Exclusive Interview with Jakeem Grant | Cleveland Browns

very happy now to be joined by the newest member of the browns pro bowl returner wide receiver jakeem grant let's just start there pro bowl returner when you found out last year that you were going to the pro bowl i'm sure that's one of the things when you think about you i'm going to play the game man i'd love to be in a pro bowl someday what was that like um it was man it worse can't explain it it was very exciting especially with being not making it the year before and i was all probably the year before and i was like i mean what else do i need to do to make it to the pro bowl and so when they nato when coach snaggy told me i was like oh my god like man this is like a dream come true and so um when i got there i was like and then they told me hey you're not going to be catching punch in the pro i was like okay so now what what what do i do now but oh man because it was it was a dream come true i feel it was amazing especially with just being there in that atmosphere and knowing that you have fans outside of just the chicago bears fans and everybody that look up to you i was man it was it was a great feeling by the way all pros nothing to yeah so yeah that's a pretty good thing as well so you decided hey i'm going to bring my skills to the cleveland browns so browns why did you how did this kind of process come together um cleveland were very aggressive and i've been looking at them for the longest and they needed a returner and i was just like especially at especially with receivers too um i was just like no better fit and also it it was just an easy option and so um i love the coaches you know ceos here uh chattel shay i had him in miami i had a great relationship with him so that was another reason why i came and i was just like man why not you know and i heard about just the people in the room and just how what they're about and i was just like man that's what i'm about too and so man check out every check check box on my list so i was just i'm a brown now but we love that because it's easy when you go when you watch your house you're an electric factory i don't know if they've hit you with the stats so the last browns punt return touchdown was 2015. the last browns kick return touchdown was 2009 the great josh cripps so it has been a while and i was looking you have six return touchdowns on your resume you've got to you've had either a kick or a punt four straight years right how do you do it man they've changed the rules you're not supposed to be able to do this i mean if they kick it to me they're going to pay that's uh that's i don't that's my whole thing it's like it's either you kick it out of bounds or i'm going to the crib and so um definitely going to change that this year um i'm not banking on just getting one i'm banking on getting multiple so i mean they know that they know if they kick it to me they they've seen the tape they've seen everything i'm not a fair catch guy so just letting them know now i don't fear catch and so do what you want to do with that information i love it i love it what's your favorite of all their turn touchdowns you have one that stands out um i'll probably say the one against green bay because everybody expects like a returner to just let it go bouncing the end zone and warfare catch it and i caught the ball on the three and i'm like man no no returners is is doing that you know besides what devin hester david harris but i'm pretty sure correctly if i'm wrong you used that one 97 yards set the franchise record for the longest permanent return touchdown with the bears who had devin hester who is likely to be in the hall of fame is arguably the greatest returner of all time so that's pretty cool too absolutely and then i didn't even know that he did not do that like i was that was the longest one and so i'm like i'm like nobody is doing that so if you could go back and even against the raiders to get the uh the prunner punted like five yards in the end zone i'll bring it out anyways and i told him i'm like i'm not trying to be just that average returner like i want to be the one that's remember i want to be you know don't the next one to take you know devin hester's story and i have a far mountain to climb and so and that's my goal is to you know pass him up and he's a great person to look up to and so you know that's that's my whole mentality so walk us through kind of the process so the ball gets kicked you have an idea of like what return has been called or set up what's kind of your checklist what are you going through what are you looking at when the ball's in the air okay so first thing i check is the gunners release and see if you know my teammates and jammers got them matched up because they're usually typically the first ones to get down there and so i already took a uh a peep at the fireball i'm getting to the spot and all i'm doing is i already i already checked them out and so that gives me the indicator if i'm going to fair catch it or not which most likely i'm going to catch you no matter what no matter what but um he has to be like basically standing right next to me if i'm not going to fair catch so um after that i'm i'm just like okay if it's a left return right return or middle return i'm catching the ball and just setting it up and trusting that my teammates are having it on and just letting the athletic ability take place and so once they kick it to me i'm like it's basically backyard football if anybody think about it it's backyard football easily has there been one where you knew before you caught it you were taking it to the house and i'm sure you have the mindset i'm going to take steps but was there one that where you just kind of saw the way things were setting up where you're like all right yes um actually the one back in 20 uh against the rams and uh it was just uh it was just set up too perfect it was perfect and it was a right return to the sideline and no i seen the whole cavalry of my teammates just blocking or set up on the right side i've seen like the basically you call it the great wall of china yeah and so just seeing that right there and i and i i was untouched and i was just saying that's just yeah and i was like i took my hat off to them because that was just nothing but black and all i did was run and so i was like anybody could have done it so man it was just it was unbelievable all right so we said six return touchdowns obviously that's your passion all pro pro bowler you also can do quite a bit in the offense you have a rushing touchdown you've got a bunch of receiving touchdowns had two of them