Gaines Adams DE Clemson
STRENGTHS
Gaines is your prototypical DE that the NFL looks for when drafting a DE. He has the ideal size, speed and burst off the ball and he plays his position with good intelligence. Gaines also has those nice long arms that help keep OT’s away from his body so that he can make a variety of pass rushing moves. He is smart and knows how to set up O-lineman during the game so that he can make a big play later on in the game. Gaines has noticeable intelligence to go along with his athletic talent and this makes him potentially the best DE in a draft of seniors that lacks quality DE’s.
NEEDS TO IMPROVE
Gaines does not do well against the run and this is strictly an attitude issue, not an athletic issue. He plays his responsibilities, but with talent like this, you look for more than average play. There are a lot less talented DE’s in this draft that play much harder than Gaines does and accomplish almost as much. Gaines might be one of those players that is too smart for his own good!
TALENT BOARD ROUND: 1
If I had as much natural talent as Gaines does I would play the game of football like my CROTCH WAS ON FIRE. I don’t see that in his play. I don’t consider him a top ten pick because of that. He has top ten talent, but not a top ten heart. If he is picked and decides he wants to work as hard as his talent suggests he ca, he could become one of the better DE’s in the league; however, I’m not sure that is his goal. I think his goal is to play just good enough to make a ton of money and I’m sure he will; but if I had a pick in the first round, I would look for every excuse to pick another player and wait until the second round to pick Gaines. I believe that he would then be motivated to prove everyone wrong until he signed his second contract for big time money. Maybe by then, playing football would be more of an honor and mean more to him than he shows me right now. All that being said, I still have to rate him as first round talent because that’s what he has. I just disagree totally with Gaines being listed in the top ten. He is a senior and you should not have to use a cattle prod on a senior to motivate him to play better than just the average DE when he has above average talent.
- Drew Boylhart (thehuddlereport.com)
