no, I don't think he was held back. What I read on him is he runs the wrong routes. Hard to depend on a receiver like that. There as one play in the Titans game where Doughty threw the ball to him. It looked like Doughty was expecting him to go 10 yards and Grant went like 15. Gase has commented on his running wrong routes.

 

I do suspect they've held him out to spring him on somebody. Whether its SEA or the Cheats, I don't know.

 

I see only slants and streaks for him.

 

My gut feeling is that Grant was being hidden. I think he wants to make a splash in that first regular season game. Grant showed too much in practice and in his few game touches to be excluded from the offensive game plan. Even watching the film in the last game where he wasn't targeted, he seemed almost uncoverable much of the time. Gase would be ignoring a major weapon. Maybe Gase would prefer to unveil Grant for the NE game. I don't know, but I do expect that Grant will be part of the offensive game plan eventually.

 

I didn't want to say that because, well ... Dolphins. But he looks uncoverable to me.

 

He's young. Give him some time and coaching and I think he will be a good receiver. In the meantime, use him as a weapon on Special Teams. You can work him into the lineup as the season goes on.

 

I thought Grant looked great during week 1 of preseason. I get the idea that he's hard to cover and could be a real weapon in the future. That said, I find it hard to believe the coaches were so convinced of his greatness that they no longer felt the need for him to play significant time in preseason. He's a mid-round rookie WR. He obviously needs practice (or so you'd think). He's not Arian Foster, meaning someone who you need to keep healthy and you're confident will know exactly what to do as soon as the lights come on.

The common sense answer is to look for some middle ground. Is Grant a potential weapon? Yes, I think so. Is he being secretly hidden away? If so, it was only to get a closer look at the other guys behind him competing for the roster spots.

If Grant is indeed going to be featured, you're not going to build the offense around him, you're going to give him a few chances within the context of the game to show what he can do and to see how opponents handle him.

If he's a weapon are you going to hold him back until week 2? No, I don't see why you would, particularly knowing what a guy of his skill-set can do to a zone team, which the Seahawks are.

 

I think every bit of this is correct. He's not going to be playing 40+ plays, but he'll probably come in for 10+. Also, I could see them holding him out to spring on NE, who we've always played tough and is a much more meaningful game than the likely loss in Seattle.

 

he might be uncoverable, but if he is not running the route where he should be there is not much value in that.

 

I think they will have some packages to get him on the field, but it's a matter of trust right now, as you point out, so I see really easy routes like screens and such, just to get his feet wet.

 

Dolphins have been doing everything to show that Jakeem Grant is the least trustworthy wide receiver on the roster.

Going back to the start of this, they had Jakeem Grant last on the WR depth chart, even behind the guys that got cut.

His offensive snap participation went as follows:

Game 1 - 23%
Game 2 - 2%
Game 3 - 9%
Game 4 - 23%

The Dallas game seems conspicuously low but the fact the 1st and 4th games are the highest participation for him is perfectly in line with what you'd expect of a guy at the bottom of the depth chart.

This week, I heard Clyde Christensen admitting Justin Hunter's too new to be relied on as the 3rd guy if Parker sits, but also kind of in a roundabout way talking about figuring out how to get Justin Hunter on the field anyway. That guy just got here. Jakeem Grant's been here since May.

And now I hear Darren Rizzi talking about how they might have Kenyan Drake back there to return punts and kicks, which suggests that Jakeem Grant may even be in danger of being inactive.

So really there's a mountain of evidence that we'll be lucky to see Jakeem Grant on the field as a return man, and that if he gets onto the field on offense at all it will probably be for like 3 or 4 snaps. The only thing that flies in the face of that is Adam Gase getting pissed off at Barry Jackson ("Do you want my game plan, Barry?") when Barry asked if Grant had been limited to only 1 snap in the Cowboys game because Gase wanted to hide his intentions with Grant from the Seahawks. And...maybe that's kind of thin.

Personally I would be all over having Jakeem Grant out there. He's someone the defense has to think about. If you have man coverage out there on him in situations that aren't dictated by down & distance, he's going to burn you. And if you try and get away with not shifting your defensive personnel very well against bunch or trips formations, he's going to burn you. If your defensive players don't think that midget is going to be able to block you when the offense looks to be primed for a screen, he's going to get you blocked up and someone else will burn you. I would have him out there, as Simon suggested to me the other day, burning Bobby Wagner's and Earl Thomas's fuel all day long.

 

Him also being really fast and quick, you will not have a play where you can go half speed or just kind of jog a zone.