last year what do you like better do you like scoring as a runner a returner or as a receiver or do not care just get me honestly i do not care um i would say like the off like the punt returns are more electrifying because it gives you know the crowd goes crazy especially because it's like less likely to happen sure in the game anybody can you know go and score you know catching touchdown and things of that nature but everybody was like okay a punt return or kickoff return to the house is it's electrifying it also sucks like the momentum out of any team because that's a change in that's the instant change of you know possession and they're like man like special teams could easily win you a game and so that's what i'm all about yeah that's all exactly so i'm me with being an opponent turner and also like a receiver i'm trying to take over the whole game on every aspect so they're like man we can't stop him on offense and we sure can't kick him the ball so i mean only way i wouldn't have no choice but to you know just contain him our best ability and so that's my mentality just being a partner turner and a and a receiver is just taking over a whole game i notice you're holding the ball on your left yeah you got a chance to talk with our special teams coordinator mike mike that's what he said get that ball in your left hand yeah here you are and he's he's been telling me hey walk around all day today with the ball on your left hand because that on my notes when i told you when i when i i was excited to have you here and i was like coach i'm glad to be here it's like but one thing that i want to talk about is you can't why do you carry the ball in the right hand and i told him i was like it's it's because i feel like i'm running slow that's the only reason why i do it because i'm not used to carrying in the left hand sure and it automatically is like without even thinking it goes to my right hand and so um he was just like i'm going to continue to harp on you having it in your left hand and there's so many things or extra yards that you could have gotten if you would have had the ball in your left hand and i was like i haven't even thought about that but i that's why you take coaching i'm a player he's a coach and he can see that and so you see me doing it now having a ball in the left hand it doesn't go from great there's always room to improve right there's always always proof oh i love that and you mentioned chad o'shea when you were together in miami and he's been here i'm a huge fan of his i think he's been great for this organization what was that relationship like and how nice is it to have kind of a familiar face in the building oh it's great you know um fortunately i only know baker and and juice and and rashad here against hollywood and so um fortunately and um rashad are gone but with seeing coach o'shea i i didn't even realize he was you know the receiver's coach and so and i was like what are the odds of coordinating yeah officer coordinator yeah and so i was like what are the odds of us being back in the same building and it's just great because we had a great relationship in miami and so it just i mean the future is going to be great that's all i can say i love it you have a great kind of way about you i can feel your energy very fast just smile all the time yeah is this something that you ever dreamed of when you know you got into the game and you know you said all right i'm going the nfl i'm going to be more of a return guy now all pro pro bowler signed a very nice contract congratulations on that for you and your family by the way but is this kind of like is it kind of wild to take it all in um yeah but see the thing is honestly people did not know that um i never did punt return or anything before i got to the nfl like i never caught a punt i couldn't catch a point i didn't even have trust in my own teammates to like you have to be have a little bit of insanity to catch punch yeah because your head is almost at a 90 degree and you're saying i trust this person to make sure i don't get blown up yeah and even going up and fair catching it in between traffic just for field position like is insane it's just insane and especially like with me i would take a hit before i like catch a fair catch sure and so um i all i did was like i was a receiver before anything before i even did special things and so i was just like you know with being my size i want to add more to my game than the taller receivers i want them to know that like i'm i can be a returner and i can take over on the special team games and on offense and so i was just like you know what i'm add that that niche to it i remember coming into the lead and catching my first punt with darren rizzy as my special teams coach and it was a preseason game against the giants and he kicks me the ball i absolutely let it bounce i was like in my head i'm like i'm not catching that and then coach rizzi is on the sideline red as can be it was like why you didn't catch the ball i said coach i was scared i'm not going out to you i was scared he was like listen you're good just catch the ball and just be you and so i called it and took it four yards and then the rest is history and after that i've just been just trying to perfect my craft and trying to just be the best one at the best one at it when did you know though okay i'm good at this um i would say 2018 um it's probably i would say probably what was my kind of like my best year at returns and i was like killing it leading the lead and i was just like man i probably actually got a knack for it and i was just tearing it up like that was the year i scored like on a kickoff return and a punt return and so i was just like man wow like i never thought i would be good at punt return ever yeah and i was just like when i started to get good i was like man and that's why the previously told you the reference is backyard football and i was like that's all it is is catch the ball and try not to get topped yeah that's right exactly where you're getting in the end yeah whatever happens first well jim is gonna be a lot of fun and certainly we're excited to have you here and i'm sure you've gotten a sense brown's fans very passionate about their football team and you're going to have this place rocking man you take my white house it is going to be bonkers oh yeah the first energy so i'm looking for that so welcome to the browns and congrats yeah i appreciate it you

Channel: Cleveland Browns

Views: 16,795

Keywords: Cleveland Browns, NFL, browns

Id: ihYMJnZ9TGM

Length: 12min 27sec (747 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 08 2022