb and chopping all those guys, and the Bills
get Maxwell Harriston, a really good cornerback from Kentucky. They
had a big need there, so I think that he'll
have a chance to play right away. And then how
about Jackson Dart. The Giants go all the way up
into the first round and get their quarterback, and after
picking Abduel Carter number three overall, so now they have
Russell Wilson, Jamis Win and Jackson Dart like the most
(27:02):
entertaining potential dynamic of a quarterback room. From a personality standpoint,
I can imagine, like, what are those conversations going to be?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Like?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
So crazy crazy stuff all right? Day two preview. What
positions we selected? What it means. I had forty eight
and ninety eight pegged as heavy defensive tackle spots. If
we didn't go dtackle in the first round, I thought
they could very well double dip in that spot, and
they still could, but I imagine that removes forty eight
and possibly ninety eight from the equation.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
They could go there.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
You never know, but I would imagine it removes defensive
tackle until Day three. So let's look at the best
players available at the positions of need. But first, Chris
Greer touched on the idea of passing on a cornerback
because Hunter was the only cornerback or potential cornerback who
went before Miami at picked thirteen. Will Johnson didn't get
picked in the first round at all, and Jade Baron
went to the.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Where did he go?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
The Denver Broncos a pick number twenty, So that was
the guy that I had talked about a lot. He
goes to twenty to the Broncos. Let's hear from Risk
Career on the team's needs and the philosophy of the
draft with those needs in mind, No.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
I think you know, we have nine picks still like
we said, the draft process, but also free agency. Like
as we've said before, there's a number of really good
players still out on the streets free agency that we've
been in touch with, and a lot of those players
right now are just waiting to see how the draft
unfolds for a lot of teams. So so we have nine,
we could have more or less. You know, we're willing
to go up and down for the right players. So
(28:26):
but we'll be looking at needs, but just not strictly needs,
but good football players that fit what we're looking for.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
How did this first round change the way we view
the picks thirty three through one hundred, Well, just one
safety off the board so far. I thought e Man
Warrior might have a chance to hear his name called.
That's a deep position group, and I think that, like
ninety eight, you can find a starter at that spot
potentially if it goes right and he has a good
camp and a lot of stuff, just based upon the
depth of the class right now, there's lots of teams
(28:53):
between thirty three and forty eight that could take e
Man Warrior in my opinion, But if he's there, I
would I would imagine he's a heavy contender to be
picked that at that position because I just think that
the Dolphins would be interested in the skill set that
he offers. Same with Will Johnson. I thought he'd have
been a good pick at thirteen. Quite honestly, if he
makes it to pick forty eight, I'd be more than
happy to go all Michigan with the top two picks.
(29:13):
But at cornerback man, the depth it's still there. Like
Trey Amos is a good player, Benjamin Morris is a
good player who he wasn't my favorite on tape, but
I can see like the thought and the process within there.
Savon Ravel from East Carolina was probably corner three pushing
corner two for me. I think Jacob Parrish has some
really good slot traits and slot chops that he could
(29:34):
bring to the table. So that's a damn good forcem players.
He'll probably get a crack at least one of those
guys at forty eight. The Arizona guard Jonas Slavina, I
love his game. You got Marcus Imbo from Purdue, Arianti
Ersri from Minnesota, possible tackle inside of guard converts. You've
also still got Miles Fraser from LSU, all kinds of
options at the offensive line. I think basically you go
(29:55):
into Friday rooting for defensive tackles because you're probably not
going to pick one. At forty quarterbacks, I think we'll
see at least one go here, maybe two. Maybe Milroe
goes again or goes before you pick receivers because I
don't think receivers on the table for forty eight could
be wrong.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
You never know.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Running backs, we want them to go. If we get
Shadur Sanders, Traveon Henderson, Luther Burden. Let's add the Boston
College edge that I can't prounce his name, Donovan is
a ruku and then Mike Green, the Marshall edge, Darius Alexander,
the tackle from Toledo that would get you to pick
thirty nine with Mason Taylor, Will Johnson, Nicky Man, Worry,
(30:32):
Jonas Savina, Marcus Mbo, Arianti Eser, Trey Amos, Benjamin Harrison.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
That's all on.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
That's eight guys on the board with nine picks until
we're up. Good chance you would get a really good
player at a position of need. We want defensive tackles, quarterbacks,
those positions to go off the board because well those
are the ones you're probably not gonna be looking at
those spots.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
So there you go. Fun first night here.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I hope all you guys that came out to the
Durraal you had a fun time with me and Jermond
and Eduardo as well as Mark Clayton on the dais
with Patrick Paul, who was great in me. If you
guys got a chance to meet him, you guys to
know I'm talking about that really fun guy I talked
to you. In the meantime, that's gonna be my time tomorrow.
