I'm excited for the defense man.

Watching the Broncos game yesterday with the left handed throw was brutal to watch. Denver gaining 11 yards on first down constantly.

Orlando Scandrick was such garbage, incidentally.

Guy could be a bust, or he could be a HOF. High ceiling but risky given his lack of production. Workout warrior who looks amazing on tape.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Want to know what type of athlete the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#chiefs</a> now have at linebacker in second round pick Willie Gay Jr? <a href="https://t.co/tsnVgjMMaH">pic.twitter.com/tsnVgjMMaH</a></p>&mdash; James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesPalmerTV/status/1267574054506180609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

For those of us who really wanted Queen, watch this video https://youtu.be/q9mprrvhcns

Woof. Yeah that's not great. Queen is 6'0 229 Gay Jr is 6'1 243 and he's faster and way more violent.

If he’s a quality defender and the corners hold up, we may not lose a single game.

Boy, that video of Queen definitely makes him look tentative and with questionable instincts.

Not sure how that will work in the NFL.

Coaching him out of instinctual reactions (tackling at the feet, seeking contact) is a tall task.

Why wouldn’t that college team put him at rb

if you play the video at 1.5 speed the guys will speak like a normal person.

Ha. That’s what I did, too.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">KC has some of the nicest people I ever met in my life 🙏🏾❤️💛</p>&mdash; Willie Gay Jr. (@WillieG___) <a href="https://twitter.com/WillieG___/status/1268887631368241155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I really hope all the hard work off the field thats been reported is true, and this guy is soaking up virtual work and instruction.

Highlights:


Willie Gay earned rave reviews at running back before Chiefs draft


A major SEC head coach called Gay the “best running back at the high school level he’s ever seen.”

“Andy Reid talked to Dan Mullen, the head coach at Florida, before the draft and Mullen said he was the best running back at the high school level he’s ever seen,” said Palmer. “Now he only played a couple games at running back, but that shows you the type of athlete they’re getting at the linebacker spot to help out this defense that can go in there and stuff the run but also Andy Reid wants him to be that guy that can go out and cover tight ends and cover running backs in the passing game with that athletic ability.”

Willie Gay put on a clinic at the NFL Combine by running the 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds as a 240 pound linebacker. That’s faster than wideouts like Jalen Reagor or CeeDee Lamb or running backs like D’Andre Swift and Cam Akers. He also put up the second highest vertical leap among linebackers at 39.5 inches.

https://apple.news/AbS7Y-lxBNbW_0MAg1f6I0Q

He's a little raw but if House can coach him up we got ourselves DJ 2.0 people

I honestly thought this was a CEH article at first. Thanks for posting.

Let's not forget House coached up Josh Allen who was so so before that happened.

I feel great about this defense. I would expect Gay to be good early. The only real question mark left is the CB position IMO.

Otherwise this team is ready to bully other teams around.

The season can’t start soon enough.

Remembering the LB’s we had once DJ was done.

Ramik Wilson, Ukeme Eligwe, Terrence Smith, Reggie Ragland, Anthony Hitchens, Justin March-Lillard

Oof. This dude is going to finally be a baller we need at LB. I think he’s going to blow up.

The fact that PFF had Gay rated so high in coverage is what really intrigues me. Underneath passes to RBs have killed us for the last couple years, although it did get a bit better toward the end of last season. But it was still bad.

That, and the fact that he's an athletic freak with mean streak. Growing up with his last name probably helped with the mean streak. Kill or be killed.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Willie Gay Jr: 93.9 PFF coverage grade since 2017<br><br>1st among NFL Draft LBs <a href="https://t.co/WJe6xZrI6t">pic.twitter.com/WJe6xZrI6t</a></p>&mdash; PFF College (@PFF_College) <a href="https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1253859938876698625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Dude is going to be a monster

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Willie Gay Jr. is going to be a beast this year. <a href="https://t.co/9o0MAx8bxE">pic.twitter.com/9o0MAx8bxE</a></p>&mdash; Dante&#39; Jones (@Dantej21) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dantej21/status/1283329256454488065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

seems like our back seven is gonna have a lot of flexibility

....You'd probably get a workout vid like that out of just about every NFL LB

Total ****? Yes, I hate most people.

Terrible talent evaluator? Debatable, but likely a better track record than Scott Pioli.

Hated by everyone? While more probable than not, unlikely to include "everyone."

Scott Pioli? I'm not near enough the neat freak or am I incompetent enough to emulate much less be Scott Pioli.

