Drive Time: The Kenneth Grant Episode

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

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.

is here. We're talking about this player, his tape, his metrics from his college production, his workouts, what his experts 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 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 and hear from the coach and the GM Chris Career.

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 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 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 with elation.

play to the tonality that that we aspire to. You know, I think I think it's very well in step with, 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 what we're adding because we feel like we have a very clear, clear picture of what that is.

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

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 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 too gap responsibility.

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

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 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.

a rip current, that's how you bury yourself even further. Right, 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.

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 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

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, 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.

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 jump like you know, a blazing fast ten split.

And this is every time Michigan was able to generate 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 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 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

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

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 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.

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

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, 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 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 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,

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 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

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?

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 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 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.

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 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 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.

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 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.

concerned about it. He's not either, and I think he 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.

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.

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 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 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 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 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.

of those players. So again, nine more picks over the weekend, 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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

entertaining potential dynamic of a quarterback room. From a personality standpoint, I can imagine, like, what are those conversations going to be?

to go up and down for the right players. So but we'll be looking at needs, but just not strictly needs, but good football players that fit what we're looking for.

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 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. 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 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 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.

We're gonna have a two man podcast. Basically, it gives you some more content on the show then should be 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, 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.