Deon D'Marquis Grant (born March 14, 1979) is an American former professional football player who was a safety for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers football, was a member of Tennessee's national championship team and earned All-American honors. He was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the second round of the 2000 NFL draft, and also played professionally for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks and New York Giants of the NFL. He won a Super Bowl ring with the Giants against the New England Patriots.
 Grant in 2012 | |||||||||||||
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| Position: | Safety | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | March 14, 1979 Augusta, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 215 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Josey (Augusta) | ||||||||||||
| College: | Tennessee | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2000 / round: 2 / pick: 57 | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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College career
editGrant attended the University of Tennessee, and played for the Tennessee Volunteers football team from 1997 to 1999.[1] He was selected as a consensus first-team All-American in 1999 after he tied for the NCAA lead with nine interceptions for 167 return yards. He finished the 1999 season with 69 tackles and eight pass breakups.[2] He had two picks in three different games and earned SEC Defensive Player of the week after intercepting three passes versus Auburn. His leaping interception in UT's overtime win over Florida in 1998 was a crucial play in the Vols' march to the BCS National Championship.[3][4] Grant left Tennessee and declared for the NFL Draft following his junior year.
Professional career
editCarolina Panthers
editGrant was drafted in the second round of the 2000 NFL draft with the 57th overall pick by the Carolina Panthers.[5] A left hip fracture cost Grant the 2000 season.[6] In the 2001 season, he had one sack, 71 total tackles, five interceptions, and 13 passes defended.[7] He was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 3 of the 2002 season.[8] In the game, he had three interceptions against the Minnesota Vikings.[9]
Jacksonville Jaguars
editAfter playing for four seasons with the Panthers, Grant was sent to the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he played for three seasons.[10]
Seattle Seahawks
editGrant was picked up in free agency by the Seattle Seahawks in 2007. He was cut March 15, 2010, mostly because of his large contract.[11] He finished his tenure in Seattle with 224 tackles, eight interceptions, and one fumble recovery.
New York Giants
editGrant signed with the New York Giants on April 1, 2010.[12] After one season with the Giants, he became an unrestricted free agent, however he re-signed with the Giants on August 16, 2011, to a one-year, $4 million contract.[13] He won a Super Bowl ring in Super Bowl XLVI.[14] Following the season, he became an unrestricted free agent.
On August 7, 2013, Grant retired as a member of the New York Giants.[15][16]
NFL statistics
editRegular season
edit| Year | Team | GP | Tackles | Fumbles | Interceptions | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comb | Solo | Ast | Sack | FF | FR | Yds | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | PD | |||
| 2001 | CAR | 16 | 71 | 59 | 12 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 96 | 19.2 | 43 | 0 | 13 |
| 2002 | CAR | 16 | 67 | 53 | 14 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 5.3 | 10 | 0 | 16 |
| 2003 | CAR | 16 | 77 | 65 | 12 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 25 | 8.3 | 25 | 0 | 12 |
| 2004 | JAX | 16 | 65 | 50 | 15 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| 2005 | JAX | 16 | 66 | 55 | 11 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 9.7 | 29 | 0 | 10 |
| 2006 | JAX | 16 | 60 | 53 | 7 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 12.5 | 24 | 0 | 7 |
| 2007 | SEA | 16 | 77 | 65 | 12 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 34 | 0 | 10 |
| 2008 | SEA | 16 | 79 | 62 | 17 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 31 | 15.5 | 31 | 0 | 8 |
| 2009 | SEA | 16 | 78 | 60 | 18 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2.3 | 7 | 0 | 8 |
| 2010 | NYG | 16 | 72 | 56 | 16 | 1.0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 2011 | NYG | 16 | 64 | 45 | 19 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Career | 146 | 776 | 623 | 153 | 6.5 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 30 | 267 | 8.9 | 43 | 0 | 108 | |
Postseason
edit| Year | Team | GP | Tackles | Fumbles | Interceptions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comb | Solo | Ast | Sack | FF | FR | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | PD | |||
| 2003 | CAR | 4 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 | 4 |
| 2005 | JAX | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | SEA | 2 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2011 | NYG | 4 | 19 | 17 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Career | 11 | 52 | 43 | 9 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 16 | 0 | 9 | |
References
edit- ^ Calhoun, Caleb (October 4, 2016). "Tennessee Football: Former Vols Safety Deon Grant Named to 2016 SEC Legends Class". All for Tennessee. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ Fleser, Dan (May 5, 2017). "Former Vol Deon Grant bonds with Butch Jones". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ Aschoff, Edward (October 2, 2014). "Gators-Vols reduced to peripheral game". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ "Deon Grant - Football". University of Tennessee Athletics. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ "2000 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ^ "Panthers lose Grant for the year". Hendersonville Times-News. July 27, 2000. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ "Deon Grant 2001 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ "2002 NFL Week 3 Leaders & Scores". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ Campbell, Dave (September 21, 2002). "Panthers Beat Slumping Vikings 21-14". The Edwardsville Intelligencer. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ "Grant joins Jaguars". Jaguars.com. March 11, 2004. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ Fentress, Aaron (March 16, 2010). "Seattle Seahawks release safety Deon Grant, re-sign defensive end Darryl Tapp; sign two free agents". OregonLive.com. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ Mosley, Matt (April 1, 2010). "Giants sign safety Deon Grant". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ Tanier, Mike (August 16, 2011). "Giants Re-Sign Grant for Depth at Safety". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
- ^ "Super Bowl XLVI – New York Giants vs. New England Patriots – February 5th, 2012". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
- ^ Hanzus, Dan (August 7, 2013). "Deon Grant retires after 12 NFL seasons on four teams". NFL.com. Archived from the original on August 9, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
- ^ Eisen, Michael (August 7, 2013). "Deon Grant retires as a Giant". Giants.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2013.