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Press Pass | Trent Baalke and Doug Pederson Recap Day 1 of the NFL Draft · Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Scoring offense this year didn't have a lot of good
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: moments stretches during the stretch. How much the draft of
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Brian Thomas an.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Anecdote to that.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: I think that's a better question for coach.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: But you know, I think when you go into the draft,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: you try to identify players that can help you, you know,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: on on either side of the ball. You know, Brian's
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: a young man that I think he had twenty two
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: targets over twenty plus yards and on and scored fifteen
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: touchdowns on those, you know, so he's an explosive athlete.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: He can help open up the field a little bit,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: certainly for a younger receiver for Trevor to build around
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: in our offense to build around. So there were a
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: lot of positives to the pick. You know, a lot
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: of time and energy went into it. So feel good
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: about where we're at.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Doug, you love to talk about that. How let you
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: hope that you will add juice this?
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah, that's the you know, that's the the idea
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: right when you when you when you select good players,
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: you know in the draft, I mean that's that's you know,
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: you're adding you're adding a skilled receiver, you're adding depth,
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: you're adding a guy that you know, has an element
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: of speed that that we we haven't had, you know,
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: and and probably since Calvin you know, last year. And
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: it really you know, once he once we get him
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: in here too, and and you know, really get our
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: hands on him, get him into the playbook, you know,
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: in a couple of weeks and and.
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: Really see how we can use him.
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  Speaker 4: I think it can only be a great asset for
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  Speaker 4: us on offense to uh, you know, uh not only
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: open up the field, but I think open up some
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: other elements of the offense. Great size, I mean great size,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: you know big, he's tall, has a really good route tree.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: I can run all the routes definitely, as you've seen,
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: you know, he can take take the top off.
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: I mean he's gonna see some different coverages too.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: You know, he's gonna see you know, a little bit
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: better secondary guys. I mean the SEC has you know,
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: good good coverage coverage guys. But he's gonna see you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: more defenses, different defenses, and so those are those are
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: things as coaches we.
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: You know, we'll scheme up for him.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: Can you talk about the processing further back?
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  Speaker 2: Well again you you go into it and I've always said,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: you listen to the board, and we were sitting at
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: sixteen I think around pick fifteen sixteen, we started getting
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: some calls, you know, and the board was looked good.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: You know, we were in good shape with the needs
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: that we had and the players that we had targeted.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Taking a look at the teams that were between seventeen
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and twenty three what their needs were.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: We just felt the board was solid.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: You know, it was well worth picking up three extra
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: picks and really getting one of you know, one of
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the players that we covered it in the draft.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: For.
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  Speaker 6: How much was going into this process identifying that number
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: one wide receiver.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: A priorities for you Well, again, we we don't look
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: at it as far as needs until we get to
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: this stage later in the process. We just try to
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: stack the board as natural as we can, regardless of
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: what our needs are. You know, we don't try to
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: overinflate valuable player just because it's a position of need.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: You know, you just recognize if you're going to take a.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Need and it's it's not that the value that some
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: of the other players are that you're reaching for it.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And this was a situation, like I said, the board
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  Speaker 2: the board really looked good for us at seven at sixteen,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: and we kind of knew what Seattle was gonna do.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: We had a good beat on what they would where
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: they were leaning, you know, so when we got the
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: call to move back to twenty three, we were just
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: He looked at me, I looked at him, and we said, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: let's do it.
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  Speaker 3: It was kind of like last year him.
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  Speaker 1: As the missing piece of this offense. Big tall guy
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  Speaker 1: can use you know, red zone day that kind of stuff,
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  Speaker 1: and a big play guy down the field and you
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: stretches things a little bit more.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, those are all things I think we'll
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: we'll we'll figure out when we get him here too.
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  Speaker 4: But what we've seen on film, I think that's you know,
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  Speaker 4: I think that's the the reality of what he can do.
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  Speaker 4: But as soon as we get him in here and
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  Speaker 4: and get him get him in our system, you know,
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  Speaker 4: it's gonna be a different offense obviously than than he
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  Speaker 4: had at LSU, and a different route. He can be
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: running some different routes you know, that'll utilize his his
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  Speaker 4: speed and of uh, you know, athleticism.