We're gonna have a two man podcast. Basically, it gives
you some more content on the show then should be
(31:13):
out earlier because I won't be driving back from Durrell
on the closed uh Palmetto Expressman, which was a freaking
nightmare tonight. But I digress. We'll have that coverage for
you guys. We'll have some articles on Miami Dolphins dot com.
I'll get to some video content for you as well
on social, So keep your eyes peeled. Gonna be doing
all kinds of stuff for the Dolphins Draft in a
couple of days. In the meantime, you all please be
sure at one o'clock in the morning here on a
Friday to subscribe. Leave us a rating, leave us a review,
(31:35):
Follow me on social at blindfld NFL, and the team
at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast with
Seth and Juice, the YouTube channel for Dolphins, HQ Media availabilities,
and so much more, and last button, not least, Miami
Dolphins dot Com.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Until next time, Fin's up on camera and Daddy, let's
go
With the thirteenth pick in the twenty twenty five NFL Draft,
the Miami Dolphin select Kenneth Grant, defensive tackle. Michigan Fellas,
I gotta jump in because I've been hearing about this
kid since he was a true freshman going up there
and meeting with the Wolverine coaches when Jim Harriba and
(00:22):
I would sit down, all the way back to Mike
McDonald and then Jesse Mentor or Wing Martindale, all the
coordinators have been on that side of the ball. The
first thing that that defense, and it's the Baltimore defense
wants to do, is build the run wall. And guess
who they talk about. They wouldn't talk about Mason Graham.
They would talk about Kenneth Grant as being the guy
that could be the best in the future. And one
of the reasons is this play that you're looking at
(00:42):
right there. He chased down Nick Singleton. He's got this
rare motor for a guy that's three hundred and thirty
pounds and he doesn't even understand how good he is yet.
I think his best football is ahead of him. He's
a block destructor. He's a great locker room guy, and
DJ I think he could be one of the premier
defensive tackles in the National Football League in the coming years.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Draft Time Podcast.
I am your host, Travis Wingfield and on today's show, well,
the pick is in. As you heard off the top
of the show, Kenneth Grant, the massive Michigan defensive tackle
is here. We're talking about this player, his tape, his
metrics from his college production, his workouts, what his experts
(01:31):
said and are saying about him, as you just heard
there on the NFL Network broadcast, his testing metrics, how
he fits in the defense, how he opens up things
for Anthony Weaver and Austin Clark and company. We'll hear
from Mike McDaniel and Chris Greer as they weigh in
on the player throughout the course of the podcast. Here
from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the Draft Time Podcast. We're going to get
(01:57):
into my tape study here on Kenneth Grant, who I
thought was neck and neck with Mason Graham as the
best defensive tackle in the class. He was one of
the top guys on my board overall for this pick,
for this selection. So I go home on this evening
a happy camper. I had him and Jaday Baron pretty
close as well as Tyler Warren, so I was happy
with any of those three guys. I get one of
those my favorite players here in this Classlet's go ahead
(02:19):
and hear from the coach and the GM Chris Career.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
First on Kenneth Grant.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
For us, do you tackle is a big need, A
big nose tackle, obviously, but we also we don't be
almost just a run stopper. We do think he has
ability to generate and you've first talked with the pass rush.
It's not always about sacks. The ability to push the
pocket in the middle is a huge thing in the
NFL now and we think he has a tremendous work
(02:44):
ethic an upside to do that. So we got to
know him through the process the Pro day, and so
again this was a player we're very excited.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
To add, and Mike McDaniel and how excited he is
for both the player and the person that is Kenneth Grant.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
This this is a player know I think from the
off season as it began and Chris and I talked
about the way we can impact this team and some
of the some of the things that there's real opportunities
to impact, you know, one position, but multiple positions. And
I think the most exciting part of really adding them
(03:23):
is you love players that are good players, that make
other people better players and continue to ascend to be
you know, to have the desire to be great well.