 

And you don't think this has crossed Gase's mind?

 

That's what I mean by burning their fuel. Won't take long for those guys to figure out this dude is flying, and that should put a little extra pep in their step, tire them out by the end.

 

Of course it has but he also has to decide whether a guy is so new and so green that if he puts him out there game one against a Super Bowl caliber team in their own very loud stadium, the kid might screw up a bunch in very costly ways. So it's possible Gase just wants Grant to worry about nothing other than making sure he securely catches those kickoffs and punts.

 

If he pans out as a Darren Sproles type threat, I'll be real excited.

 

I thought he was being held back in the preseason to be unleashed in the regular season. I heard he was simply just running his routes too fast and slipping occasionally. Kid is tough as nails and eager to showcase his talents. He's a huge mismatch against, well, anyone.

Why would you not want that as a coach?

I think it's T-minus 3 days till the NFL gets it's first taste of peanut butter jelly time...

 

I expect Grant to become an offensive weapon at some point, I doubt it'll be in the first quarter of the season though.

 

If Grant can find room vs Seattle's coverage units then he's in line for a really good year. They're easily the best I've seen over the past several seasons.

 

It is not like we have not had fast guys before that have not panned out. The key is getting fast guys that can do what they are supposed to do while also doing it fast. Right now Grant can't do that. Hopefully, he will.

 

Doing it fast is not the problem.

His problem is doing it too fast.

 

Dude, we've never had a guy like Grant. It's one thing to be fast but his low center of gravity makes him the Duke of Juke.

 

This reminds me of the discussions on Clyde Gates when he was drafted. Ireland raving about his speed, Philbin pointing out his lack of route running ability. Coaches tend to want a guy to know the offense before he sees significant snap, regardless of his measurables.

 

Who gives a shiiiiiiiiit... You can hand the ball off to him, toss him a bubble screen. There is no effing reason not to get the ball in his hands.

It's like Oklahoma St. using Barry Sanders on special teams only his freshman year. Kid is a gamma ray in space...

 

Reminds me nothing of Clyde Gates.

We alread know that Grant can run routes. He was the leading wide receiver at Texas Tech. By leading, he has the most receptions of all time.

 

We don't know he was running routes as much as just running :) In this offense it seems receivers need to run precise routes and be where they are supposed to be. It does not appear Grant is doing that. Bubble screens and stuff for him sure, but I don't see much more for him.

 

You can watch him run routes. He is a really good comeback route as well as other routes as well. It is not NFL quality routes as you do not need to be NFL quality in college. Heck, only a few wide receivers are close like Amari Cooper.

I do not know what is missing or not. I only know what I have seen. His routes against the Titans were really well good. His routes for 3 of this 4 catches against the Giants were also good routes.

 

Something is missing, or else Gase really was hiding him :) I read somewhere he might not even return punts of kicks, which seems really odd.

 

We do not know.

He does need to improve. He is doing the double jump thing that college receivers do.

It is interesting. Either, occam's rzor is in effect and the coaching staff just do not think he is ready for the NFL at this time or Gase is really hiding him.

 

I'd say his problem is giving his routes away.

 

Well, with time comes nuance. I liken his role to that of Dave Megget from Parcells' Giants. Just keep sprinkling him in...

 

I think they can get him to learn 10 plays in 2 weeks time.

 

Understood. But he's not at Texas Tech anymore, nor will there be any 3rd and 4th string players on the field like there were during preseason. He's an exciting player, I'd like to see him too. If it happens on Sunday I'd love it, if not, I'm cool with that too. With the limits on practice time during the offseason it's possible they haven't finished putting in the amount of packages they want.

 

I know he is not at Texas Tech anymore.

His problems are different than the problems of Clyde Gates. I cannot think of a time when Miami had a player like Grant on the team.

 

Barry Sanders is a bit much, but I get your point. If they do have some gadget plays for him I'd prefer saving them for New England. He's not Clyde Gates skill set wise, it's the discussion about them I find similar.

 

I wanna see Jakeem against the LOB sooooo bad.

 

It's physics man. No need to surprise anybody, he is not playing out of his mind, he was second overall in college last year in yac yardage. Nobody can cover him one on one. That's just who he is.

Gase has to be setting a smokescreen... Sorry for the hyperbole earlier. It's just that as a fan, that's my boy, I wanna see him play early and often. I called it in a draft forum thread. If I have anything in common with Stephen Ross, it's that we both loved this kid.

 

I am hoping it is a smokescreen. He is such an exciting player.