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  Speaker 5: So I think it's it's early to tell.
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  Speaker 4: But at the same time, We're excited to get him
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  Speaker 4: in here in a couple of weeks and and get
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  Speaker 4: him working with the with the offense, which Trevor, if
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: he was the.
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  Speaker 3: Ticket seventeen, he was going to be the pick at seventeen.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 2: So, like we said, now, there were other players involved,
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  Speaker 2: and we just felt, you know that the way the
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  Speaker 2: board looked and where the needs were the teams in
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  Speaker 2: between us, we felt we had a chance. Uh and
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: you know, there's risk, there's reward, you know, you make
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  Speaker 2: the move back. But we we felt we were gonna
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  Speaker 2: get a really good football player that we had high
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  Speaker 2: on our board with the move back. But fortunate that
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: you know, Brian was still there, the process.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Working out like that back in back years, still being
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: able to get the guy you want.
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  Speaker 3: They just kind of, I guess how rare.
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  Speaker 1: It is that to happen, you know, in your experience.
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  Speaker 2: I don't I don't know what the other thirty two,
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  Speaker 2: the other thirty one teams.
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  Speaker 3: Look at, you know, so I have no idea.
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  Speaker 2: You know, again, we we had a group of players
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: that we were really you know, coveting, you know, so
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  Speaker 2: it wasn't just one guy. But he's certainly a guy
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: that we had targeted for a while. And again you
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: just you let the board speak and you follow, you
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: follow your gut.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: Was there a moment in the process, maybe on the
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: top thirty visit, where you two guys kind of looked
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: at each other said, you really want Bryan Thomas and Jacksonville?
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I think throughout the process. You know, Coach has
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: been a big supporter from day one, you know, when
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: he when he put on the film, you know, and
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: he's a guy that you know, we are scouts identified
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: early in the process.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: This isn't a guy that climbed up the board late.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: He's he's always been somebody that we had a lot
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  Speaker 2: of appreciation for his skill set. And like Coach mentioned earlier,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: he's a guy that brings a skill set that we
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: haven't necessarily had to the level that he brings in
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: terms of he's forty six oh two seven, he's he's
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  Speaker 2: uh two hundred nine pounds and he runs sub four
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  Speaker 2: four you know, mid four threes. So and he's got
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: the production to back it up. Like I said earlier,
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  Speaker 2: I think twenty two targets over twenty yards and fifteen
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  Speaker 2: of them ended up in touch stones, uh, and a
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: seventeen plus average, So you know, we're just looking forward
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: to getting them in here and getting our hands out
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  Speaker 2: and going to work.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: How important is it to continue building around Trevor?
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously Mitch.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: Morris and Anton last year, Gay Davis like just giving
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: him as many potential pieces.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: Around him to get this thing role. Oh, I think
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: it's important, you know. I mean, you're trying to always
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: improve every year. And you know, we we went out
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: and obviously through free agency of our own players, and
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: then of course you know, outside the building we've talked
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: about this and then obviously you know, tonight's another step.
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  Speaker 4: We've got two more days obviously, but I think the
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: more opportunities and more you know, weapons you can surround
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: your quarterback with, I think the the the better your
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: chances are gonna be. Now, you know, we have to
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: coach them and then we got to play, and there's
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: a lot of things that go into that, but but
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: it does help your uh, it does help your.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Chances any any serious spot for consideration to trying to treat.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Though to get one of the top three receivers.
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: So that sh was the price just too.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we we had a good beat on where those
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: guys were gonna go, and they pretty much went where
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: we felt they were gonna go, and the price to
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: move up into that territory would have been really steep,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: So it wasn't an option. You know, if one of
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: them would have slipped a little further, maybe you do it.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: But we just didn't feel they were gonna get into
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: our range, and they didn't get into our range.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Can you talk about the value of getting the picks.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: In twenty twenty five rather than perhaps.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: If there was a way to get more picks this year?
