Bucs DT Greg Gaines: DL Chess Piece

The Bucs are banking on more production out of their defensive line this year. And they have thrown plenty of resources at that part of the roster to ensure the goal is met. Much has been made about their draft class which included three defensive linemen to help bolster the unit. But the most critical addition could be the more unheralded one. A much more under-the-radar move the team made was through free agency when they signed former Rams defensive tackle Greg Gaines to a one-year pact.

Greg Gaines’ Career To Date

Following his selection in the fourth round of the 2019 draft, the former Husky has steadily built a solid NFL career as a compliment to future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald. Donald’s presence has helped Greg Gaines elevate his production and Gaines’ abilities have helped get the most out of Donald’s lofty talents. The results for Gaines have amounted to 122 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 24 quarterback hits and 10.5 sacks in 59 career games (25 starts). Gaines didn’t become a full-time starter until 2021 and since then he has amassed 91 tackles and 8.5 sacks.

How He Fits Into The Bucs Defensive Line

Greg Gaines isn’t the pass rushing savant rookie Calijah Kancey could be. And he isn’t the mammoth plug in the middle NT Vita Vea has been. Instead, Gaines offers something of a hybrid, do-it-all player the Bucs hoped Akiem Hicks could have been last year. At 6’1 and 312 pounds Gaines is compact and massive at the same time. Per mockdraftbables his height is in the 5th percentile of all defensive tackles but his weight is in the 84th percentile. That is quite the dichotomy of size.

And with that unique size Gaines has found a versatility that will allow him to play all over head coach Todd Bowles’ defensive line. According to Pro Football Focus Gaines has spent the majority of his career splitting his reps between playing nose tackle and three-technique. Last year he lined up in the a-gap as the nose 332 times and in the b-gap as a three (or 4-i) 371 times. Thats a 47/53 split. Looking at the entirety of his career to date and the ratio inverts to 53/47 in favor of the nose.

How does this look when taken in the context of the Bucs line? It allows Gaines to become the complimentary piece to whomever he lines up next to, in effect allowing his running mate to be in the best position to succeed. If he is out on the field with Vea on early downs Gaines can play the three allowing Vea’s massive frame to clog up the center of the field and take on double-teams. On longer and later downs the two can switch, with Gaines effectively absorbing the double team so Vea can win one-on-ones with guards.

If Gaines is paired with Kancey or former second-round pick Logan Hall he can easily play the nose to give the younger, more athletic players the opportunity to use their speed and physical tools to win quick and get after the quarterback. The best way I can sum up Gaines is he is the Swiss-army knife the Bucs are hoping can unlock the wealth of physical gifts the rest of their defensive lineman have.

Greg Gaines Wins With His Head

Greg Gaines is in many ways the antithesis of the rest of the interior defensive linemen set atop the Bucs depth chart. You can see this in the difference in their Relative Athletic Scores coming out of college. Vea parlayed his size and strength into a 9.53 (on a scale of 0-10). Kancey, while much smaller showed off-the-charts movement skills to land just ahead of Vea with a 9.60 RAS score.

Calijah Kancey is a DT prospect in the 2023 draft class. He scored a 9.60 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 64 out of 1585 DT from 1987 to 2023. https://t.co/dcq1CsV4Ty #RAS pic.twitter.com/W2ibNltPey

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 7, 2023

Hall was a bit of an amalgamation of the two with a very similar result at 9.38. Gaines just isn’t in the same stratosphere as those three. Not that he isn’t athletic at all. He has some explosiveness in his lower half, but he doesn’t register crazy-insane measurables like the other three.

Where he does win is by being extremely smart and crafty. He will rarely launch off the ball faster than anyone else, but he will make sure he is in the right place because he can read pre and post snap where the ball should be going.

Gaines (lined up as the nose tackle just off the center’s right shoulder) immediately engages the right guard and feeling the guard wanting to move him to the offense’s left to open up a hole in the b-gap, pushes through to seal the hole. This forces the running back to cut the run back to left for what would ultimately be a minimal gain.

Gaines is also adept at defending the ever-proliferating wide zone offense.

Here he is once again lined up at the nose straight over the center. As the play widens to the defense’s right Gaines keeps his eyes in the backfield to watch the running back. He never lets his hips get over-rotated to the play side and as the running back tries to cut back up field just behind him, Gaines is able to disengage from the center and fill the hole resulting in a defensive stop.

Greg Gaines Is A Decent Pass Rusher

If asked to be your featured interior pass rusher Greg Gaines will struggle. But in the Bucs defense that will hopefully never be his role. For his career he has 64 pressures over 1,106 pass rush snaps. That 5.8% pressure rate is nothing to write home about. His high-water mark was 2020 when he generated 38 pressures on 476 pass rush attempts (8.0% pressure rate). But when the occasion arises, Gaines can push a pocket.

And from time to time, Gaines will flash a hand swipe or dip a shoulder, leveraging that shorter height to get under or around a lineman and force a big play.

Greg Gaines Is Likely To Be Doing His Job If You Don’t Notice Him

Greg Gaines probably wouldn’t like the comparison given the fact that his job is to fight them on a play-by-play basis, but he is very much like an offensive lineman. He is at his best in terms of his role if you don’t notice him very often.

That is because his job is to do the unheralded parts of the defensive line. Eat up double teams and put his more athletic teammates in a position to win more often.

Gaines is the new Will Gholston. The new Rakeem Nunez-Roches. The new Akiem Hicks (for what he was in 2022 vs. what we thought he would be). Gaines was signed to be a lynch pin that brings everyone else together as the best versions of themselves. And I have a feeling he will play that role to a “T” and help elevate the Bucs defensive line to levels that may surprise some.