Pick #5: Rams take Greg Gaines at 134

Greg Gaines

NFL Comparison
David Parry

Prospect Info
College
Washington
Hometown
La Habra, CA
Class
Senior
Height
6′ 1″
Weight
312 lbs
Arms
31 1/4”
Hands
9 5/8”

Player Bio

Gaines’ stout build and hustle have earned him all-conference honors after each season since his redshirt year in 2014. The All-State and All-Orange County selection from La Habra, California started six of 13 games played in 2015, receiving honorable mention notice from Pac-12 coaches (28 tackles, one for loss). He was an honorable mention choice again as a sophomore, making 35 stops, eight for loss, and 3.5 sacks as a 14-game starter that year. Gaines plowed through the line for 30 tackles, five for loss, 2.5 sacks, and three pass breakups in 13 starts as a junior, achieving second-team all-conference status. He was a first-team pick in 2018 as he started 14 contests and racked up career highs in tackles (55), tackles for loss (6.5) and sacks (3.5) while also intercepting a pass.

Overview

Stubby, high-motor interior defender whose tape can fluctuate from play to play. Gaines is a short-arm defender with average hand usage but can time up the snap often enough to create early advantages from time to time. He plays with a strong anchor in general, but his proclivity for ending up on the ground will not endear him to defensive line coaches. His effort and strength make him a Day 3 rotational 4-3 nose.

Strengths

Has ability to set a strong anchor against single blocks
Willing and able to snack on double teams
Good motor and effort guy
Stands ground and constricts gap when feet are set
Impressive ability to slide off of block and into tackle
Quick punch and peek technique to find ball early on
Shoots out of stance with good pad level
Attacks the crease of double teams with force and looks to split it
Creates pressures with bull-rush and secondary effort

Weaknesses

Will lose his footing and end up on the ground way too often
Stubby arms at just over 31 inches
Unable to consistently separate from blocks due to lack of length
Needs to win in early phase of the rep or he gets overtaken
Lacks traits and toolbox as pass rusher
Needs to develop a rush counter when bull-rush stalls
Battle for hand placement could be a struggle in NFL
Unable to punch and slide to maintain his fit against zone
Below average change of direction

Sources Tell Us

“He’s built like a bouncer but he gives you an honest day’s work every time he steps out on the field.” – NFC West coast scout

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by JackPMiller.

typed up by PARAM

Greg Gaines (#16 PFW) Senior

Arkush, Pro Football Weekly Draft Guide 2019 (Page 66).

Pro Football Weekly. Kindle Edition

STRONG POINTS • Three-and-a-halfyear starter. Very competitive and productive. Instinctive — finds the ball. Tries to play a physical game. Solid run defender, who plays strong at the point of attack, sheds and gets to the play. Pressure generator as a pass rusher. Very good tackler. Quick hands and knows how to use them. Team leader.

WEAK POINTS • Short with short arms. Only average pass-rush production. Tenyard quickness but lacks long speed. Appears to lack scheme versatility. Devoid of good NFL pass-rush traits.

WAY WE SEE IT • Gaines is reminiscent of a poor man’s Kyle Williams, the longtime Bills defensive tackle who just retired. Gaines is short with short arms but strong, thick and possessing an allout motor. He makes plays because of his instincts and competitive nature, not his natural physical traits. He’s at his best as a run defender because he locates the ball, discards blocks quickly and keeps himself in position to make plays. Gaines flashes pass-rush ability mainly because he’s relentless. He is an undersized 4-3 nose who will be best in an NFL rotation, where he can contribute solidly on 10-15 snaps a game.

18. (Draftscout) Greg Gaines DT Washington 6’1 307 lbs

Strengths: Gaines is a powerfully-built man who shows incredibly thick and compact limbs. Gets a good jump off the snap of the ball with good ball anticipation and timing. Shows good ball awareness, quickly finding and locating the football and working towards it. Quick to notice things, Gaines shows good anticipatory and play recognition ability to sniff out misdirection and screens. An absolute load to have to handle in the run game, showing tremendous power in his upper-body to quickly offset and move powerful blockers. Eats up double teams, showing the power and the anchor to sustain combination blocks. Utilizes his club arm to engage and his other arm to slow down runners. Possesses the finishing ability in his upper-body to consistently bring down and tackle. Plays with good leverage, keeping his pad level low to stay balanced upon contact.

