Assessing how Buccaneers’ Cyril Grayson has changed from an LSU track star to an accomplice to Tom Brady’s crime

Cyril Grayson is the most fascinating player in the Buccaneers. It is true. This is a deep wide receiver that is pushed to the field after injuries and the rejection of the in-game team that did not play college football.

He was a student at LSU but ran in Tigers only in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Zero clicks there on the football field. He wasn’t even part of the team because of NCAA’s scholarship restrictions. However, Grayson had a great career on the track as a seven-time All-American and four-time national champion. The guy can fly.

Grayson decided to focus on football after the track days ended and ran calmly at 4.33 LSU Pro Days in 2017. HELLO. His workout rightly tweeted on the school’s athletics account.

Of course, Seahawks, who admired athleticism, signed him up as an unspoken free agent. Grayson had only a short stint on the Seattle practice team and has since bounced around the league, stopping in Indianapolis, another in Seattle, Houston, Chicago, New Orleans, Dallas and currently in Tampa Bay.

He’s actually been on the Buccaneers list since 2019, and he got his first regular season in the same year, week 17. Given Tampa Bay’s remarkable talent and high-end receiver, it wasn’t a shame that Grayson didn’t show up. a viable option in 2020. In fact, Grayson’s ability to stay in the Buccaneers despite the presence of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson, Breshad Perriman, Justin Watson and Jaelon Darden is a testament. his raw abilities and how esteemed speed is in the NFL.

The training team’s invitation is fresh from the most productive race of his professional career, with six grabs and 81 yards against Jets in week 17, which included a game-winning touchdown in less than a minute. He also did 81 yards at three receptions against the Panthers the day after Christmas.

How in the world has Grayson risen out of the ambiguity outside of football and become a productive member in Tom Brady’s passing attack? Although Grayson is still raw, he has shown that he has learned some nuances about playing the receiver in the NFL.

I’ll start with the simple one. In this exterior shot against the Panthers (at the top of the screen), see Grayson immediately read the linebacker Shaq Thompson flowing towards the inside of the game. Grayson tried to continue Thompson’s pace toward the sideline by pushing in that direction before cutting back toward the center of the field.

Although Thompson eventually made the tackle, the juke toward the perimeter gave Grayson more room to collect yards in that game. It would have been very instinctive that the sprint would have simply hit the lane created by the blockers outside his two shoulders, but it would probably have led to the Buccaneers ’less successful game.

Also against Carolina, Grayson (at the top of the screen) intelligently sold a double move to a 62-yard win. If you hadn’t read this sentence and just watched the play below, let me know you didn’t think Grayson ran out of the classic route.

Great, right? Also, the fact that Grayson isn’t cruising to the finish line should be a reminder that all NFL corner defenders are fast. Very quickly. And damn it, the corner defender who faced him, rookie Keith Taylor, ran “only” 4.54 at Washington Pro Days in 2021.

I’ve spared the best of the last, the finest display of receiver complexity Grayson has demonstrated to date. It came to a 20-yard finish against Jets on Sunday. See how Grayson subtly faltered inwardly, as if he had broken the path arm towards the pole before accelerating to a blind spot on the corner – which is vital when driving routes.

The inside movement and presence at the defender’s blind spot provided him with plenty of room as he struck breaks so Brady hit him from the long throw hashark on the other side of the field. Grayson could actually wait for the ball to arrive.

Sure, the Jets, who played in the soft zone at the end of the game in the lead, also helped with this finish. But seeing Grayson’s nuanced route-running tactics shows that he’s realized that there’s a lot more to playing than a receiver in running a receiver.

Not surprisingly, Grayson is not highly polished. By size, he is unlikely to become a monster in controversial prey. But Grayson, who is on his sixth team in five seasons, has shown enough development as a recipient to become a betting star participant in a feed-in attack led by Brady.