Why Atlanta Falcons second-year safety Richie Grant will break out in 2022

Richie Grant was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 40th overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft. UCF coaches agree that his work ethic and athleticism are off the charts. Those things showed on the football field as he went from just a two-star recruit to a three-time first-time All-AAC selection. He racked up over 250 combined tackles, 10.5 of them for loss. He recorded five forced fumbles, 10 interceptions, and 16 more passes broken up over that stretch.

Despite that, he didn’t end up starting a single one of the 16 games he was available for in Atlanta. He played exactly a quarter of the total defensive snaps as a rookie, only surpassing 50% at three occasions.

Although his rookie season didn't quite go to plan, here are three reasons why Richie Grant will breakout in 2022.

#1- Richie Grant will build on his 2021 campaign

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In the limited action he did receive, he managed to collect 28 solo tackles, two of them for loss, and broke up two passes. He also forced and recovered a fumble. The Falcons defense finished between 26th and 29th in yards, first downs and points allowed.

Grant had one really bad performance in coverage when they faced the Dolphins. He allowed all five targets his way to be completed for 54 yards and a touchdown. If you take that out of the equation, going 13-of-21 for 138 yards and no touchdowns doesn’t look bad at all.

Even going through the Miami tape, he was charged with all of those completions for being the closest zone-defender, but not due to a missed assignment. 6’6” Mike Gesicki made an awesome high-point catch in the end-zone on a slot fade the one time those two were matched up.

Grant also played 320 special teams snaps as a rookie (75%) and really earned the trust of the coaching staff in that facet. He was great flying down the field in kick coverage and giving punt returners room up the middle.

The 2021 season didn't go exactly to plan, but he didn't play badly and will build with the experience.

#2- He has tremendous ability

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Looking at Richie Grant’s play in coverage, he does a nice job of mid-pointing route combinations. He reads the eyes of the quarterback well, particularly as a flat defender, where he can quickly arrive to disrupt the catch point.

He makes sure to funnel vertically stemmed routes towards the deep safety, before spinning around and sitting back down in his zone or off to the shallow target. You see him showcase physicality to significantly disrupt pass-catchers off the line. He then peels off as he wasn’t allowed to stay with guys in match principles. It will be interesting to see how much more he might be asked to stick to tight-ends in 2022.

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The few times they did match him up against bigger bodies, he was in a good position and was able to physically match them. Squeezing down runs from the slot, he has those quick hands and the ability to side-step blockers. All the while, he shuffles inside with square shoulders as he navigates through traffic and maintains his outside leverage.

He can also bench-press and slide off blocks from receivers in reduced splits. It’s when he initially moves the wrong way and still wants to get to the ball that he tends to get too aggressive. That's when he can lose his contain responsibility.

The two things that stood out about Grant in his college evaluation were how clean and fearless his game was at the same time. During 2,658 defensive snaps at UCF, Grant had just two penalties called against him. In general, he is a ferocious blitzer who attacks the line of scrimmage without hesitation. He doesn’t shy away from banging into bigger bodies, particularly coming off the slot and creating disruption in the backfield.

Grant’s missed tackle rate of 12.5 percent is higher than average, but he’s an outstanding all-round tackler for the position. Whether it’s shooting his hips and driving his legs through contact against bigger ball-carriers, or twisting down guys in open space to create key stops.

His defensive coordinator definitely appreciates that. Especially with how much pressure he typically puts on his secondary to cover with fewer numbers and still tackle reliably. The Falcons have a tendency to send extra bodies at the quarterback.

#3- He will play a lot more in 2022

Atlanta Falcons Training Camp

Looking at Atlanta’s splits for safeties, veteran Erik Harris and second-year player Jaylinn Hawkins combined for pretty much exactly 100 percent of the snaps. Duron Harmon not being there anymore opens up 92% at that second safety spot.

They did bring in Dean Marlowe this offseason, who accounted for 700 snaps in Detroit last season. But the fact is that the Detroit Lions decided to move on from him despite a safety group that was looking rather bleak. This should tell you that the NFL looks at him as more of a replacement-level starter. His coverage numbers would imply this too.

Harris was brought back for another year at just under 1.3 million dollars, but he feels like a designated third safety for them. They want to see Grant earn one of those jobs, rather than compete with Isaiah Oliver as their standard nickel. They would largely rotate Harmon into the deep middle or align him as a true single-high safety. This was a lot more than you'd expect from a Pees-coordinated unit.

Grant isn’t a crazy athlete, who you put in the high post and he’s going to erase everything between the numbers. But his IQ and awareness as a zone defender indicates that they may run more two-high safety coverages. They may drop Grant down to match tight-ends or act as a robber when they do run man.

It would be good to see him playing closer to the line of scrimmage, taking advantage of his physicality in run defense and as a blitzer. But equally to see him be able to diagnose plays from depth and flow to the football.

Pees said during an interview in April “I think we’ve got two good young safeties who are going to get their opportunity now, this year.” He was referring to Grant and Hawkins. The former of the two has said this offseason that he just feels a little more calm and is trying to nail the communication aspect.

Expect to see Grant as an impact starter in year two.

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