Weaknesses: Tore his pec muscle during the offseason after his sophomore season. Very minimal pass rushing upside and lacks the quickness and the closing ability to win with anything other than hustle. A marginal athlete who lacks the change of direction skills necessary to redirect his large frame. Strictly a 2-down player. Gets turned around far too often, playing with his back towards the ball as the play goes directly past him. Despite his power, he doesn’t seem to be able to convert speed-to-power and get any push or movement with his bull rush. Appears to have minimal length with a stubby build.

Best Fit: 0-tech NT in either scheme Player Ranking (1-100): 71.9 – A powerful guy who had a really good season replacing Vita Vea for the Huskies. Not a guy who is going to offer any upside as a pass rusher, but possesses tremendous power and strength to assist in the run game, or at the very least open it for his teammates. A 4th round player.

Ric Serritella Draft Bible

GREGGAINES|WASHINGTON|#99|SR|LaHabra,CA|6010|312|SRBOWL|5th RD|7.5|ReignSports HT WT
COMBINE 6010 312 3128 0958 7578 5.15 2.98 1.80 31.0 9-1 DNP DNP 30

OUTLOOK: Voted by PAC-12 offensive lineman as the best defensive lineman in the league in 2018 after earning all-conference honors each of the past two seasons, Gaines didn’t have to compete at the Senior Bowl and yet did so anyway, showing off the competitive nature which has earned him comparisons to throughout his career to now retiring Buffalo Bills standout nose guard Kyle Williams. Like Williams, Gaines lacks ideal size and isn’t going to run down many skill position players from behind, which just makes his 149 career tackles (including 7.5 for loss and 4.5 sacks) that much more impressive as it is an indication of just how effective he is in his run-stuffing role. In a draft as deep with defensive linemen as this one, Gaines isn’t likely to hear his name called until deep into Day 3 but he’ll eventually outplay that, just as the 6-1, 303 pound Williams – a six-time Pro Bowler – did after lasting until the fifth round (No. 134 overall) of the 2006 draft.

PROS: Powerful interior run stuffer. Squatty frame conducive to winning the leverage battle at the line of scrimmage. Broad-shouldered with a square-ish frame overall, including a thick, wide lower half and tree stumps for limbs which root him to the ground when anchoring against double teams. Active hands and is surprisingly slippery as a pass rusher, showing good initial quickness and lateral agility. Terrific effort in pursuit, including downfield. Physical tackler who isn’t afraid to leave his feet to leave an impression on ball-carriers, generating impressive knockdown power as a hitter and generally wrapping his arms for good measure… Durable performer. Four-year starter at Washington with 51 games played (47 starts) and yet opted to compete at the Senior Bowl, as well.

CONS: Short, stubby frame with below average arm length (31 1/8″), virtually guaranteeing that every interior lineman he faces in the NFL will have a reach advantage over him. While surprisingly quick in the phone booth, Gaines maxes out quickly, showing limited ability to make plays outside of the tackle box. Limited effectiveness in the passing game, lacking the burst, wiggle and bend to provide much of a pass rush and lacks the height to affect passing lanes, recording just four passes defensed (three of them in 2017) and one interception in 51 career games…

AlbaNY_Ram

Here are the awards he earned in college:

2018 Morris Trophy Winner
2018 All-Pac-12 First Team
2018 Academic All-Pac-12 Second Team
2017 All-Pac-12 Second Team
2017 Academic All-Pac-12 Second Team
2016 Academic All-Pac-12 Second Team
2016 Honorable Mention All-Pac-12

Of note, the Morris Trophy is awarded to the top defensive lineman (as voted by opposing team players) in the Pac-12, and he made second team Academic All-Pac-12 the final three years of his college career.

Vincent Bonsignore@VinnyBonsignore
#Rams coach Sean McVay said Greg Gaines has a chance to compete for a starting job in the Rams base defense at nose guard.

The #Rams really valued Greg Gaines – a favorite of Les Snead – as a true run-stuffing nose tackle who can play his gap and stonewall the run. As opposed to guys so focused on pass rushing it hurts their run-game responsibilities.

