Prior to the the month of April, Jeff Ireland and his staff looked out and beyond for a difference maker on defense. After already signing Dannell Ellerbe and Philip Wheeler early during free-agency, Ireland searched high and low for his replacement of losing Sean Smith and finding a crafty, but talented veteran. Enter Brent Grimes, open, willing, and available to sign anytime. Once the Dolphins had established exactly what they would do in the 2013 draft, they realized they needed to find the best play making cornerback that was available to make the Dolphins better versus the pass after finishing 27th on defense a year ago.
However, there was just one problem, not only would Grimes cost the Dolphins 5 million dollars, he was hobbled by a torn achilles injury from the 2012 season as an Atlanta Falcon and carried some red flags because of his injury.
Despite the injury, the Dolphins paid up and found themselves an aggressive lock down corner type of player with quickness in his back pedal, great hands, and ability to read the quarterbacks eyes. Grimes, for the Dolphins would be quite an acquisition provided he was healthy.
Entering training camp, much of the interest was seeing Dolphins corner back Richard Marshall back on the field after a back injury kept him off of it. Fans wanted to see Marshall be the player he was brought in to be. However, Grimes continued to impress as he looked not only healthy from his injury, but even had a bounce and an incredible vertical jump in his step.
Not only has Grimes been productive over the course of training camp and the pre-season, given a choice, the coaches selected Grimes as a starter and therefore asking Ireland to castaway incumbent Richard Marshall late in the pre-season, who should have won the job. Grimes, has been the one constant thus far in this 2-0 season as he has been both healthy and productive.
Grimes not only makes plays on the ball in pass deflections, but he sealed the Dolphins second consecutive road victory with a drive-killing interception of Andrew Luck who went for six, but Grimes got position and undercut a waiting Reggie Wayne for a beautiful pick falling into the end zone for a touchback. This interception was the defining play this week and Grimes appears to be chomping at the bit to make more plays against his former Falcons teammates. Teammates that not only supported him in his career, but also helped him make the Pro Bowl with a 5 interception and 87 tackle season in 2010.
As the season plays out, questions will remain about Grimes' status for 2014 and beyond, but do know this, if Grimes has a comeback year of sorts, expect him to make the big bucks for any team in the NFL or maybe even the Dolphins.
For the 5'10 corner from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania as an un-drafted free agent, Grimes will be happy, healthy, and ready to show those Dirty Birds from Atlanta on Sunday why they shouldn't have let him go.
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