LA Rams teammates love DL Greg Gaines performance, here’s why…

Just how good is LA Rams defensive lineman Greg Gaines? Well, the teammates of All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald are beginning to compare him to… Aaron Donald. That is high praise indeed from those who witness the daily workouts, the tireless hours of drilling and preparation, the passion of one of, if not the, best players in the NFL today.

Gaines is not one for the spotlight. He is content to be exactly how his defensive line coach, Eric Henderson, describes as a DAWG. He is the type of player who celebrates his teammate’s great play as enthusiastically as his own. And it’s not something he learned in the NFL. It’s always been a part of who he is.

He was an under-ranked defensive lineman who played on a scholarship for the University of Washington Huskies. There, he played alongside defensive linemen Elijah Qualls and Vita Vea, both of who would hear their names called in their respective NFL Drafts. He was lauded less for his individual work than what he did as a partner to another defensive lineman. Gaines was happy to take on multiple blockers so his teammate could make the play.

Gaines makes teammates look better

Gaines directly contributed to the willingness of the Philadelphia Eagles choice of selecting Elijah Qualls. Qualls is a 6-foot-2 320-pound defensive lineman who was selected by the Eagles due to his remarkable athleticism. The only problem was that he was unable to shed blocks and only played his rookie season. In six games, he played 104 defensive snaps made four tackles. He needed somebody to help him shed blockers.

Another teammate was Vita Vea. While Vea has certainly delivered as a strong nose tackle who can make plays, you could make a case that being the 12th player off the board in the 2018 NFL Draft had a higher bar set. Vea has played 538 defensive snaps, and he’s made 30 tackles, 4.0 quarterback sacks, and 11 quarterback hits.

2021 is the best NFL season of Vea’s career, and the Buccaneers are no doubt quite pleased.  But you could say that expectations of a player chosen so high in the draft should be double that production? Perhaps, like Qualls, part of Vea’s buzz had to do with playing next to Greg Gaines?  Let’s look at this a bit further.