Miami Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes has faced a slew of top-shelf wideouts over the past season.
Demaryius Thomas, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Alshon Jeffery, Julio Jones, T.Y. Hilton, A.J. Green and Antonio Brown have all lined up against Miami's secondary, but Grimes says none of them pose as much trouble in coverage as Megatron.
"I would say Calvin Johnson because of size," Grimes said when asked to name the NFL's toughest receiver to defend, per ESPN.com's James Walker. "He's huge. He's like an NBA small forward playing NFL receiver, and he still has the ability to run routes. But there's a few of them that's really good. I like Julio a lot. But Calvin Johnson is just huge, and that combined with his athletic ability presents a lot of problems."
Grimes isn't exactly breaking news. Megatron's massive 6-foot-5, 239-pound frame is an unwelcome matchup for the league's smaller cover men. Consider that Johnson is roughly seven inches taller and 60 pounds heavier than Grimes, who hasn't forgotten what the wideout did to the Dolphins last November, frying Miami for 113 yards and a touchdown off seven grabs.
Johnson was nagged by injuries last season, but the report out of Lions camp is that he's back in business and dominating defenders. ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein noted that Megatron has shined this month, describing a play over the weekend where the big-bodied wideout beat "perfect coverage" by Darius Slay to adjust his body and make a leaping grab. Johnson has "been doing this almost daily," wrote Rothstein.
With Golden Tate beside him and Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate Ameer Abdullah emerging as a backfield thriller, Johnson and the Lions have a chance to do some special work in Detroit's "pick your poison" offense come September.
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