All these quotations, from good established sources, make the same comparison:

Kirwan: He is Kyle Williams style

Ric Serritella Draft Bible: Gaines didn’t have to compete at the Senior Bowl and yet did so anyway, showing off the competitive nature which has earned him comparisons to throughout his career to now retiring Buffalo Bills standout nose guard Kyle Williams. Like Williams, Gaines lacks ideal size and isn’t going to run down many skill position players from behind, which just makes his 149 career tackles (including 7.5 for loss and 4.5 sacks) that much more impressive as it is an indication of just how effective he is in his run-stuffing role

Arkush, Pro Football Weekly: Gaines is reminiscent of a poor man’s Kyle Williams, the longtime Bills defensive tackle who just retired.

Drew Boylhart: Greg is the type of defensive lineman every team needs to have a dominating defense. He does the grunt work and he reminds me a lot of the Bills Kyle Williams.

I don’t know if many people here paid ever paid that much attention to Kyle Williams, since he played for the perpetually losing Buffalo Bills, but that is quite a guy to be compared to. Williams was quite a player and perpetually one of the highest graded NTs in the league, going back years.

Another analyst in this thread said something interesting. He said, you don’t take a Lawrence in round 1 if you can get a Gaines in round 4. Gaines is the same general kind of player as Lawrence, and nearly as good.

When this pick got announced my first thought was just to find out about him, and I set off to do that (posting a lot of it here). After a short research binge I went from being just curious about a Rams 4th round pick to convinced the Rams had really scored with this one.

…

Gaines has opportunity to make immediate impact at nose tackle

Myles Simmons

https://www.therams.com/news/gaines-has-opportunity-to-make-immediate-impact

The Rams entered the final day of the 2019 NFL Draft with one clear objective — draft defensive lineman Greg Gaines out of Washington.

General manger Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay were able to pull that off at No. 134 after a draft-day trade.

“I know Sean and I spent this morning kind of going through the day’s game plan and the first … priority was to try to figure out how we could get to a spot in the draft and draft Gaines to fill the nose-tackle-type spot in our base defense,” Snead said following the day’s action.

As you may have seen on Gaines’ inside the call video on therams.com, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips pointed out that there’s a place for the incoming rookie on Los Angeles’ defensive line at nose tackle with Ndamukong Suh’s departure.

“Big shoes to fill — I’m up for it,” Gaines told Phillips on the call.

And listed at 6-foot-1 and 312 pounds, Gaines’ ability to be a strong nose tackle was a big part of the reason Los Angeles wanted to draft him in the first place.

“Some of the things we talked about — how we get better specific to our scheme, but then also defensively in terms of playing the run a little bit better, I think that’ll be a key factor for really being stout inside,” McVay said. “And we feel like Greg will provide that.”

“When you look at a Greg Gaines, you can really take a specific approach where as a nose in our base defensive package, here’s the skillset he provides, and here’s why they thought of him so highly with our scouting staff,” McVay later added. “And then when you bring him [to the coaches], we feel like we see the same things.”

After the Rams finished last season last in the league surrendering an average of 5.1 yards per carry, the team certainly wants to improve the run defense heading into 2019. Rams West Coast area scout Vito Gonella said he could tell on Gaines’ tape that he was a potential fit for the defensive line to do just that.

“He’s a run stuffer — just a block in the middle that will eat up multiple blocks from offensive linemen to allow our linebackers to run free, and get more one-on-one situations for Aaron Donald,” Gonella said. “He’s a very tough, high-motor, high-effort kid who will run sideline-to-sideline down the line. Can’t say enough good things about him.”

As McVay said, the coaches noticed that, too. In an interview with therams.com, defensive line coach Eric Henderson called Gaines “a true grinder.”

“I think he can really help the run defense, has the ability to take moves, double teams, and split guys to make plays in the backfield,” Henderson said. “You got to have tough guys inside and Greg provides that toughness for us. We like what he’s able to bring to the table and be able to help us from a substitution standpoint, staying fresh, and will really, really help improve our rush defense in first- and second-down situations.”