I think affects the run game, affects the pass game,
effects the pocket You talk about some of the biggest
impacts in the National Football League on pass downs is
(03:46):
where the line of scrimmage is set or how much
pocket push you can get. That in conjunction with some
of the things that we'll be able to do from
a defensive standpoint based upon you is in a skill
set in the run game as well, where you can
play various light boxes at times and have versatility as
(04:08):
well as you know, a guy that can draw some
attention from some other really good players. Either way, we
feel like if you can add really good players on
the line of scrimmage, if we had the opportunity, we're
really excited about that. And we jumped on this one
(04:31):
with elation.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And then I want to play this one. Coach was
asked about what this pick says about the direction of
the franchise. We discussed how taking a guard could change
kind of a philosophy shift, how there's different things that
Dolphins could do that would signify a potential philosophy shift,
whether it's offense, defense, culture, whatever you might say. So
coach was asked directly about what does this say about
(04:52):
the direction of the franchise.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Here's coach.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
It was important to us that we felt like we
had an opportunity to pick at thirteen. That you don't
always get that opportunity. You want to take advantage of
it and you want to make sure that you do
things so that you don't pick at that spot in
the future. In that process, it was important to have
a tonality set, you know, for the to the twenty
(05:18):
twenty five Dolphins and adding you know, a real presence
up front and a you know, just a just a
player that is going to attack it and try to
play to the tonality that that we aspire to. You know,
I think I think it's very well in step with,
(05:41):
you know, our vision as we approach the whole process
open minded, but trying to you know, figure out by
round how we can make the Dolphins better. So this, Uh,
he's been on our mind for a long time, and
we thoroughly over thoroughly vetted and so very excited about
(06:03):
what we're adding because we feel like we have a
very clear, clear picture of what that is.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
All right, let's go ahead and get into the tape
here on Kenneth Grant. I feel like those guys as
well as was that Joel Klatt off the open of
the show talking about how great Kenneth Grant is, and look,
Jim Harbaugh did call him, you know, guy's gift to football.
You talk about Wink, Martin Dell and all the guys
that have coach there in Michigan, and how you know
how important that defensive line was to what they do
(06:28):
in Michigan. We'll get to all that here in just
one second. A lot of high praise for Kenneth Grant,
but you start here at number seventy eight at Michigan.
When you watch his tape, not a lot of guys
in the world that are six foot four, three hundred
and thirty four pounds and can move like that, who
were light on their feet. I'm sure you've all seen
the viral clip that played on the draft the first
clip they played against Penn State where the back breaks
(06:50):
through the line. He tries to make a move on
a safety and that move gave Grant the extra step
he needs to hawk him from twenty yards behind. The
play a lah Christian Wilkins against the Raiders a few
years ago. Again at three hundred and thirty four pounds,
that size and the strength allows you to play him
on the nose. He has plenty of reps as the
zero technique head up over the center or the one
(07:10):
shade on outside shoulder of either outside shoulder of the center,
and he has pass rush wins there. Go watch his
sack on Michael Pennix in the twenty twenty three National
Championship game. He's actually a three technique on those reps,
but he rushes the entire man, not just the you know,
not just the shoulder of the guard, the entire left guard,
which means that he has you know, two way go
(07:30):
too gap responsibility.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
And when you have that and you can also just you.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Know, mount up the power and roll it into the
guy and put him on his back, that is really impressive.
Like the guard goes down like a sack of potatoes
and Grant just runs over him for the sack, and
a National Championship game with sheer power and a player
that moves like he does should not have that kind
of power. And the first rep I pulled up on
his tape was him doing a te stunt. The tackle
(07:55):
or the end rather slants in and he and picks
up the guard. And at three hundred and forty pounds,
here comes Kenneth Grant looping around the outside and beating
the left tackle around the edge. And that's Donovan Jackson,
who was a first round pick tonight out of Ohio State,
who you know, the first step quickness, the way he
can bend the arc at that size, it is just
it's really really impressive. I think he could benefit from
(08:16):
some seasonings, some NFL coaching. If there's a reason that
he didn't go top twenty in this draft, it was
because sometimes he doesn't process things super fast and the
feet can stop moving. But this is actually you know,
it would be a big concern if it never got
SYNCD up, but I don't think that'll happen here. That
to me would fall more on the coaching staff. And
we have Austin Clark, who's coached pretty much every player
(08:37):
to be a good one here. Deshan Han but Ato
Jones last year both had career years. You saw Zach's
either development, Christian Wilkins development, Like, give Austin Clark someone
to work with, and I feel pretty confident about the
work he can do. And it's little things like pad level,
you know, the feet stopping at times and maybe trying
to play like a hero rep every once in a while.
Outside of that, there's not a lot that I didn't love.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
On the tape.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Like we talked about this with Davis on the podcast
a while back, grade the flashes, and to me, the
Flashes were top five worthy in the entire class. Some
of the snap to snap consistency, maybe some of the
willingness to just eat a block and survive the rep
opposed to like there was a rep where he's getting
double with the point of attack and he tries to
fight against it upstream and when you go against it
a rip current, that's how you bury yourself even further. Right,
(09:21):
But like, even on that rep, the gap that he
leaves exposes an easy fill because he holds up the
first man on the combo block enough that it requires
a longer attachment from the secondary block, which then frees
up the linebacker to run in and shut that thing
down for no gain.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
So I think about the way he can impact.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Steeler and Jordan Brooks and Willie Gay and Jalen Phillips
and Bradley Chubb and Chop Robinson.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
You really can see the fit there.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I think he can get a little bit narrow, especially
in his approach, and his heels click a little bit.
