“With the thirteenth pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins select Kenneth Grant, defensive tackle, Michigan”. That is what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said as the Miami Dolphins made their first selection of the 2025 NFL draft, as we head into day two of this year’s draft. As always, I have three reasons why he is a fit and three reasons why he is not. So, let’s take a Deep End dive into Kenneth Grant and dissect this six foot three three hundred thirty pound behemoth.
He Should Pair Nicely With Zach Sieler
Kenneth Grant, as we all know, was a defensive tackle for one Stephen Ross’s Michigan Wolverines. So there is a connection between Michigan and the owner of the Dolphins. I’m not saying that is the reason they took him at thirteen last night at around 9:30 pm my time, where I am 8:30 pm central time, where all my fins fam are currently. What I will say is that he will pair nicely with Dolphins star defensive end Zach Sieler, especially in support of the run game. It is not just the pass rush that needs to be good for an elite defense, the run defense also needs to be up there with the pass rush from Chop Robinson and when healthy, the Astronaut that is Bradley Chubb, I am referring to as well as Jaelan Phillips.
Grant brings size to the defensive tackle position alongside Benito Jones, so you have those two with Sieler as well in a base 3-4 type of defense that the Dolphins run, though I am not Anthony Weaver in this situation in terms of making the play calls like I do in Madden. Grant also had thirty-two total tackles, five passes defended, and three sacks in his final season in Michigan in 2024. Based on this information, we will see how it translates to the NFL, as college football and the NFL are two different leagues. One is more fast-paced than the other, and the other is a faster and bigger league.
Brings Youth To The Position
This is something the Dolphins have desperately needed, especially after having a veteran like Calais Campbell last season. Don’t get me wrong, he played really well for us, despite being well into his thirties and on the verge of retirement after signing with the Arizona Cardinals. Going from a thirty eight year old soon to be thirty nine year old defensive tackle to a soon to be twenty two year old is insane. It proves how serious the Dolphins are about sustained success in this league, something I criticized Chris Grier on in my most recent article. That didn’t address the key needs of this team. This pick shows that he does indeed care about this team.
I might have turned 180 degrees on how I feel about him if he nails the 2025 draft. Youth and depth are something we desperately need to build a roster that this front office says can win not just now, but in the long term.
It is something Stephen Ross mentioned way back in December 2018. I highly recommend everyone watch Stephen Ross and Chris Grier’s 2018 press conference to get an understanding of this rebuild. I will get more in-depth with that in a future article all about Stephen Ross, so stay tuned. Anyway, a little off-topic there; that was just me using the press conference as an analogy. The key thing is that they went from one of the oldest teams in the league to one of the youngest, thanks to recent moves, including the addition of Kenneth Grant.
He is A Dawg With Potential
The Potential of Kenneth Grant is definitely there to do some great things for the Dolphins. He could very much make an impact on defense on third down when The Deep End gets into it every snap of the game, since they, like me, live and die by this team. Shout out to that section by the way. He can defend passes and create interior pressure when needed on all downs, based on the Michigan highlights I have seen. I am sure Anthony Weaver is very excited to have him on his base 3-4 defense that he runs. In fact, in a recent press conference between Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier, some teams below the Dolphins were not happy that the Dolphins took him at thirteen. That says something about Kenneth Grant that hopefully pays off for the Dolphins in the future.
What Does This Tell Us About Kenneth Grant
So this was a short one, but bear with me. Kenneth Grant is a nice addition to this team and should fit in as I addressed today nicely with Zach Sieler, brings youth to the defensive tackle position, and could be a dawg on defense, especially if he fits in to our base 3-4 scheme that Anthony Weaver runs. We established that he would be good at run defense and supporting Chop Robinson, Bradley Chubb, and Jaelan Phillips in terms of the pass rush. He brings youth to the position, especially after the departure of Calais Campbell in the offseason. Lastly in my opinion at least, he is a dawg on defense and has the potential to be an amazing player. Kenneth Grant has all the qualities to be an elite player in this league. We will just have to see how everything plays out, because remember, he is just a rookie at the end of the day.
