How Everything Led to Grant Being the Dolphins Pick

Kenneth Grant's position and his ties to the Miami Dolphins defensive scheme made him the perfect first-round pick for the team

Miami Dolphins first-round pick Kenneth Grant with his family on Friday, April 25, 2025, in Miami Gardens. | Hal Habib / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins believe they got it right with Michigan’s Kenneth Grant at number 13 overall — even in a first round that saw five defensive tackles come off the board.

Miami entered the draft desperate for help at defensive tackle. Grant, a third-team Associated Press All-America last season, solves a roster need and is a sound fit in defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver’s scheme and its Baltimore Ravens roots. 

Current Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter managed the Michigan defense when Grant joined the Wolverines in 2022. After two years under Minter, who spent four years in Baltimore as a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach, Wink Martindale took over as Michigan’s DC last year for Grant’s junior season. 

Minter was on Martindale’s staff during his four-year stint as the Ravens' defensive coordinator. Additionally, Weaver was Baltimore’s defensive line coach and run game coordinator under Martindale in 2021. In other words, Grant’s college coaches share a strong connection to the same defensive philosophy that now awaits him in Miami.

“I fit in great,” Grant said Thursday night. “It’s a similar... kind of the same scheme as my previous school. Some things are a little bit different, but I think I can wreak havoc in the backfield, run, and pass game. 

“Draw attention so another teammate, now Zach Sieler, gets some sacks and I’ll still too.”

Miami GM Chris Grier made a point to mention that he was searching for Day 1-ready players in the draft. Adjusting from college to the NFL isn’t easy, but Grant’s time at Michigan should help navigate the transition when considering the history of his last three coaches. 

A Blueprint Built in Baltimore

Drawing parallels between prospects and pros is a draft-season tradition, but some carry more weight than others.

“When you watch (Grant) and think about Anthony Weaver as defensive coordinator, who played for the Baltimore Ravens with Haloti Ngata — he’s got his Haloti Ngata,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said.

Both stand 6-4, with Ngata weighing in at 340 pounds and Grant at 331. Ngata’s 13-year career, which included five All-Pro selections, should be considered a best-case scenario for Grant. However, keep in mind that Jeremiah’s comparison also comes from personal experience. 

Jeremiah, a draft analyst since 2012, was a West Coast scout when Baltimore picked Ngata number 12 overall in the 2006 NFL draft. A Pac-10 Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2005, Ngata made a name for himself as a consensus All-American in the Northwest at Oregon. 

Ngata, who’s in the Baltimore Ravens Ring of Honor, wasn’t necessarily known as a pass rusher, setting a career-high with 5.5 sacks in 2010. As a rookie, he started 16 games with 31 total tackles and two tackles for a loss. 

Sieler, the league’s only defensive tackle with double-digit sacks in back-to-back seasons, gives Miami a proven interior rusher. Grant joins the unit as a complementary force, capable of drawing double teams and clogging lanes.

Not only did the Dolphins have options at defensive tackle, but two Michigan defensive tackles went inside the top 15. Mason Graham went number 5 overall to the Cleveland Browns. 

“(The Cleveland defense is a) totally different style than I’ve been playing,” Graham said in his first press conference with the Cleveland Browns. “I’m used to playing blocks. Now, I’m getting more off the ball, attacking, causing more negative plays.”

The Browns went 3-14 last season and are loading up with future draft picks as they build towards the future. While Cleveland has time for Graham to get comfortable in a new system, Dolphins leadership is on the hot seat after failing to make the playoffs last season. 

The selection of Grant also meshed with something safety Jevon Holland said after leaving the Dolphins for the New York Giants in free agency, essentially that Miami wanted to build its defense around the big guys up front.

“When you look at the Ravens and how they are built, because it’s kinda their scheme, the front is where they make their bread,” Holland said on the Breakin’ House Rules podcast. “If the safeties and corners are good, it just makes the defense even better. I feel their thought process is to build from the bottom up.

“The scheme for the safeties is more an umbrella thought process. A keep-everything-in-front-of-you mindset — like staying deep.”

Grant checks all the boxes as a Day 1 contributor with the tools and pedigree to thrive in Miami’s system. For a Dolphins defense needing a boost, he’s the kind of player who can make an immediate impact, with the potential to grow into much more.

His connections to the defensive scheme only figures to help.