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  Speaker 3: You know, what's the difference between this this year's driving.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: The next year's DFT potentially, Yeah, that I don't know.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm not I'll work on next year's draft
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: and in about a week, but you know, you take
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: what they give you, right, There wasn't an option for
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: this year's picks. We did get one extra pick in
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: this year, a fifth round pick. I believe it's one
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  Speaker 2: sixty seven, so late in the fifth round. But the
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: value of those picks next year are solid. You know,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: it's a third round pick, it's the top one under player.
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  Speaker 2: The other one's going to be in the top one
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  Speaker 2: twenty Those are good football players. So you know, the
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: value was good for us.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: It's probably if Calvin had come back. Is this to
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: mean you still would have identified for going forward?
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: You know, probably not not at that, not with that pick.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: You when you look at a trade like that, do
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: you think we're fleecing them from a number? No?
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: No, No, I think it. I think it was a
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: fair trade.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: You know. You know, I have a lot of respect
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: for Quasi and he's, uh, he's one of the bright
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: minds in this business when it comes to numbers and
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: analytics and everything else.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: He's not gonna get fleeced. You know. He did a
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: good job.
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  Speaker 2: They got the player they wanted, they and they gave
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: us what they were willing to give up. It's it's
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: not about fleecing one another. No one's gonna wa get
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: one over on another one. It's just what are they
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: willing to give and are you willing to accept it?
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: That simple as that. How well, I'm not going to
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: get into how the board fell for us, because uh,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: you know, it kind of tips our hand on what
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: players we were looking at and how we built our boards.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: So there's no value in saying that.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of good football players that
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: went off the board, A lot of guys that we
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: had value, you know, very good value on uh no,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: real surprises, you know, all the players that got picked,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: I think we're deserving of getting picked, you know.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: And again it only takes one team, you know, to.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: To fall in love with the players. You got to
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: build the board based on what you believe. Because there's
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: thirty two teams and thirty two boards out there. None
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: of them are identical and a lot of times not
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: even close.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Brian at the combine, Brian had the fastest flying twenty times.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: How much of that metric do you pay attention to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: and how important is that?
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Ethan was Ethan Waard, assistant general manager,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: was sitting down by the forties, you know, and that
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: one first thing he said when he came back is wow,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: can that guy.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Run power out of the blox? You know?
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: And you can feel those guys that run like that.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: So we pay a lot of attention to a lot
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: of the analytics, you know, we crunch the numbers. I
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: think we got one of the best, if not the best,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: a group of people that just churn the numbers and
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: give us great insight into the physical ability of these players,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: whether it's in game stuff or combine metrics or whatever. Uh,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: So you pay attention to everything.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: You guys have talked about culture fits and how players,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: what you guys are building here. How much of that
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: played into the decision to Bryan?
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: He seems like a really nice kid. Yeah.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: I think we've said for this since we've got together.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: You know, that's important to us, right. We we want
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: guys that are available. We want guys that take care
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: of themselves, Uh, prepare hard for the game, take care
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: of the people in the community. They're just good people,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: you know. And he's certainly one.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Of those, y'all, and he's kept there or we may have.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: We may have.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: We we got here at the end of the draft,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: so we may have read into that what you want.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: But the six.
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: Quarterbacks that went in the first fourteen six as a
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: former quarterback yourself, your reaction to the fact that that.
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: Is the world all now, Well, you're exactly right. It
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: is the world we live in.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: We're in a we're in a passing league, and and
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: all these guys are very very talented and and and
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: can throw the football.
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: They've had great college.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: Careers and and they've they've had a lot of snaps.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: You know, these are these are guys that have had
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: a lot of football. They've played a ton of football,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: so you know, these aren't you know, you know guys
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: that are like just one one hit wonder type guys.
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: They're there's there's there's an investment there.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: So uh, it's it's pretty impressive, you know that this
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: amount of you know, qbs went you know.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: As early as they did.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: But but again it's the league that we're that we're in,
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: and and uh, you know, we'll see how everything everything
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: plays out.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Any quarterback pushing guys down for und.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we we felt there was gonna be
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: a good number. I can't say we felt there would
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: be six that went that high, but we certainly felt
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: it was a good class, a good group of eyes.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: And and you're never surprised when a quarterback comes off
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: the board because if you don't have one, you need one.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: You got to go get one because you can't play
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: the game without one.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: You got