The guy looks like he is going to break the machines in half- I have never seen anyone hit the weights like that? I hope this fierce energy translates over to the football field.

Boy Named Sue

After a decent self-evaluation like that, I take back the talent evaluation component of my post.

And I'll change "everyone" to "almost everyone".

The rest still stands though.

[Mahomo dropped this in the other Gay thread but I'm putting it in here as well.]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We see you, <a href="https://twitter.com/WillieG___?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WillieG___</a> �� <a href="https://t.co/dWTkkmNHTB">pic.twitter.com/dWTkkmNHTB</a></p>&mdash; Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) <a href="https://twitter.com/Chiefs/status/1290784580488826880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Dude's going to be a beast, I can feel it. I think he can be our best off ball linebacker since DJ, although that's not saying much considering the shit we've had at the position.

Demorio Williams is gonna be pissed when he sees this.

https://i.imgur.com/QfKX6KG.jpg

What a ****ing specimen

That's some closing speed there. Excited for this guy.

https://youtu.be/o6K6rH9Ltlc

I was really hoping to see 50 out there on defense. Played zero snaps. He was good on special teams, but I was still really disappointed to keep seeing Niemann out there.

I guess it's nice that we have Breeland, Pennel, and Gay all coming to the defense that already features a fully operational Frank Clark.

Probably the biggest downer of the night. I have been looking forward to him nearly as much as CEH since the draft. Getting up to speed on Spags defense is no small task though so I guess we should not be expecting big snap counts early in the season with the atypical offseason. :shrug:

At this point it's probably best to just get him in there and learn that way. Sneed and Danna were perfectly fine and the other LBs were just rancid ass.

That's a really good way to let him freelance and learn a bunch of bad habits. It isn't a sprint to get to the Super Bowl. They know what they're doing.

Agree completely. I’ve heard he’s struggled a bit with the defensive playbook, and everything Spags expects his LB’s to do. Add in that Gay plays 100 miles an hour, and has a short fuse...little mistakes become big. Would have loved to see him at the end of the game on D, but they’ll bring him along slowly, and build up his confidence.

I expect it's exactly why they DIDN'T play him.

When Saunders went out, you had multiple rookies in the D-line rotation. You had a rookie out at corner.

I expect that as complicated as Spags' scheme can be they elected to keep vets in the LB slots to keep from having huge holes due to confusion at multiple levels.

The simple fact is that the guy hasn't played much organized football (some of it being his own fault).

The knock on him coming out, if there really was one, was that he wasn't very good at diagnosis when a play broke down. He struggled with post-snap processing and played very "out of control" at times which made him hesitant to commit.

Learning the playbook is going to paramount for him so that he can flow naturally and not have to stop and think about what he is doing.

It's also worth noting for those that don't understand why he wasn't playing in place of Niemann, is that he spent the entire offseason, according to his own words, learning the nickel buck and strong side LB. He and Niemann don't play the same positions.

Huh. I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.

I guess the bright side is that Ragland played just as many defensive snaps, so it wasn't all bad.

Yeah, Gay is actually playing the same position as Wilson and Wilson doesn't come off the field very often right now. The sad thing is that as poorly as the whole unit played, Wilson was probably the worst of the bunch. They were all sorts of bad last night.

I feel like they’ve gotta be saving him for week 3. There was too much positive hype around him all training camp.

Keep him off of the film, then unleash him against Baltimore when you need him most.

Andy is taking this same approach offensively, you can expect another vanilla game plan against LAC. Then he’s going to open it up against the Ravens.

Spags got Willie a little bit of work before he had to go in the game for Wilson. He’s starting to slowly get on the field

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Most know that Willie Gay filled in for Damien Wilson for a few snaps after a sideline collision, but Gay actually had a packaged play in the first quarter.<br><br>Chiefs rushing two (Jones and Clark) with Gay as a spy. KC doubles Henry, Williams, and Allen on a big third down play. <a href="https://t.co/r8GjoLXQ0u">pic.twitter.com/r8GjoLXQ0u</a></p>&mdash; Craig Stout (@barleyhop) <a href="https://twitter.com/barleyhop/status/1308205281764139008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Thanks for posting.

That sack by Danna was a great play. He took a second to diagnose the play, disengaged the blocker once he figured it out, erased the outlet FB running to the flat, and closed quickly to secure the sack. That's some wily vet shit.