But that to me is a sign of just a
lack of reps. He only has one thousand and fifty
reps in his career and a lot of tred left
on those tires. If you've seen a rep of him
one gapping and losing, please share it with me, because
I have not seen it yet on his tape and
I've watched six of this guy's games now. And the
way I think that could incorporate with what we do.
(10:07):
How we have all those electric first step athletes with
premiere ten split times, Like gosh, you got all these
guys that with options to mug up in the A
gaps and show pressure from Brooks to Dotson to Gay
to Chop condensing inside a nosebacker. And I think about
that next to a pairing of Seiler and Grant Seiler,
who has the best length and hands in the damn
game at the position. And then Grant, who I think
(10:28):
can be an elite one gap penetrator of the minute
he puts on an NFL helmet. That's a tough, tough
ask for sixty snaps from imposing offensive line. He's got
plenty of good plenty good at dropping the anchor as
a two gapper against the run. In fact, a lot
of folks think that run stuffing is his mo from
the start, Stack it up with the nose. Does a
ton of that in his college tape because he was
(10:49):
frequently doubled there at Michigan. But when they cut him
loose and told him to rush the outside shoulder of
the center or the inside shoulder of the guard, he
just blows right past them. Then he had a pretty
good arm over and swim move to free himself as well.
I do think the secondary of moves could use some polish,
But you know, that's what coaches for. That's what coaching
is for. That's how you develop players. They always say, like,
(11:09):
don't get too over hyped on pass rush arsenal because
that stuff can be taught. It's the traits and the
rare movement that you really put the high grades on,
and that's what Kenneth Grant has. He is really really
electric off the football. I think he'll draw a lot
of holding calls because guys are bracing for the strength
and the momentum of three hundred and forty pounds and
how he knows how to play to that size and power.
(11:30):
As they dig their cleats into the ground, he just
crosses their face with a quick first step and now
they've got to uproot themselves and try to match his speed,
which I don't think any offensive lineman can do. You
know the Mike McDaniel comment, like every single offensive lineman
every single week in the NFL is outmatched by the
athletic ability of the defensive line. Like that's Kenneth Grant,
three hundred and thirty four pounds, thirty one inch vertical
(11:50):
jump like you know, a blazing fast ten split.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
He's They're not supposed to move like that.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And every rep where I've seen him as a zero
tech and Michigan walks up backers to show pressure where
they career at these one on one chances, he just
flat out smokes these big ten interior offensive lineman, like
it's over before it even begins. It reminds me of
watching Chop versus Michigan last year. They pretty much abandoned
the entire passing game because they had no answer for him.
And this is every time Michigan was able to generate
(12:17):
a one on one, zero or one technique rush, which
is something we get a lot right, but Nito Jones
got that last year. Had the best pressure rate of
his career, best PFF pass rush grade, whatever you want
to call it, seven point six percent. Pressure rate was
two percent higher than his previous career high with allions,
and I think that that just opens up even more
interesting ways of usage for Kenneth Grant his hands. The
(12:39):
way he impacts guys by his punch, there's a physical
jolt across the bow. But the best part is when
he gets attached, he then controls the rep and it
happens all the time. He subscribes to the belief that
you beat the hands, you beat the man. He learned
that probably from Mason Graham, who I thought had the
best hands of the entire class at defensive tackle. And
he just does it all the damn time. When you
(12:59):
move him down in competition at all, like not the
literal national champs in Ohio State Buckeyes. Every other tape
was ragged alling guys pretty regularly. This was from my
film study on the prospect profile back in March. Quote,
all right, I've seen enough. I just saw him kick
out to the five technique against Ohio State and jab
step wide with an arm over re establish his gap
and then close on the ballcarrier. This is my top
(13:21):
defensive tackle in the class. I think he should go
in the top ten, could be top five all things said.
So that's the player, that's the tape. Very excited about
this guy. I'm excited to see what he can do
here in Miami. Let's go ahead and take our first
break right there, come back and talk about how he
fits the Dolphins defense and coach Weaver. That's next Draft
Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by
(13:42):
I Don't Nation. So the player profile is intriguing. It's impressive,
big man, moves well, physical, tough, all that fun stuff.
Heard a lot about his character as well, in a
good way. So, Kenneth Grant, the man here in Miami
gives you a big, big body inside and fills a big,
big knee, and look, I think the expectations that he's
(14:02):
gonna play right away, right, I mean he's got to
he's got to earn it. And that's talking about where
he fits. We talk about instant impact players in the
podcast a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
You don't just show up and start in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
But we saw his rep count increase each year at Michigan,
topping out at nearly six hundred snaps this past season.
