Player Profile | Rashaan Gaulden, DB

Will a change of scenery bring out the best in this one-time third-round pick by the Carolina Panters in 2018?

2019 Rewind

Rashaan Gaulden’s earliest NFL experience hopefully has taught him a valuable lesson about coming in prepared every week.

Gaulden, a third-round draft pick by the Panthers in 2018, began his NFL career as an intriguing safety prospect/big nickel who brought physicality to the table in addition to being able to contribute to special teams.

So why did the Panthers give up on this 6-foot-1, 200-pound prospect out of the University of Tennessee so soon?

Sloppiness might have had something to do with it. In his final game for the Panthers (against the Saints), he was in the center of two very costly plays.

The first saw him collide with the Panthers punt returner, the ball grazing his leg and recovered by the Saints. The second was his committing an unnecessary roughness penalty that offset a similar penalty during a kickoff return.

Between that sloppiness and the fact that he struggled to earn a regular spot in the Panthers defense, Carolina decided to cut their losses. 

Gaulden finished his two-year stint in Carolina having recorded 13 tackles on defense and seven on special teams, disappointing numbers for a third-round pick.

The Giants picked him up last December, signing him to their practice squad. He was then signed to a reserve/futures contract in January and will look to crack the lineup at what’s suddenly a very stacked Giants defensive backfield.

Looking Ahead

While you never like to say “never” regarding a player’s prospects of making a roster, Gaulden has a pretty steep hill to climb. 

He would almost certainly have to show better awareness and preparation on special teams and the discipline to refrain from engaging in any extracurricular activity that tends to develop in the heat of the moment.

Gaulden lost a year in college due to a foot injury, so it’s probably fair to wonder if that affected him in his final two seasons production-wise. 

Otherwise, there are some things to like about his game. For one, he is a reliable tackler who, in college, was solid against the run, especially on runs to the perimeter. 

He showed good instincts in college, and while he only had the one interception, he usually found himself around the ball where he was able to be disruptive.

With all that said, Gaulden doesn’t possess ideal athleticism, though he tries to make up for that with a nonstop motor and a relentlessness that sometimes gets him into jams on the field. 

That lack of ideal athleticism likely limits him to a box-safety role, though he might have enough of a case to hang around on the practice squad if things fall into place if he can deliver the goods on special teams.