Phillip Gaines May Play Nickel Corner Over Injured Chris Owens

A knee injury suffered by Chris Owens in the Chiefs’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers may force rookie third-round pick Phillip Gaines into a lot of action on Sunday.

Owens is still dealing with a sprained knee that he suffered after colliding with Gaines while trying to block a field goal in the fourth quarter against San Francisco. The injury may not heal in time for Owens to play on Sunday and even if he does play, he may not be healthy enough to play all of the snaps we are accustomed to seeing him play. The burden now falls on Gaines to fill the void as the nickel back against Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers.

Gaines has seen most of his playing time on special teams, where he has been a standout performer with the coverage units. But Pro Football Focus says he’s only played three snaps on defense, all against the Miami Dolphins. He was not targeted in any of those three snaps.

The uncertainty of what Gaines will bring to the table is not something the Chiefs need to deal with in their secondary as the status of Eric Berry is still in doubt and the Chargers are one of the better passing teams in the NFL. In a lot of ways, Gaines is being thrown into the fire here, and that’s not something you want when the Chiefs are about to play their most important game of the season.

Here’s a snippet from Terez A. Paylor’s recent piece on Gaines with quotes from Andy Reid.

"“His confidence level and his strength and all those things are improving,” Reid said. “The speed of the game, it doesn’t look like it’s quite as fast for him as what it was when he first got into it.”Reid said this improvement translates to the defensive side as well, though Gaines has only played four of 318 possible snaps this season.“We see that in practice too as a cover guy, as a corner, so he gives you that,” Reid said. “To answer your question, he’s got tremendous speed and quickness.”"

Hopefully Gaines is ready for the task on Sunday if he is needed.