And if you're looking at the skill, the fit, the talent,
all of that, he's going to have a really good
chance to carve out a massive role in this front
and be a part of many, many of the different
packages this group can feature. And possibly my favorite part
about the entire thing is, like you talk about playing
(14:33):
the run from two high structures, That's what the league
is these days. It's all about trying to defend the
run while keeping the umbrella on your roof and in
your coverage and free up athletic linebackers to cover space
both both going vertically backwards and downhill against the run.
And having two big, strong, long, quick athletes on the
interior defensive line, I mean you can take care of
(14:54):
three interior offensive line. With those two guys, they can
both two gap, they can eat up blocks on duo
and double teams, and now all of a sudden, Jordan
Brooks has no one to take him on, and then
that's a proposition that will not result in a good
result for the offense. You can get Willie Gay getting
one on one matchups against the running back as an
interior mugged up linebacker rusher or Tyrrell Dotson or Chop Robinson,
(15:16):
and you can keep your two safeties up on top
of the defense, play some press or fill type of
coverage underneath, and all of a sudden, you've got the
quarterback taken an extra beat to throw the football. And
if you can dominate upfront, you can help your defensive
backfield a big way too. So I think the way
you can structure this coverage with the defensive coordinator being
a very having a very solid first year, and how
he did structure things with a couple of potentially dominant
(15:40):
defensive tackles. We can't go that far yet on Kenneth Grant,
but just watching the tape, I feel pretty good that
he'll be a pretty damn good pro if you get
him to realize that ceiling. With Zach Seeler, you have
one of the best, like two high run stuffing fronts
that in the league because of what those guys can
do from a physical standpoint. You talk about the Michigan
coaches there, man, buddy, they man, They've had some good
(16:03):
freaking coaches. Jesse Minter was the coach there on that defense.
That was part of Kenneth Grant's recruiting class. And guess
where he is right now. Oh, he's a defensive corner
for the Los Angeles Chargers. Wink Martindell has been there
the last couple of years. He was famous for his
aggression and his games up front and all the twists
and the stunts they run. And I talked about the
ability to run games that he showed at Michigan at college. Well,
(16:26):
that's what coach Weaver does here. One of the primary
staples of this Dolphins defense under coach Weaver is learning
multiple positions and the different rush games from those positions,
so the offensive line cannot communicate their protection and you
get free runs. It happened all year last year, in
the first year. Now you've got this guy to add
to the equation. A second year in the system. You
(16:46):
got your edges back, Like I think you have to
be excited about the potential that Weaver has with his
rush packages, with the personnel he has this year compared
to what he featured last year. Maybe it's not as
deep right now today at cornerback obviously, or maybe even sayfty,
but the focus on the front and getting that thing
squared away right now, that looks pretty good. Just the
(17:07):
way that he can help keep those linebackers free. You know,
I think Zach Sealer has to be pumped about this
because of what Grant can do from a pick standpoint,
from a stunt standpoint. In fact, he was asked about that.
Chris Green was asked about Zach Stealler. How pumped was
he to get this guy? And how excited are you
to have those two guys in the middle of your defense?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
So excited about it? Obviously, He's again someone we spent
a lot of time with to get to know because
he's a good football player. You know, him and Mason
in there together. They did a good job the last
two years. They're a hard team to run the ball
on that he played against a lot of good players
that have been drafted and even the guys in practiced
there at Michigan's offensive line the last few years has
(17:45):
been really good ends And so the kid just turned
twenty one years old, So I just think there's a
huge upside with the room he's going into with Zach
and the guys that work, and with Weaver and Clark
who are great teachers and great motivators. And when he
came here, that was the one thing he was after
(18:07):
he met those guys and got to sit in with
Mike and I for about a half hour or so,
and he was really excited. And he was and so
when we called, he was like here making me nervous.
He's like, he's like, are you calling to draft me?
And so very excited to have him, and we think
he'll be a great addition.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
And then lastly on the fit, like the ability to
call heavy fronts with Seiler and Grant as a three
and a five and then plot Benito Jones as the
nose tackle, like you can get flexible that way. You know,
last year the Dolphins ran a bunch of those looks
where Zach and Kalais played five tech and three tech
and there's a lot of injuries off the edge, so
you had to kind of, you know, stretch those guys
thin and get more reps from de Sean Hanna, Benito Jones.
