What's Next Step for Dolphins First-Round Pick?

The pads finally came on during Miami Dolphins training camp practices this week, which means it’s a good time to take stock in how first-round pick Kenneth Grant is faring. 

The Dolphins selected the 6-3, 335-pound interior defensive tackle out of Michigan to help solidify the middle of the defense after losing players like Christian Wilkins and Calais Campbell in back-to-back offseasons. 

The newly extended Zach Sieler can only do so much on his own.

So, what’s the next step for the highly touted rookie? Defensive line coach Austin Clark has a few things in mind. 

“I think he's working himself into shape,” Clark told reporters Monday. “I think he works extremely hard, very smart player. I would say that's the thing that's impressive, learning multiple spots and stuff like that. [We’re] pleased where he's at, but he knows we've got a long way to go and fired up for these next couple practices here and taking into the joints in the games.”

Clark saying that Grant is still working into NFL shape isn’t overly surprising. Grant is a huge player who moves faster than someone of his size should. 

There’s obviously a difference between the conditioning he needed to do at Michigan, as opposed to playing in the South Florida heat at NFL speed. Plus, Grant played a lot of snaps for the Wolverines over the years. 

He played more than 400 snaps in his two seasons as a starter, including a career-high 547 last season. So, there’s no reason to panic (yet) about Clark’s comments. 

Getting into better shape starts with new habits, something defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver is looking for from all of his young defensive linemen. 

“We're trying to make this new training their new habits,” Weaver said. “So that to me is the biggest thing, just making sure you don't revert back to some of the things you've done in the past and you try to do what you've been trained to do to this point.”

Gearing Up For Joint Practices 

Grant was never going to wow anyone before pads came on. But he’ll have a good opportunity to stand out when the Dolphins conduct their first of four joint practices this summer on Aug. 8 against the Chicago Bears. 

What is Weaver looking for from the young defensive lineman? 

“To trust their technique and fundamentals in their training,” Weaver said. “The thing that happens a lot, particularly with younger players, is when they get in that, the fire. And you're outside of your normal, where you're practicing against the same guy every day, is that they start to revert back to old habits.”

Clark believes the team will get to learn a lot about Grant and the interior defensive line during joint practices because of how little the defensive line is allowed to do in regular practice. 

“I think the biggest thing with linemen is that those are where you really get to see how we're doing,” Clark said. “Because when you don't have pads on, there's a lot of protecting the team and things you're working on. You don't really know if you're gonna finish a move and pass rush and stuff like that. Run game, our offensive line is protecting the team.”

Reading too much into how a rookie looks during the first few weeks of training camp and even during joint practices is a little silly. However, the Dolphins do need Grant to be a solid contributor this season. 

As mentioned above, Sieler can only do so much in the middle, and the team made Grant the centerpiece of its additions on the interior. Behind him are players like Benito Jones and fellow rookies Jordan Phillips and Zeek Biggers. 

Those players, and possibly others like Matt Dickerson, have some potential, but if Grant struggles this year, it’ll be an issue. 

So far, Weaver likes what Grant has shown, even if he still needs to work on some things. 

“Awesome, awesome,” Weaver said about Grant. “He's everything we thought he would be. I think his game particularly comes to light when the pads come on, right? And you've seen the impact he can have both in the middle of the pocket as a run defender and as a pass rusher.”