LIONS IMPORT THREE RUNNING BACKS
A talented but more humble Nic Grigsby is among three import backs added to squad
If judging a football player’s effectiveness involved only measurables, Nic Grigsby would be an All- Pro.
The former Arizona Wildcats running back wowed NFL scouts with his numbers on his school’s Pro Day last year — a 40- yard dash in 4.34 seconds, a vertical leap of 43.5 inches, a 225- pound bench press done 21 times, a fantastic performance in the three- cone drill, which had nothing to do with Grigsby’s ability to devour ice cream.
“I was killing it,” Grigsby said Thursday, after his signing was announced by the B. C. Lions. “I killed every running stat there was. My stats were better than the guys drafted ahead of me.”
The thing was, Grigsby wasn’t taken in the 2011 NFL draft, although he eventually signed with the Miami Dolphins as a free agent, moved on to the Oakland Raiders as a prospective defensive back, then ended up on the practice roster of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On Thursday, when the Lions announced his signing, along with two more import backs, Taylor Atwood and Anthony Stewart, Grigsby was motoring north from his off- season home in Tucson and preparing himself mentally for the CFL team’s rookie camp, which opens next Wednesday in Kamloops.
As a player so confident in his ability and press clippings that he was prepared to leave college for the NFL after his junior year, the past several months admittedly have humbled him, Grigsby admitted.
“I was supposed to be drafted in the third round,” he said. “The Dolphins signed me later, and I thought I was in a good position. But they got Reggie Bush off waivers, they drafted Daniel Thomas [ from Kansas State, second round] and picked up Steve Slaton [ on waivers from the Texans], and that pushed me further down the depth chart.”
He was released from the Dolphins practice roster in October and picked up by the Raiders two days later.
Though Grigsby hadn’t played defensive back since high school, he was asked to work out at safety, an experiment that ended quickly when Oakland needed a roster spot after picking up quarterback Carson Palmer.
Grigsby was released by the Raiders and cut for a third time in December, after he joined the Buccaneers. Unbeknownst to him, Grigsby has been on and off the Lions’ negotiation list for two years, and the CFL club hopes to turn his NFL misfortune into its gain.
“I’ve liked him ever since I saw him running up and down the field in the Pac- 10 [ now Pac- 12],” said Neil Mcevoy, the Lions’ player personnel coordinator. “We had Nic at our [ free agent] workout in Seattle [ May 12]. We knew he ran fast. What surprised us was his size.”
Grigsby is half an inch under six feet and weighs close to 200 pounds, which is the kind of measurable which might indicate durability. Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t the case.
Grigsby was injured in his junior year ( shoulder) at Arizona and again as a senior ( high ankle sprain), which represented a red flag to NFL teams, despite his eye- popping test scores.
As a sophomore, he ran for 1,153 yards and was put on Heisman Trophy watch. Grigsby rushed for just 1,100 yards in his final two seasons combined, however, because of his injuries. Even so, he finished his college career with 28 rushing touchdowns, the secondmost in Arizona history.
The Lions see him as a possible complement to starting tailback Andrew Harris, a nonimport who will be backed up by Stu Foord, another Canadian who signed with the Lions as free agent following four years with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
All- purpose yards leader Tim Brown will be Grigsby’s chief competition in training camp, though, as the Lions are planning to use him as a combination running back/ returner, even though Grigsby didn’t field kicks in college.
“I was our offence and ground game at Arizona and the coach [ Mike Stoops] didn’t want to risk getting me hurt,” Grigsby explained. “I couldn’t do punt and kick returns, so this will be something different. The money isn’t the same as in the NFL, but I’m not thinking about money at this point. I’m at the point where I need to get back to square one and show what I can do.”
Starting next week, practice and game tapes will be his most important measurables of all.