(18:46):
He called on Emmanuel Ogbaf some of those heavy reps
off the edge, like your three man fronts all of
a sudden with you know, with Seiler, Grant and Benito,
good luck doubling those guys and moving those guys off
the football. You can get Chubb and Chop and JP
behind him with Jordan Brooks, like it's just a lot
to contend with in that front seven. And like what
a Dolphins fans clamor for the last several years, get
(19:08):
better than the trenches, get better alongside defensive tackle rotation,
get me tough teams that can win situational football and
hostile environments and difficult situations like this is a player
that helps you do that on the defensive side in
terms of your tone setting on the defensive front and
the flexibility of different positions is a bonus. And the
pass rushing stuff. I had Jamal bush Rod doing the
radio show with me tonight for three hours in de
(19:30):
Row about the draft show, and I was pulling up
clips of him and he was talking about, you know,
Kenneth being a run defend wizard, and he's like, maybe
I have that backward. Maybe he's more of a pass
rusher because I'm watching these clipsure show me that guy
has tons of juice. So Jaman has seen that from
the other side of the football and he did a
good job breaking him down the show with us as well.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Some alignment stats here from Kenneth Grant. He lined in.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
The B gap this year. What's the B gap, Travis?
That is the gap between the guard and the tackle.
So lots of three technique work there. That was a
three hundred and eighty six workload for him. One hundred
and seventy snaps in the A gap that's a zero
or one technique over the center, and then he had
just five snaps in the sea gap that's an edge position.
But the fact that he played any snaps off the
edge at three hundred and forty pounds tells you about
(20:14):
how much of a unicorn this guy is in terms
of his size and athleticsism combination. Right, So good stuff
all around the metrics. Let's go ahead and start with
this three hundred and thirty four pound big hoss, right,
and with those guys weight can fluctuate sometimes, and that's
where your scouts really make their money, pounding the pavement
and getting to know the players' habits, whether it's talking
to the equipment staff, the training staff, the librarian, the
(20:36):
overseas study hall, whatever it is. You got to find
out what this guy's all about. And here is Chris
Career on finding out about you know, Kenneth Grant's weight
sometimes at Michigan being at three hundred and fifty pounds,
once you learned about his conditioning.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Here's Chris Career.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
You know, the college games obviously a lot faster for
the most part because you know, a lot of the
no huddle offenses go really fast, so you will have
times the bigger players. That's always been and you know,
a complaint that people have against big players the weight.
With us, we got to know him through the offseason
and what he played at during the season. We're not
concerned about it. He's not either, and I think he
(21:12):
showed throughout the whole offseason process of working it, and
we've we did a lot of background studies and information
gathering on it and feel very comfortable with him. And
from talking to the people at Michigan, they don't really
view it as an issue as well.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
And I tend to love that he's only played one
thousand and fifty four snaps in his college career. That's
not a lot of wear and tear on those tires.
He played five hundred and forty seven this year after
four h three as a sophomore, just one oh four
as a freshman there at Michigan. But hey, playing on
Jim Harboss fronts at Michigan means you're pretty good as
a freshman, so he just kept getting better. Fifty two
pressures on five hundred and fifty career pass rush snaps.
(21:46):
That's a ten percent rate from a position where pass
rushing is kind of a secondary type of deal. And
that was kind of Dexter Lawrence in college too, is Clemson.
He was a run defender who people questioned how much
juicy had, and he fell into the teams for the
same reason. And there just aren't that many nose tackles
to give you that kind of juice and play as
a zero or a one technique with that much regularity.
(22:07):
Forty one run stops on four hundred steps against the run,
just a dominant, dominant player on the stat sheet on
a workout on the field on the tape, twenty seven
pressures last year for an eight point two percent pressure rate.
He had twenty three pressures in twenty twenty three and
that was a ten point four percent pressure rate. And
the run stuffing even better twenty two stops this past
season on two hundred and seventeen rundown reps and a
(22:27):
great stat to kind of bring us home here on
the stats part of this whole thing. The only defensive
tackles that had a better pass rush win rate from
the zero and one technique position, so over the center,
a not very popular pass rushing position over the last
five drafts were number one Byron Murphy, a guy that
I thought would have been a good first round pick
(22:48):
last year, but he went before we picked to Seattle,
and then Jalen Carter for the Philadelphia Eagles, who helped
them win a Super Bowl this year, and Elijah Knty,
who has been off to a good start in Tampa
Bay with his career. There Next was Kenneth Grant, so
that's all you got about his pass rushing. He also
batted five passes last year, which was third among interior
defensive lineman. A couple more things here before our third
(23:08):
and final segment. He did not work out in Indie,
but he did go thirty one inches on the vertical
jump on his pro day, which was good for eighty
one or eighty first percent tile among all defensive tackles.
