So, hoping to change my perspective on his selection, I just watched Gaulden's Highlights from the last two years...

[TylerDurden]

It didn't change my feelings, in fact it concerned me more...  I really, really tried to look at them with new eyes and be completely objective until I was done watching them.  It actually concerns me more now having watched them than I was before seeing them.

What I saw?  When we saw his highlight package and measurables on draft night and then the subsequent write-ups, my initial reaction was that this guy reminds me so much of Worley.  After seeing his highlights from the last two years?  This guy reminds me so much of Worley...

What I came away with, both positive and negative is as follows:

Positives -

•Has a penchant for knocking the ball loose.

•An excellent, fundamental secure tackler.  Huge emphasis on fundamental and secure.

(The brightside in the comparison to Worley here, is that in my view, Gaulden is head and shoulders better than Worley in both these aspects.  It's not even close.)

•Has a nose for the ballcarrier.

Negatives -

•Appears stiff and lacks short area explosion.  I've heard many draft analysts say his play speed is so much faster than his timed speed, which may be true with his top-end/full stride, but explosiveness was not evident at all.  Has no suddenness to the ball.

•Absolute lack of anticipation.  Maybe that ends up being a positive because maybe that means he plays it safe and keeps what he can in front of him rather than gamble, but I doubt it.  In 2 years of highlights, I did not see one passing lane jumped or route anticipated.

•Again signaling a lack of anticipation, many of these highlights have him chasing instead of reacting when the play has already developed and he is beat.

•I mentioned above what a solid, secure tackler he is...  it's true.  But I emphasized fundamentally sound and secure because again, due to the lack of short-area explosiveness, he doesn't appear to be much of a hitter at all.  He does not close quickly on tackles, instead, he often breaks down and wraps up low with little power behind it.  I found it concerning that in 2 years of highlights, there was only one jarring hit, everything else was the low, leg wrap tackles.

•I also mentioned he has a nose for the ball carrier...  I was very specific because it doesn't appear that those instincts translate to "ball-in-the-air" situations.  Again, for these to be highlights, he doesn't appear to have many impressive plays on the ball, which kind of defeats the purpose of highlights.  In this most recent season's highlights, many of the plays featured actually shouldn't have been on there, because he was clueless as to where the ball was.  He struggled to locate the ball multiple times, sometimes losing his balance while trying to relocate the ball, and often, in these "highlights" resorted to getting handsy, holding, or outright tackling his charge after he lost ground and track of the ball...  these shouldn't be in a highlight package, but I assume they are because they were the only instances that he was near the play/ball.  This was on par with Worley and concerns me that he may draw a lot of penalties as a result.

•Not only does he appear to lack on-ball instincts, but he also doesnt appear to have very good hands when he's in position.  Of the sampling I watched, even when he was in position he either bothered the receiver enough that they lost the ball or he seemed to react late and deflected it.  Only INT i saw was the one he caught off a tip that we saw on draft night.  

•He lacks range due to lack of speed and ability to compensate with instincts/angles.

So, there you have it...  a worthless armchair GM's assessment of youtube highlight tapes, but it's what I saw.

I am still holding out for the best, but what I saw was discouraging.  I love his attitude and outlook from his interviews, but all that matters is his on-field production, and I fear that he may be lacking in that respect.  See for yourself... 

 

 

[The Lobo]

For what it’s worth, Billy Marshall on twitter isn’t a fan either (s/o if you’re on here billy) he was saying stuff like getting turned around easy etc. I hope, for our sake, he’s wrong.

[LinvilleGorge]

I wish I disagreed with you but I don’t.

I hope we’re wrong.

[Panthers8969]

Well fug

[TylerDurden]

4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I wish I disagreed with you but I don’t.

I hope we’re wrong.

Me too.  Me too.  But, I fear we've seen this Hurney-produced movie before, at least twice.

[Pi = 3.1SHutYoMouth!]

This one was a bit of a headscratcher for me as well particularly reading his below average athletic measurements especially when you compare him to guys we drafted in the first 4 rounds like Moore, Jackson, and Thomas. Wonder if anyone who keeps up with Tenn football could enlighten us about Gaulden.

