Chiefs Film Room: What do we have in Phillip Gaines?

If you haven’t noticed, there’s been a fair bit of talk centered around cornerbacks lately here on Arrowhead Addict. Mainly, everyone is trying to figure out what the heck the Chiefs secondary is going to look like next season. And while the opinions may differ on who’s leaving, staying, and coming in, one thing that is for certain is the Chiefs are going to be heavily-reliant on a healthy Phillip Gaines.

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The Chiefs came into this season with tremendously high hopes for Gaines; his play towards the end of 2014 was outstanding, which made it all the more devastating when he went down in only Week 3 of 2015. So with an admittedly small sample size (2.25 games), we are forced to ask ourselves, “what do we have in Phillip Gaines?”

On paper, we have a typical Dorsey cornerback in terms of size (six feet), who tore up the combine in 2014, posting top five times amongst cornerbacks in the 40-yard dash, three-cone drill, and 20-yard shuttle run. The measurables are there, but that’s never been in doubt with Gaines. It’s always been about whether he could translate that athletic ability to the field. To that end, the results were inconsistent, but showed definite promise.

Gaines 1 /

Here we have Gaines lined up at the bottom of thescreen. Though he’s not actually lined up in the slot, he’s still responsible for the slot receiver in this formation (with Peters dropping back in a deep zone). The receiver sets Gaines up with a quick move to the outside, and then runs a slant in the middle for a 15-yard completion. What concerns me here is, for a guy who showed immense speed/quickness at the combine, he fails to transition from backpedal to sprint smoothly. It puts him a step behind the receiver and he’s never able to make up the ground.

Gaines 2 /

We see a similar situation in the following game against Denver. Gaines is lined up in the slot at the top, and his receiver runs a quick dig route which completely shakes Gaines. Once again, Gaines has trouble transitioning out of his backpedal when forced to suddenly change direction.

This is an issue that popped up more frequently than I would’ve liked (which would have been zero, obviously), particularly on out-routes and digs. Once Gaines gets moving in a particular direction for a few steps, he has hard time switching on a dime.

But when Gaines isn’t having to move laterally out of his backpedal, he shows some quality cover skills.

Gaines 3 /

The key difference here, versus the plays above, is Gaines is always maintains his center of gravity; he’s not forced to suddenly transition in a certain direction. In these situations, Gaines’ athleticism shines through. His footwork is awesome, and when the receiver hits the top of the route, Gaines instinctively gets his arm in front of the receiver in case the ball was thrown before the break. That’s a savvy play for a corner that has started less than ten games in his career.

Speaking of savvy play, something else that points to Gaines being an effective cornerback, especially in the slot, is his ability to avoid getting picked. Pick-plays are a staple of basically every single NFL offense now, so having a corner who can navigate his way through traffic is quite the asset.

Gaines 4 /

(Of course I’m showing a play against the Broncos; Peyton loves him some pick-plays.)

When the ball is snapped, the sole intent of the outside receiver is to chip Gaines – he even puts his arms up to block – in order to free up the Gaines’ receiver. Rather than running into the pick or being forced into a detour, Gaines dips his shoulder and runs right by it. The quarterback, expecting a wide open receiver, is given a tight window in which he’s unable to fit the ball into. As I said, savvy.

Finally, we come to the area where Gaines’ game shines the brightest: bump and run coverage. It’s kind of ironic how this has developed into such a vital component of his game considering NFL.com’s scouting profile on him said he lacks physicality (oh, and they also said he shouldn’t be drafted). Safe to say NFL.com whiffed on that piece of analysis; the guy thrives when he gets his hands on a receiver at the line.

Gaines 5 /

This is textbook bump and run coverage here on Hopkins. Gaines gets a great jam in at the line of scrimmage and maintains contact for every single one of the five-yards he’s allowed to do so. As soon as it’s beyond five-yards, you see him flip his hips and run stride for stride with Hopkins. The ability to execute bump and run like that is pretty valuable in a Bob Sutton defense – if he ever decides to go back to press-man coverage, that is.

So, what do we have in Phillip Gaines? With an aforementioned small sample size, Gaines’ 2015 snaps tell us: he thrives when being physical with receivers at the line and shows the ability to track receivers in close quarters, but he needs to work on transitioning laterally out of his backpedal with speed. If Gaines is able to come into offseason workouts with his knee at 100%, the prospect of him rejoining this Chiefs secondary, whether in the slot or outside, is undoubtedly an exciting one.

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