RD 2 | PICK 63 - @Chiefs: Willie Gay LB, Miss State
Gay (4.46 40 @ 243 lbs) made our NGS day 2 standouts list with elite athleticism (99 athleticism score) for a linebacker. Suspensions (8 total games) derailed his 2019 season and his production score took a hit (53).#NFLDraftpic.twitter.com/rCpEi7X6qT
Originally Posted by saphojunkie:
I wasn't one of the people saying Gay was going to need time. I'm very thankful for the smart posters who knew this and repeated it, because it allowed me to not worry when he wasn't starting.
Originally Posted by staylor26:
He’s going to be a beast by the end of the season.
Athleticism will eventually show itself once technique is worked out.
But one thing you really cannot teach is aggression at the point of attack. Darron Lee demonstrated it in camp and as soon as the lights came on went back to shirking responsibility and avoiding blockers.
Meanwhile Gay:
Dude is more than willing to power downhill and attack at the point of contact to keep plays from developing while his teammates take out the trash around him.
That will be ENORMOUS as this defense continues to develop an identity and focus on a team concept. If he can be trusted in run situations to simply ensure that he's occupying a man or two and making things more difficult for the runner, he'll be an asset regardless of the box score.
And in time his coverage technique will round into form and we'll see that athleticism flash. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla:
His athleticism allowed him to take some bad steps and still get around the block to make the play.
I don't think he took bad steps there at all.
Neither the OL or the RB had committed and just as an OL can change an angle to set up a block, a LBer can/will often do the same to set up his attack angle. I think he was reading the OL and waiting for the G to commit. The moment he did, Gay was able to bounce around him.
If he comes straight downhill or even simply holds his spot, the G can drive the action to him and now the RB can play off the guard's shoulder with the G having the angle advantage.
I mean maybe he got lucky - but that's also very much what he could've been taught to do or simply did on instinct.
I don't think there's a way to state it categorically either way. [Reply]
Every time he's on the field he absolutely looks like the athletic freak he's touted as. He's easy to spot when he's on the field. He's the big, rocked up, fast dude playing LB. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Detoxing:
Every time he's on the field he absolutely looks like the athletic freak he's touted as. He's easy to spot when he's on the field. He's the big, rocked up, fast dude playing LB.
Guy looks awfully unpleasant to play against.
If you can't get an angle on him, he's gonna blast you. And for the most part he appears to be playing with good leverage.
He's not a guy you're gonna throw around out there unless you out-technician him. If you're not completely focused, you're gonna feel that rep. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Athleticism will eventually show itself once technique is worked out.
But one thing you really cannot teach is aggression at the point of attack. Darron Lee demonstrated it in camp and as soon as the lights came on went back to shirking responsibility and avoiding blockers.
Meanwhile Gay:
Dude is more than willing to power downhill and attack at the point of contact to keep plays from developing while his teammates take out the trash around him.
That will be ENORMOUS as this defense continues to develop an identity and focus on a team concept. If he can be trusted in run situations to simply ensure that he's occupying a man or two and making things more difficult for the runner, he'll be an asset regardless of the box score.
And in time his coverage technique will round into form and we'll see that athleticism flash.
These 2 plays are a great example of why he should be playing over Ben. Ben doesn't attack blockers at all, and lets himself get blocked. [Reply]
Originally Posted by seaofred:
These 2 plays are a great example of why he should be playing over Ben. Ben doesn't attack blockers at all, and lets himself get blocked.
As Gay continues to develop and get more snaps, Ben will go back to being able to simply focus on special teams, which is the only role he should be playing on this team. That said, Reid/Spags are doing the right thing here by letting Gay slowly take on more each and every week. We're in a position of luxury where the pieces around Niemann generally make up for his shortcomings. By November, the D is going to be a major force to deal with and our opponents are going to be flat out fucked, for lack of a better word. [Reply]
Those 2 plays are the top 2 plays made by a LB for the Chiefs on a run this year. All I've seen the starters do is either stand back and not attack or if they do attack they don't actively engage the blocker and take themselves out of the play/make a tackle 7 yards down the field cuz they tried to run around the blocker.
Those 2 plays are the perfect example of how a LB should play and Gay Jr is the only one of our LBs that could make those plays. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
Those 2 plays are the top 2 plays made by a LB for the Chiefs on a run this year. All I've seen the starters do is either stand back and not attack or if they do attack they don't actively engage the blocker and take themselves out of the play/make a tackle 7 yards down the field cuz they tried to run around the blocker.
Those 2 plays are the perfect example of how a LB should play and Gay Jr is the only one of our LBs that could make those plays.
Ah, not for nothing, but 53 Hitchens made the tackle in the first clip. And for once he didn't dilly-dally in the hole; he actually attacked it and made the stop behind the line.
Or are you talking about taking on the FB and taking the outside gap away from the RB? He does do a nice job there. Hits the FB hard enough to nearly stop him in his tracks. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
Those 2 plays are the top 2 plays made by a LB for the Chiefs on a run this year. All I've seen the starters do is either stand back and not attack or if they do attack they don't actively engage the blocker and take themselves out of the play/make a tackle 7 yards down the field cuz they tried to run around the blocker.
Those 2 plays are the perfect example of how a LB should play and Gay Jr is the only one of our LBs that could make those plays.
Nah.
Hitchens routinely plays the run like that. Wilson does more than he doesn't. Niemann is the only guy who truly will not make that play.
Hitchens problem is that he struggles in space and can get caught really flat-footed on misdirections.
But those were pretty straightforward 'see gap, fill gap' plays and Hitchens has never been a problem in that regard. [Reply]
Man, watching this play again, Gay MADE that stuff.
If the G manages that reach block and brings Gay inside, the FB gets through clean w/ a dead line at Sorensen. The HB follows him and if the FB seals off Sorensen, that play may have broken for 6 because the slot receiver had gotten inside position on Mathieu.
Just a really really good play by Gay to completely blow that play up. Not only did he keep the G from creating a lane at all, he even occupied the FB in the process. He forced that run back to the A gap where Hitchens (and I think Wilson) were there to snuff it out.
That's really good run D in a lot of ways but if Gay doesn't do his job really well there, it's a potential big play. Also a really nice call dialed up from Spags to put Gay in that run blitz and completely destroy the G's ability to get the reach made. If that's not a run blitz there, the G may have gotten position on him and been able to ride him inside. [Reply]
