Phillip Gaines

Phillip Gaines (born April 4, 1991) is an American former football cornerback.

At the 2009 Texas Relays, he placed 7th in the 110-meter hurdles with a PR time of 14.09 seconds.

He took silver in the long jump at the 2009 Converse Wagner Meet, with a leap of 6.70 meters (21 ft 11 in).

He recorded a personal-best time of 38.54 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles at the 2009 District 27-5A Meet, winning the event.

Gaines was regarded as a two-star recruit by Rivals.com.

Gaines first got his recognition while starring in high school as the overall mvp at the national underclassmen combine and showcase hosted by NUCSports.com and David Schuman

Gaines attended Rice University from 2009 to 2013.

As a true freshman, he played in nine games, starting six, before an injury vs. SMU ended his season.

He recorded 28 total tackles and broke up three passes.

In 2010, he played in all 12 games, recording 64 tackles, including two for loss, and six pass break ups.

In 2011, he played in only five games, including three starts, before sustaining an injury at Southern Miss, and was given a medical redshirt.

In 2012, he started all 13 games, recording 33 tackles, and 18 pass break ups, which led the Conference USA (C-USA) and was second nationally, and earned himself consensus C-USA honors.

In 2013, he was named the Conference USA Pre-season Defensive Player of the Year.

He was suspended for the opening game of the season vs. Texas A&M, due to violation of team rules.

He went on to start the next 12 games of the season, recording 36 tackles, including four for loss, four interceptions and nine pass break ups, and was named first team All-C-USA for the second consecutive season.

Gaines set a school record by breaking up 38 passes in his career.

He was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round of the 2014 NFL draft.

He played college football at Rice.

Gaines attended Judson High School in Converse, Texas, where he played football and ran track.

He totalled 110 tackles and four interceptions during his two seasons, and blocked five kicks as a senior, leading Judson to the state title game played at Rice Stadium.

Academically, he had a 3.7 grade point average.

As a track and field athlete, Gaines was ranked as one of the top 110-meter hurdlers in the state as a senior.

As a junior, he ran a leg on Judson's 4 × 100 m relay squad that finished third at the state track meet, with a school-record time of 40.91 seconds.

On January 11, 2014, it was reported that Gaines had accepted his invitation to play in the 2014 East–West Shrine Game.

On January 18, 2014, Gaines recorded one solo tackle and led both teams with three pass break ups to help former Atlanta Falcons' head coach Jerry Glanville's East team defeat the West 23–13.

Gaines was one of 38 cornerbacks and 59 collegiate defensive backs to receive an invitation to perform at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana.

He had a spectacular performance at the combine and completed all of the combine and positional drills.

He tied TCU's Jason Verrett for the second best 40-yard dash time among defensive backs at the combine, finishing only behind Oklahoma State's Justin Gilbert.

Gaines also finished second in the three-cone drill among his position group behind Oregon's Terrance Mitchell.

On March 17, 2014, Gaines opted to participate at Rice's pro day, along with ten other prospects.

He chose to stand on his combine numbers and only ran positional drills for scouts and team representatives from 23 NFL teams.

Gaines had private visits or workouts with the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Giants, and Miami Dolphins.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Gaines received multiple different draft projections, varying from a projection as early as the second round (NFLDraftScout.com and Bleacher Report) to as late as the fourth or fifth round (NFL.com).

He was ranked as the seventh best cornerback prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

The Kansas City Chiefs selected Gaines in the third round (87th overall) of the 2014 NFL draft.

He was the eighth cornerback selected in 2014.

On May 15, 2014, the Chiefs signed him to a four-year, $2.82 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $549,112.

Throughout his first training camp, he competed with Brandon Flowers, Chris Owens, Marcus Cooper, Jamell Fleming, and Ron Parker for a job as the starting cornerback.

Head coach Andy Reid named him the sixth cornerback on the depth chart to start the regular season, behind Sean Smith, Cooper, Owens, Parker, and Fleming.

He made his professional regular season debut in the Chiefs' season-opening 26-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans.