Fantasy Upside
As NFL.com recently noted, entering his fourth NFL season, the Jaguars indicated Grant would have a larger role after slapping him with a second-round restricted free-agent tender this offseason—as opposed to opting for a cheaper tender. The Jags' release of Chris Ivory, coupled with not adding a back in the draft signaled the franchise is happy with its depth chart. Remember, in the first half of the AFC championship game against New England, the former Auburn standout turned three short passes into 59 yards after his output from the Jaguars' offense had been three receptions for 41 yards and 28 carries for 134 yards during the 2017 regular season. It's no surprise that the team paid up and that they'd like to expand his role.
Fantasy Downsidehe problem with expanding his role is that Grant isn't well-suited to a handling it -- and he's a key special teams player. Grant played only 49 snaps during the regular season with the Jacksonville offense, but he had 253 plays on special teams. He totaled 248 rushing yards for 2017 because he had runs of 56 and 58 yards on punt fakes. The 56-yarder went for a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 12. Expecting consistent production seems like a reach.
2018 Bottom Line
Again, the splash plays have been exciting. But Grant currently sits behind Leonard Fournette and T.J. Yeldon on the depth chart. And while the speedster could cut into Yeldon's pass-catching snaps behind Fournette, that's about the extent of it. In fact, the team's fourth RB, Tim Cook has, recently shown a spark. Cook is a bruiser with a similar skill set to Fournette. So if there was an injury to Fournette, it wouldn't necessarily move Grant up in the rotation. Don't overspend.
