Jacksonville Jaguars running back Corey Grant and New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Devaroe Lawrence played together at Auburn during the 2014 season. After their NFL teams squared off in a preseason game on Aug. 9, the former teammates had an enthusiastic meeting on the field.

The Jacksonville Jaguars had a microphone on Grant for the game, so in addition to catching the thuds and grunts, the complexity of choices for the opening coin toss and the other sounds around the running back and special-teamer during the game, there's also a record of the Auburn alumni's postgame talk.

Lawrence, who spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve, expressed his desire to make the active roster this year, while Grant wished the defensive tackle good health through the remainder of the preseason.

Grant will be back in action on Saturday, when the Jaguars host the Atlanta Falcons at 6 p.m. CDT. WBRC, WPMI, WTVY (4.2), WSFA, WDFX and WAFF will televise the game in Alabama.

Grant became a restricted free agent in March, but stayed with Jacksonville, which put a second-round tender on him. That meant Jacksonville was willing to pay Grant $2.914 million for the 2018 season.

As a free agent, Grant could solicit offers from other NFL teams, but because he was of the restricted variety, Jacksonville would have had the opportunity to match any new deal, and because of the second-round tender, any team that signed Grant away from the Jaguars would have had to give Jacksonville a second-round draft choice.

Because Grant entered the NFL undrafted, the Jaguars could have used a right-of-first-refusal tender on him, calling for a salary of $1.9 million in 2018. That would have saved Jacksonville about $1 million, but it also would have cracked the door wider for Grant to leave the team. The second-round tender made it much more unlikely that another team would sign him.

Grant played only 49 snaps during the regular season with the Jacksonville offense, but he had 253 plays on special teams last season. He totaled 248 rushing yards for 2017 because he had runs of 56 and 58 yards on punt fakes. The 56-yarder went for a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 12.

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During his NFL career, Grant has run for 414 yards and three touchdowns on 68 carries and caught nine passes for 89 yards and one touchdown in 33 regular-season games.

Grant originally earned his spot on Jacksonville's roster in 2015 as the kickoff returner. Last season, he averaged 24.9 yards on kickoff returns, and during his career, he's returned 40 kickoffs for a 24.0-yard average.

Grant prepped at Opelika High School, where he won the 100-meter dash in 2008 and 2009 and the 200-meter dash in 2008 at the AHSAA Class 6A track and field outdoor championships. Before transferring to Auburn, Grant spent a redshirt season at Alabama in 2010.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.