When did the third round become a lower round?

People just don't get it.

They aren't good because they play physical.
They are good because they solid fundamentallly, both in coverage and tackling.

Other teams will throw right at him when the need to Gaines some yards.




Heh....

5-7 years?

Can we at least stop making judgments after a few preseason games? I think anybody who saw the pick after the draft thought Gaines would be at least a 1-year project. But for a high positional value guy, yeah, 1-2 years for a guy not drafted in the first round is fair.

Yup, I love watching them play defense. It's the best that I've seen in a while. The only one on that team that really grabbed at WRs was Browner because of his stiff hips and slow feet, now he's gone. I really wish that we would use the same scheme that they have.

I really think people are going to be eating crow on Gaines. He was my #4 CB and I loved the pick, but it was apparent he would need at least a year of NFL coaching and an offseason to get bigger/stronger to be ready to start. I tried to tell one of you about Kelce, but I was laughed at then too.

Or maybe we need to just stop treating this year like our #1 goal is to win now. Cutting Flowers is a good move for the long-term. I can understand the argument that we should just rip the band-aid right off. But I also think this team can be competitive as soon as next year, if our picks pan out. Gaines won't be much worse than Cooper was last year and I think it was absolutely worth it to get Cooper some reps over there. Hopefully Gaines will show the same kind of growth, as I think Cooper will be okay this year.

Gaines stood out the most in week 4 and not in a good way. Bottom line on him.. he has a few things working for him. He is tall, fast, and has a great work ethic.

In terms of technique and awareness, he is not ready to step in today, and I really hope he doesn't need to. No, this isn't an assessment you want to learn about your 3rd rd pick. However.. Gaines was selected for his potential in the near future. Very likely hand-picked to develop and then replace Sean Smith and his bloated contract for 2015.

I think it's safe to say that winning this year is not the priority.


we can agree on that.


You're just ok with that ... i'm not

I don't know man...there were a lot of solid CB prospect available when we picked Phil Gaines. Keith McGill, Dontae Johnson, Nevin Lawson, Marqueston Huff, Pierre Desir...all of whom ended up making the 53 man rosters of their respective teams. I hope you're right, but I think I would have much rather had Donte Moncrief in the third and then either Johnson or Lawson in the fourth (or David Yankey or Cyril Richardson for the sink hole OG spot that we continue to try to shovel asphalt into).

Gaines ceiling is higher than every one of those guys IMO.

Zilla, you're committing the same error here as you were with Eric Fisher.

I can speak for most fans when I say that we expect Phillip Gaines and Eric Fisher to take some time.

What's troubling is that they aren't looking like talented, raw athletes needing development (I.e. Dee Ford), they look like complete catastrophes (I.e. Turk McBride). There is a difference.

He ****ing sucks. Maybe he eventually learns to use his straight line speed, but right now he looks like a total scrub with no place on an NFL roster.

I'd argue that Ford has looked worse than either Fisher or Gaines at the same stage. Absolutely lost on defense.

Blind dog in a meat market to this point.

Ford does concern me. For all of his talk about how he tries to master technique and doesn't just rely on his physical skills, I sure didn't see it out there. Josh Martin looked just as good if not better out there.