USFL receiver's postcard from Canton to NFL: 'I believe I can be impact player. Really.'

CANTON − Speedy Bailey Gaither plays the right position, receiver, for a guy with a catchy name.

He's in the right spot for catching the eye of NFL scouts, doing a fly pattern into the USFL Championship Game with the Canton-based Pittsburgh Maulers.

They will take on the Birmingham Stallions at 8 p.m. Saturday in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

This is sixth straight week Gaither and his teammates will have played in Canton, where the Maulers are based. He scored late in regulation of a 31-27 overtime thriller against the Michigan Panthers in the championship semifinals.

Gaither, who seems to burst with natural energy, turned the brights on when asked about his last few months in town.

"The football tradition here is so strong," he said. "You see it in the giant football goal posts on either side of the highway just off the practice field. We practice and play next to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the Hall of Fame city."

Gaither is a long way from home, which is Paso Robles, California, midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

His second home became San Jose State, where he spent six years amid injury issues. The fourth game of his fourth year is an example of his tough luck. He made two catches for 97 yards against Hawaii before blowing out an Achilles and missing the rest of the year.

He returned to play 12 games in 2019, with good but not great stats. He then lit it up in 2020 when no one was watching − it was the season of COVID-19.

Gaither caught 10 balls for 208 yards against New Mexico. He stung Nevada for 156 yards on seven catches. He made first-team All-Mountain West for a team that went 7-1.

That was three years ago. Now he is 26 years old, ancient for someone who has yet to make a final NFL roster.

To use one example, he is two years older than Donovan Peoples-Jones, a receiver entering his fourth season with the Cleveland Browns.

But he heads into the USFL finals with a team and a dream.

He doesn't just think he is good enough to make an NFL roster. In a tone indicative of having convinced himself, he said:

"I believe I can be an impact player in the NFL. I really do. I believe in my speed. I believe in my playmaking ability."

Gaither's six years at San Jose State were an odyssey. So have been his three years in pro football.

He landed with the Green Bay Packers after going undrafted in 2021. He announced his retirement early in training camp.

He unretired when the USFL launched in the spring of 2022, joining the Maulers and reuniting with his college quarterback, Josh Love. The Maulers had a strange season in which Gaither caught passes from four different QBs.

A month after the 2022 USFL season ended, he signed with the Baltimore Ravens, but injury struggles led to his release last Aug. 23.

He spent a few days in October on the Ravens' practice squad, which was odd in a way, because shortly after he was released, Baltimore signed former All-Pro DeSean Jackson to the practice squad.

"Being a speed guy and a deep guy, I've always followed DeSean Jackson," Gaither said. "He has been able to take the top off defenses and make plays with the ball in his hands. He's from California, too.

"I like watching guys who can make one play and change the game. I always try to do that."

Gaither re-signed with the Maulers in January.

He is tall enough, at 6-foot-1, and he has the wheels, as reflected by the fact he had 90 career stolen bases for his high school baseball team.

Gaither counts himself fortunate to have a head coach, Ray Horton, and a position coach, Alex Wood, who both have deep NFL experience.

"Not every guy out there is an NFL guy," Horton said. "But there are some."

The USFL is full of players trying to overcome something. For Gaither, it is injuries. For Maulers receiver Isiah Hennie, it is size − he is listed at 5-foot-7.

It's a stretch to suppose there is zero "sense of entitlement" in the USFL. But it might be close to zero, based on an interview with USFL President Daryl "Moose" Johnston. He said:

"The unanimous consensus from every coach is, 'I love these guys. All they want to do is work. All they want to do is get better. All they want to do is enjoy the game. I don't have to push them to do more. I usually have to pull them back to do less.'"

Receivers coach Wood sees it Johnston's way, saying, "The players have been awesome to work with. They're truly professional young men, men who work."

Hennie and Gaither both ranked in the top 12 in the USFL regular season in receiving yards. Hennie is the USFL's all-league punt returner. Gaither scored that late touchdown that helped beat Michigan last Saturday.

"Being here is a great opportunity," Gaither said. "Last year it provided an opportunity to go back to the NFL.

"I would tell anybody it's a starter league to get yourself an opportunity to go to the NFL, if that's what you want to go."

After the championship game, it's definitely where he wants to go.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Maulers receivers Bailey Gaither aims for NFL after USFL title game