The Jaguars sign Jakeem Grant before the game in week 10 vs the Houston Texans. Grant the 5'6 165 pound WR was drafted 168th in the NFL 2016 draft by the Miami Dolphins. There was one reason he was drafted so late too. Size. He is regarded as "undersized" in the NFL. Grant is on a mission to not let his size deter him. If Grant was around 5'11 he would've been a first round draft pick. This guy has the speed, hands, and quick feet you want in a receiver. Excelling at WR and KR, when he gets into open space, there is almost no stopping him. There have been many big name WR to come out of Texas Tech, Michael Crabtree, Danny Amendola, Wes Welker, and now add Jakeem Grant to that list. He finished atop all of those names and leads Texas Tech in receiving yards all time.He finishes his 4 year career with 287 plays, 3,485 yards, and 29 TD from scrimmage to go along with 87 kick returns, 2,169 yards, and 4 TD. Here is just a little peek at what he can do.
On the Dolphins roster to start the preseason. He must not have impressed the Dolphins organization. That, or they underestimated him. He was released in week 4 of the preseason of 2016. His next stop in his rookie NFL career was the Cincinnati Bengals. They had signed him to their practice squad. He made some good strides in the Bengals organization, but never got signed to the roster. After week 9, owner of the Jaguars, Chris Bigtex, reached out to Grant and signed them to their roster. While the Jaguars have a decent offensive unit, they had been blown out 2 weeks straight, and were looking for something to give them that spark. Bigtex knew just the guy. Jakeem Grant. The Jaguars offensive lacked that explosiveness that Grant brings. Grant went to school just down the street from where Chris Bigtex resides, Joe Horn High School in Mesquite, TX. Being a local football fan, Chris was well aware of this special player since the beginning. Once he got to Texas Tech he just exploded onto the scene. Bigtex has always been a fan of this guy and finally gave him a chance. Jaguars released young WR Rashad Lawrence to make a roster spot for him.
He only had one practice before the game vs Houston, but performed just like Bigtex thought he would. They needed to quickly gameplan to try and get him a few touches in a gametime situation to see what he could do under pressure. The result was like nothing anybody expected..... He ended the game with 4 catches 89 yards and 2 TD and 1 rush for 5 yards, and the 2 TD came late in the game. He also had one kick return for 34 yards and is now the talk of all the sports analysts. Hurns was knocked out of the game in the 2nd half and the Jaguars needed somebody to step up. The Jaguars have had trouble all year getting the ball to the deeper WR's on the roster, Lee, Greene, and Lawrence. More of the same was happening in this game. With everyone dropping the ball all over the place, Grant got his chance. Down 13-3 on a third down, Grant got a step on his man, and caught a perfectly thrown ball right into double coverage for the touchdown!
Down 18-13 late in the 4th quarter, the Jaguars defense would get the ball back with about 30 seconds left and no timeouts. They started possession on their own 40 yard line. They ran an out pass to TE Marcedes Lewis and he got out of bounds, but the officials did not stop the clock. With 13 seconds left they call a no huddle and get back to the line and throw a last second chuck to the endzone, and Grant would catch the last second bomb to score the game winning touchdown with :02 left in the game!! The place went crazy. He was mobbed in the endzone and then again when he got back to the sideline. What was most impressive is, both of those were over the outstanding CB Johnathon Joseph.
With the first game behind him and still making great strides in practice, I'm sure Bigtex will find a spot in this offense for him more regularly. Only time will tell if this kid will pan out, but he has given this team and this fan base a spark and something to believe in! He joins a crew of amazing rookie talent to begin with and should be a good asset to the team as this team grows up and starts playing to their potential! Here's a quick highlight of Grant's first week with the Jaguars.
After his first game in the NFL, which was a breakout one, reality sets in for this young WR and team. Early in the first quarter vs the Lions on Sunday Jakeem Grant found his way onto the field and caught a short drag pass for 4 yards. After the tackle was made, Grant stayed down on the field. Once the medical staff examined him and got him up, he was able to walk off the field. It was a good sign at first, but after further examination it was shown that he had a shoulder tear. Grant will miss probably 3 games. The Jags went on to win the game with ease 27-14. It was stated in the Power Rankings thread that if the Jags are going to rely on "no name rookies" then they could be in trouble. This game showed that we do not need to rely on this no name rookie and that we have the tools to get the job done. While we will miss the explosiveness Grant brings, we are going to let him sit out the next 3 weeks and fully heal to get his quick feet back heading into the playoffs!
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