Of course, at three hundred and thirty one pounds, was
a ninety fifth percentile for weight. Oh and at eighty
third percent tile ten split. Freaky, freaky traits man. The
shuttle of the three co on, the forty and the
(23:29):
broad all came in around average, around the fortieth to
sixtieth percent tile. But hey, when you are ninety fifth
percent tile in size, all of a sudden, being average,
everything else becomes a little bit more impressive. And this
all tracks on tape. He is very explosive to me.
It's the easiest comp in the entire class. Dexter Lawrence
was ninety seven percentile weight, seventy fourth percentile ten split.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
He did not jump it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
He smooth on his feet, just like Sexy Dexi, and
he's strong as hell again. Jim Harbaugh refers to him
as the gift from the football gods. He was a
basketball and shot put stand out in high school as well.
Also play left guard on the offensive line. Hey, maybe
you put him in the backfield and there's an offensive
package where he plays some fullback forth. I don't know,
you get crazy.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Kenneth Grant, fun player all around, a player that I'm
very excited about. Let's pause for our last break right there,
come back on the other side, finish us up with
Day two preview, rest of Round one reactions. I have
one more SoundBite from Chris Career talking about team needs
as well. He once again talked about the free agent
market and how the Dolphins are in contact with some
of those players. So again, nine more picks over the weekend,
(24:31):
and with some free agent acquisitions to happen as well,
this team is far from being done as far from
done being built. So let's go ahead and talk about that.
On the other side. Draft Time Podcast brought to you
by Auto Nation. Let's bring it home here with some
talks discussions about the rest of the first round. The
Travis Hunter trade was wild, right, and seeing that like
(24:51):
an hour before the draft, that there was talks that
was going to happen was pretty cool. I thought Travis
Hunter's reaction coming out to the stage, going to Jacksonville
was pretty sweet. They got Brian Thomas Junior and Travis Hunter.
But it's interesting because they gave up first round pick
next year. They gave it pick thirty six this year,
and if you don't win, if you're not a good
team this year, like that's some high draft capital next
(25:12):
year giving up, and so good for the Browns for
capitalizing on that. They cop that future one and the
thirty sixth pick. And of course the big news of
the night is that Shadur Sanders is on the board
in the first or does not come off the board
in the first round. I should say that's probably the
biggest shock of the first night, and I imagine he
goes pretty early tomorrow night, you know, Cleveland impossible landing spot.
Feels like that could happen and they come out of
(25:33):
this thing with Mason Graham, Shadur Sanders in the top
forty pick and a one next year. That would be
a good draft for the Cleveland Browns trying to get,
you know, further away from the post to Shawn Watson
era there though I do have a hard time saying
no to Travis Hunter. So kind of a little bit
of both on that for me, maybe I'll maybe I'll
revisit that when I have some more time to think
about it. Tyler Booker going twelve to Dallas shocked me.
(25:55):
I thought that was the biggest surprise of the entire
first night in terms of a guy going early. Also
thought that Teed McMillan going eight to the Panthers was
a huge shock. You know, they have a couple of
guys from now who are more body you know, like
body controlled, contested catch guys. I thought maybe a separator
made more sense for them there, but they go. Teed
McMillan didn't see him that high in mock drafts. The
Falcons have had edge rusher issues for like twenty years
(26:18):
since Jonathan Abraham left there, and they are Jonathan Abram. Yeah,
and they get not just Jalen Walker. They spend next
year's first to go back up into the first round
and get James Pierce. The Patriots and the Jets get
their offensive tackles Will Campbell and armand Membu. I thought
Membo was the better player quite personally, a higher on
my board, but both of our division rivals there get
(26:39):
starters at tackle and can now go up against JP
and Chubb and chopping all those guys, and the Bills
get Maxwell Harriston, a really good cornerback from Kentucky. They
had a big need there, so I think that he'll
have a chance to play right away. And then how
about Jackson Dart. The Giants go all the way up
into the first round and get their quarterback, and after
picking Abduel Carter number three overall, so now they have
Russell Wilson, Jamis Win and Jackson Dart like the most
(27:02):
entertaining potential dynamic of a quarterback room. From a personality standpoint,
I can imagine, like, what are those conversations going to be?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Like?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
So crazy crazy stuff all right? Day two preview. What
positions we selected? What it means. I had forty eight
and ninety eight pegged as heavy defensive tackle spots. If
we didn't go dtackle in the first round, I thought
they could very well double dip in that spot, and
they still could, but I imagine that removes forty eight
and possibly ninety eight from the equation.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
They could go there.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
You never know, but I would imagine it removes defensive
tackle until Day three. So let's look at the best
players available at the positions of need. But first, Chris
Greer touched on the idea of passing on a cornerback
because Hunter was the only cornerback or potential cornerback who
went before Miami at picked thirteen. Will Johnson didn't get
picked in the first round at all, and Jade Baron
went to the.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Where did he go?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
The Denver Broncos a pick number twenty, So that was
the guy that I had talked about a lot. He
goes to twenty to the Broncos. Let's hear from Risk
Career on the team's needs and the philosophy of the
draft with those needs in mind, No.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
I think you know, we have nine picks still like
we said, the draft process, but also free agency. Like
as we've said before, there's a number of really good
players still out on the streets free agency that we've
been in touch with, and a lot of those players
right now are just waiting to see how the draft
unfolds for a lot of teams. So so we have nine,
we could have more or less. You know, we're willing
to go up and down for the right players. So
(28:26):
but we'll be looking at needs, but just not strictly needs,
but good football players that fit what we're looking for.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
How did this first round change the way we view
the picks thirty three through one hundred, Well, just one
safety off the board so far. I thought e Man
Warrior might have a chance to hear his name called.