And the one of Neimann and Thornhill missing tackles is just not winning football. I'll give Thornhill a bit of a pass as he's coming back from injury and an open-field tackle like that is a bit difficult to make, but Neimann had the ball carrier dead to rights. He just gave a shit effort. Anytime you have your ****ing 300+ pound DT (shoutout to Nnadi's hustle on that play) cleaning up mistakes in your secondary, you've got issues.

So Spags has a Gay package.

INterdasting.

I remember thinking Danna was the only weak pick in the draft lol

He's definitely flashed early in the season and appears to be a really smart defensive player

I hope they have WGJ spying Jackson most of the game.

That’s kinda why they drafted him. His athleticism against teams like Baltimore.

Agreed. You don't want Ben Nieman trying to hunt down Jackson.

He had a ton of snaps in college before transferring to Michigan. He's another guy like Wharton that would have been more sought after if he had played at a bigger school.

It's not just about chasing people down. He's got to play within the scheme. Breakdowns will lead to big plays.

While I believe that we'll probably see some of Willie during Monday's game, I think it might be at least a year, maybe even two before he sees significant time on the field.

Here's why (IMO):

Willie doesn't have a lot of experience at the position in the first place. So he just doesn't have a lot of skills that most LBs have coming into the NFL. He's starting from behind the curve.

Spags defense is fairly complex at the LB position. And Gay didn't get the benefit of a real preseason with normal OTAs, mini-camp and preseason game snaps to see how it's all put together.

Without the aforementioned snaps and experience, there's not much trust for what Gay will do on the field yet. Not from the coaches and not from the players either. That will also take some time.

We're just going to have to understand that we need to be patient.

No way it takes that long. He doesn’t have to be perfect, he just needs to be better than the guys he’s competing against. Once he gets the communication down, skys the limit.

It's possible. I'm taking the worst case scenario basically. My point is that he's a literal project, and project's take time. So all I'm saying is that it won't surprise me if he's not ready to be a starter this season. Or even next season.

But if he finishes this season getting say, 15-20 snaps a game that'd be pretty huge. Personally I think it would be good progress if he got 10-15 snaps a game in the last quarter of the season.

We have to trust the coaches. They're all wearing rings for a reason.

Gay can do 2 things right now. Rush the passer and drop into coverage. He's not a traditional LB in space. Let him do what he does. He can change a game with only 30 percent snaps.

Especially if he makes a bad read and gives up a touchdown or something.

He'll play when he's ready.

What’s the worst that could happen? He blows a huge assignment on a pass to the flat to the RB?

Doesn’t get to the correct ball carrier in time?

Misses a shitload of easy tackles and assignments?

Makes an irresponsible lounge tackle and knocks himself out of the game?

Every single LB we have made this mistakes last Sunday.

He can always, always be worse. You should know better than to make broad proclamations like that by now.

But yeah, let's start 2nd-guessing the coaches 3 games after they won the ****ing Super Bowl. Damn COVID made them completely forget everything they knew about football.

I mean, I do sort of agree with the sentiment but if we just blindly agreed with the coaches all the time then this place wouldn't exist.

It's a valid point that the LBs have been so garbage these first two games that its not really possible to play much worse than they have.

Yes sir. This is a good point. Spags is wearing two rings at that.

I wonder if Dorian O'Daniel can't play due to his recent injury whether Gay (with his speed) may take his spot as the QB spy on obvious passing downs. This role is more important with Lamar Jackson at QB.

Exactly, and Spags is wearing TWO. :thumb:

Not 2nd guessing coaches. Just the players at LB.

I’m 1 million % sure they are doing everything possible to get Willie on the field ASAP. They know how catastrophic our LB core has been.

It absolutely IS possible to play worse than they have. Yes, it is.

I'm sure they are too. And he's just not getting that many snaps right now.

What does that tell you? He's not quite ready yet.

Can't wait until he starts.

Spags explains our boys lack of playing time...

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/chiefs-...174000651.html

And there you have it. Basically what I've been saying all along.

Yep, yourself and others already spelled out whats going on days ago... he's gotta show better scheme awareness, its just that simple

I'm not worried in the least, this is an All-Star coaching staff and they'll have him up to speed soon enough... they will serve no wine before its time

When you consider that we’re getting so much from Dana, Wharton and Sneed, Gay is just icing on the cake of a good defensive draft.

Great

Yep. On offense Clyde is good and next year hopefully Niang comes in and kicks ass. Then the draft will look damn near perfect.

He had quite a few snaps last night. Didn't get home on some blitzes and was completely washed out of a couple of plays. Hopefully he starts to make an impact as the season goes along.