Here’s theduke...
Gaines may be short, but he is wide. I think he and Sebastian-Day will spell for each other on run/pass plays. Gaines is a big boy, and he will be a roadblock in the middle. We don’t need him to get push up the middle (though he certainly does that!!); we need him to just clog the middle.
Rapp looks good, but I’m a bit concerned that he’s often just standing around instead of communicating with the ones in the secondary—Talib, Peters, Weddle, and Johnson. With his helmet off, he really looks like a lost little high school kid, but I think he’s going to factor in pretty well.
David Long is a true technician. His athleticism doesn’t really jump out at you, but he had really good technique. He got beat on a crisp five-yard slant by Michael Thomas, but I think that’s because he was on an island and his responsibility was not to get beat deep. He came in and made the tackle right after the catch was made. On another play, he was isolated wide on Robert Woods, and he was able to knock the ball away. He did a really good job of using the sideline to squeeze Woods before reaching out to bat the ball away. I am VERY excited about David Long.