[TylerDurden]

8 minutes ago, Pi = 3.1SHutYoMouth! said:

This one was a bit of a headscratcher for me as well particularly reading his below average athletic measurements especially when you compare him to guys we drafted in the first 4 rounds like Moore, Jackson, and Thomas. Wonder if anyone who keeps up with Tenn football could enlighten us about Gaulden.

That's the thing...  there were countless guys at safety still available with a nasty streak, physicality, and far-superior athleticism.  Hell, if he was set on converting a less-fast-twitch CB to S, there were plenty of those too.

I just can't make any sense of it...  he can't hit, he's unathletic, he struggles in coverage, and the big caveat that usually saves guys like that -football iq, uncanny awareness and instincts - don't appear to be there either.  What was the reason?

[Eazy-E]

Honestly don't know anything about him but a ton of people on reddit loved the Jackson and Gaulden picks. Also people think Ian Thomas is going to end up being a steal. Fans of a bunch of different teams seemed to love our draft in comparison to the fans on this site. I'll reserve judgement until at least training camp.

I will tell you one thing though, Jackson and Gaulden are going to bring a ton of much needed swag and attitude to our secondary.

[LinvilleGorge]

2 minutes ago, Eazy-E said:

Honestly don't know anything about him but a ton of people on reddit loved the Jackson and Gaulden picks. Also people think Ian Thomas is going to end up being a steal. Fans of a bunch of different teams seemed to love our draft in comparison to the fans on this site. I'll reserve judgement until at least training camp.

I will tell you one thing though, Jackson and Gaulden are going to bring a ton of much needed swag and attitude to our secondary.

Jackson I’m 50/50 on. I love his speed and think that we badly need speed in our secondary but I really do question his physicality and football instincts.

Gaulden I just don’t get at all. I hope I’m wrong and I’m just not seeing it.

I think Ian Thomas has the potential to end up being the best safety in this draft class and in the meantime I think he’s a perfect compliment to Olsen as our #2 TE.

[Ezell704]

13 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Jackson I’m 50/50 on. I love his speed and think that we badly need speed in our secondary but I really do question his physicality and football instincts.

Gaulden I just don’t get at all. I hope I’m wrong and I’m just not seeing it.

I think Ian Thomas has the potential to end up being the best safety in this draft class and in the meantime I think he’s a perfect compliment to Olsen as our #2 TE.

Versitile baby! Safety/TE! Lol

[Saca312]

14 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

 

I think Ian Thomas has the potential to end up being the best tight-end in this draft class and in the meantime I think he’s a perfect compliment to Olsen as our #2 TE.

Yep. His SPARQ is like 2nd only to Gesicki, and he's a fantastic blocker. He may even become our #2 TE and outplay Dickson's impact.

I don't remember what analyst compared him to Antonio Gates, but I certainly can see him having a career to that level once he lives up to his athletic potential. Showing good traits, and he's everything you'd want from a fourth rounder.

I particularly love his blocking. He's far better than Dickson (and definitely Manhertz) in that area, so I could even see him start this year as just a pure blocker while learning behind Olsen. He's got a pretty big mean streak to him.

He has some receiving talent as well. I do think he shouldn't immediately transition to a primary TE2 catcher just yet until he refines some of his route-running, but a few years down the road we may have a decent heir to Olsen.

I'll probably write on him first. Sure, he's definitely raw in a few regards and won't immediately be an eye-popping impact player, to which I'll showcase. But of course, his potential is through the roof. 

Here's some of the YT cutups im currently going through.

 

[Jmac]

I'm not a talent evaluator, so I take your guys word on it. So is Tre Boston better then this guy? I know he is no prize.....but jeez....gotta be better then the rookie I guess. Anybody else out there that would work at safety?

[CPF4LIFE]

I think he is a strong safety all day. Absolutely not a free, but so is Adams at his age. So who plays the free? 

[La Pantera]

9 minutes ago, CPF4LIFE said:

I think he is a strong safety all day. Absolutely not a free, but so is Adams at his age. So who plays the free? 

I would think he's too light to be a SS at the moment.