That's a deep position group, and I think that, like
ninety eight, you can find a starter at that spot
potentially if it goes right and he has a good
camp and a lot of stuff, just based upon the
depth of the class right now, there's lots of teams
(28:53):
between thirty three and forty eight that could take e
Man Warrior in my opinion, But if he's there, I
would I would imagine he's a heavy contender to be
picked that at that position because I just think that
the Dolphins would be interested in the skill set that
he offers. Same with Will Johnson. I thought he'd have
been a good pick at thirteen. Quite honestly, if he
makes it to pick forty eight, I'd be more than
happy to go all Michigan with the top two picks.
(29:13):
But at cornerback man, the depth it's still there. Like
Trey Amos is a good player, Benjamin Morris is a
good player who he wasn't my favorite on tape, but
I can see like the thought and the process within there.
Savon Ravel from East Carolina was probably corner three pushing
corner two for me. I think Jacob Parrish has some
really good slot traits and slot chops that he could
(29:34):
bring to the table. So that's a damn good forcem players.
He'll probably get a crack at least one of those
guys at forty eight. The Arizona guard Jonas Slavina, I
love his game. You got Marcus Imbo from Purdue, Arianti
Ersri from Minnesota, possible tackle inside of guard converts. You've
also still got Miles Fraser from LSU, all kinds of
options at the offensive line. I think basically you go
(29:55):
into Friday rooting for defensive tackles because you're probably not
going to pick one. At forty quarterbacks, I think we'll
see at least one go here, maybe two. Maybe Milroe
goes again or goes before you pick receivers because I
don't think receivers on the table for forty eight could
be wrong.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
You never know.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Running backs, we want them to go. If we get
Shadur Sanders, Traveon Henderson, Luther Burden. Let's add the Boston
College edge that I can't prounce his name, Donovan is
a ruku and then Mike Green, the Marshall edge, Darius Alexander,
the tackle from Toledo that would get you to pick
thirty nine with Mason Taylor, Will Johnson, Nicky Man, Worry,
(30:32):
Jonas Savina, Marcus Mbo, Arianti Eser, Trey Amos, Benjamin Harrison.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
That's all on.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
That's eight guys on the board with nine picks until
we're up. Good chance you would get a really good
player at a position of need. We want defensive tackles, quarterbacks,
those positions to go off the board because well those
are the ones you're probably not gonna be looking at
those spots.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
So there you go. Fun first night here.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
I hope all you guys that came out to the
Durraal you had a fun time with me and Jermond
and Eduardo as well as Mark Clayton on the dais
with Patrick Paul, who was great in me. If you
guys got a chance to meet him, you guys to
know I'm talking about that really fun guy I talked
to you. In the meantime, that's gonna be my time tomorrow.
We're gonna have a two man podcast. Basically, it gives
you some more content on the show then should be
(31:13):
out earlier because I won't be driving back from Durrell
on the closed uh Palmetto Expressman, which was a freaking
nightmare tonight. But I digress. We'll have that coverage for
you guys. We'll have some articles on Miami Dolphins dot com.
I'll get to some video content for you as well
on social, So keep your eyes peeled. Gonna be doing
all kinds of stuff for the Dolphins Draft in a
couple of days. In the meantime, you all please be
sure at one o'clock in the morning here on a
Friday to subscribe. Leave us a rating, leave us a review,
(31:35):
Follow me on social at blindfld NFL, and the team
at Miami Dolphins. Check out the fish Tank podcast with
Seth and Juice, the YouTube channel for Dolphins, HQ Media availabilities,
and so much more, and last button, not least, Miami
Dolphins dot Com.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Until next time, Fin's up on camera and Daddy, let's
go
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