The Miami Dolphins just got a lot tougher in the middle of the defense.
The Dolphins made the first of their eight picks Thursday night, selecting Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant at 13 overall. Grant, a 6-3, 339-pound interior defender, will fill a massive need on Miami’s roster in Year 1.
Before selecting Grant, the Dolphins had just Zach Sieler and Benito Jones as primary snap takers at defensive tackle. Although Grant should be penciled in as a starter, how much can he help the Dolphins?
We continue our draft film review series of in-depth breakdowns for the Dolphins’ top picks in the 2025 NFL draft. We examine each prospect's strengths, weaknesses, and fit with the Dolphins.
Let’s dive into Kenneth Grant’s skill set.
Grant is built like a nose tackle, and at his massive size, defending the run has to be one of his best traits. Thankfully, Grant more than lives up to his billing when defending the run on tape.
He’s great at holding the point of attack and has shown consistent growth in his ability to disengage and make tackles near the line. This play against Ohio State is an excellent example of the stack, peek, and shed technique that defensive tackles must have to succeed in Miami’s scheme.
Grant does a great job of locating his hands off the snap, extending his arms, peeking into the backfield, and then finding the running back to make the stop.
This is the basics of run defense, but it’s an important box for Grant to check. What makes him extra appealing is some of the more high-difficulty plays he can make at his size.
Grant is wildly athletic for his size, allowing him to make impact plays against the run even when teams aren’t running right down the middle. This rep against Indiana is a good example, as Grant wins his block, gets to the outside, and blows up the entire play near the sideline.
Players built like Grant don’t blow up plays near the sideline like this. It’s odd to talk about a defensive tackle’s “range,” as it’s usually reserved for discussing safeties.
However, it’s important to note just how impactful Grant can be besides just stuffing up the middle of the defensive line.
The other appealing part of Grant’s athletic ability against the run is his ability to get into the backfield and blow up plays before they get started. He has some wildly impressive tackles for loss where he swim-moves an opposing lineman to the ground right off the snap and gets into the backfield.
That said, this play against Illinois jumped out as one of the more impressive ones on Grant’s tape. He’s lined up at nose tackle and is so quick to jump into the gap that he makes contact with the tight end coming across the formation to make a block.
Grant got into the backfield so quickly that he forced the tight end to tackle his own running back for a 2-yard loss.
Now, Grant is not a perfect run defender just yet. The main improvements he’ll need to make come when he’s taking on double teams. Grant is OK at absorbing those without getting blown off the ball, but he can struggle with his pad level occasionally.
He’s on the taller side for an interior defensive lineman, so he does tend to pop straight up out of his stance. This allows linemen to get into his chest and drive him off the ball.
Grant will likely always battle this in the NFL, but this issue doesn’t plague his film. It’s just something that pops up occasionally.
Grant’s Pass Rushing
Grant’s run-defending skills are a pretty straightforward evaluation. However, things are a little more complicated when it comes to evaluating his pass-rush profile.
For any defensive linemen to be worth a top 15 selection, they have to contribute against the pass in some way. Whether you want to look at pressures, pass-rush win rate, or sacks, that player needs to be consistently disruptive in some way.
Grant isn’t quite that player, yet. His pass-rush plan is mostly collapsing the pocket’s integrity with a bull rush or winning a free run with his first-step quickness or a swim move. He doesn’t have much length, and he’s not working his hands to free himself or counter what offensive linemen are doing.
That’s not exactly the profile you want in a top-15 defensive lineman, and it’s a big reason why teams don’t value nose tackle overly highly.
However, it would be a disservice to Grant to call him just a typical nose tackle. He’s a player with a robust upside when it comes to rushing the passer. He has rare speed and quickness for his size, which could allow him to become one of the few high-impact nose tackles.
Grant’s 9.4 pass-rush win rate is a solid overall number, especially considering he was not asked to get after the passer in Michigan’s defense. Many of those wins look like this one against Ohio State.
Grant’s quickness and size make him incredibly difficult to handle, as you have to respect his strength while also guarding his speed.
Again, Grant needs some development. He doesn’t always work his hands well and can struggle with consistency. But he’s a player with elite tools to work with and develop.
Grant was our third favorite player for the Dolphins heading into the draft (if we knew the extent of Will Johnson’s knee injury), and others on the site had him as the Dolphins’ top option.
Most of the detractors of the Grant pick fall into two camps. The first is that Grant’s pass-rush profile isn’t good enough for where the Dolphins selected him, and the second is that Miami would have been better off waiting to select a defensive tackle.
We addressed the former above, as it’s one thing to say Grant’s pass-rush profile needs work, but it’s completely disingenuous to act like he doesn’t have the tools to develop that part of his game.
The latter complaint is a lot fairer. This was an incredibly deep defensive tackle class, and it was fair to argue that Miami’s need at cornerback should have trumped its need at defensive tackle.
However, it’s not like the cornerbacks flew off the board in Round 1. If you exclude Travis Hunter, just two (Jahdae Barron and Maxwell Hairston) came off the board and the Dolphins still had a few good options at cornerback in Round 2.
While positional value matters, it doesn’t change who Grant is as a player.
He’s an excellent scheme fit for the Dolphins and complements Zach Sieler incredibly well. One of the prevailing narratives about Miami was that it was “soft” last season, and Grant certainly helps more in that area than any cornerback would.
How you feel about this pick likely comes down to how much you believe in Grant’s upside. If you’re under the impression that he’s “just a nose tackle,” then this is a huge reach. If you believe in his flashes of pass-rush ability, then this pick makes a lot of sense.
We happen to fall into the latter camp.
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