Nothing is guaranteed for Gaines, coming in as a rookie. But there is certainly opportunity in front of him as a nose tackle in the Rams’ 3-4 base defensive scheme. Given the way teams have employed more and more three wide-receiver sets — perhaps best exemplified by the Rams almost always lining up in 11 personnel with one running back, one tight end, and three wideouts — Gaines wouldn’t necessarily be on the field all the time. But from a run-defense standpoint in those early-down situations, Gaines has a chance to really help out — and contribute early.

“We like him inside,” Henderson said. “He has the ability to hold those A gaps at the nose position like Ndamukong Suh last year, so the ability to replace that will help continue to move forward from a run defense standpoint inside, being able to help us at the nose spot.”

“He’s going to get a chance to compete,” McVay said, “but he’s a guy that we identified that we feel like will really do a great job as a nose guard in our base package.”

As for Gaines himself, the defensive lineman said he feels like he can come in and contribute right away.

“I think so,” he said. “I’m really strong. I got good technique, quickness, and I’m pretty smart — I think that’s one of my biggest assets. I learn the playbook fast and I’m good at studying offenses, so I think I can make an impact right away.”

Time will tell, but Gaines’ progression in the defense will certainly be a factor to watch throughout the rest of the offseason program and training camp.

#LARams GM Les Snead says goal coming into Day 3 was to figure out a way to get to a place where the team could draft DL Greg Gaines to play NT in the 3-4 base package.

— Myles Simmons (@MylesASimmons) April 27, 2019

Merlin

Gaines to me is the best pick in this draft. Been saying forever that being able to anchor in and not get washed out in the run game while playing one gap on the nose in this defense are not mutually exclusive. This guy looks like he’s got the toolset to do that for us. Rams did a good job dealing with neither of the early options being available at 31 and played the strengths of one of the best DL drafts in a long time to go get a guy who fits what they need.

Gaines is more disciplined than Suh was. When he’s doubled up he doesn’t try to roll around and out of his gap for pressure, he’ll eat that $#!T with some barbeque sauce and pile it up. But look at his tape. The guy is a threat to reset the line of scrimmage and penetrate so he is not just some space eater.

Honestly I am not sure I’d limit him to being a 2 down nose. He has good short area burst in traffic and also has great vision even when he’s doubled up where a ball carrier squirting through a gap he’s moving that way. This is a guy who gave an impressive Senior Bowl OL class all they could handle too. I don’t doubt that he’ll need a blow now and then but outside that basic rotation requirement he’s going to see third down IMO and he and Donald are going to do just fine.

They wanted to improve run defense on the nose. This was obvious two years in with Wade’s defense struggling against the run for most of that time. Players they wanted (probably Simmons & Lawrence) were nabbed early so oh well. The guy they got is the prototype in some ways, I’ve heard some guys like Kirwan go on over the years about the ideal nose being athletic and stumpy, former FB types who can pack on the muscle and stand up to the traffic in the middle and here we get a guy who was precisely that in a former FB who converted. He ain’t Lawrence, but next to Donald he might be just as effective in his primary role of anchoring in while AD does his thing. He is going to start this season and from camp on that dude next to Donald gives the OL two guys to deal with who go full tilt all the time so expect some fireworks.

zn wrote:

alyoshamucci

Gaines was underrated …He reminds me of Kevin Wolfe when he came out (drafted round 2?) … bigger than expected and moving faster and more disruptively than expected.

I expect him to have a considerable impact this year for a first year player, especially when it comes to tiring the offense. He gets better as the game goes on and if he catches you napping for a second he’ll eat your lunch. He has the motor of a LB.

SOME FOLLOW-UP

alyoshamucci

His senior bowl is what solidified him for me…I watched a lot of Washington games … but they didn’t play any O lines I was really impressed with. I wanted to see him one on one.

He really bothered everyone he went up against … every snap.

And I think one thing that gets downplayed with DTs, is their endurance. Gaines never came off the field in Washington’s defense.

What I think we’re looking at, is a guy who may not have been obvious for a higher pick, but someone who will outplay their draft slot. Possibly by a large margin.

what i keep reading and what i like about this pick is the mentality. this guy sounds like aaron donald when it comes to competitiveness. work ethic. suh didn’t have that. i’m excited. i mean it’s still a long shot, but he’s got as good a chance as any other fourth rounder. more so.

this guy grinds.