Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Press Pass | Trent Baalke, Doug Pederson on 2024 NFL Draft Preparation

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Press Pass | Trent Baalke, Doug Pederson on 2024 NFL Draft Preparation · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: In terms of the draft.
0:01
Speaker 2: Obviously, most of the times you want to have players
0:05
Speaker 2: that you project maybe in a couple of years they're
0:07
Speaker 2: going to be starters or whatever it may be.
0:10
Speaker 1: How important is that this year with the way.
0:12
Speaker 2: You guys have your roster shaped, to draft guys that
0:14
Speaker 2: can come in and contribute immediately.
0:19
Speaker 3: You know, you try to find the best players. You know,
0:21
Speaker 3: that's what you try to do in the draft. Uh,
0:24
Speaker 3: there we have some needs obviously that we need to address.
0:28
Speaker 3: You know, the board's got to fall the right way.
0:31
Speaker 3: You know, needs needs are paramount, but we're gonna stick
0:36
Speaker 3: with our formula and draft the best players available.
0:39
Speaker 2: Doesn't matter if they're a player that might not necessarily
0:41
Speaker 2: be able to contribute right away, or are you trying
0:44
Speaker 2: to get guys that can get in here faster and.
0:49
Speaker 3: Well, most of the time, you know, there isn't that
0:52
Speaker 3: biggest separation between a need and in another position, right
0:57
Speaker 3: so when in doubt, you're going to take the need
1:00
Speaker 3: if it's close, obviously, if it's if there's a great
1:03
Speaker 3: distance between the two, you got to weigh that out,
1:07
Speaker 3: you know, And usually what we've done in the past
1:09
Speaker 3: is stick with the formula, take the best player available.
1:12
Speaker 3: Now again, if it's close, we're gonna take the higher need.
1:16
Speaker 4: Trying to.
1:18
Speaker 5: Do you feel more comfortable with the roster, with what
1:21
Speaker 5: you guys were able to accomplish in free agency and
1:23
Speaker 5: dog if you want to address that.
1:25
Speaker 3: Too, Yeah, I think you try to address needs in
1:29
Speaker 3: free agency. You try to attack it that way. The
1:32
Speaker 3: less needs you have going into the draft, the better obviously,
1:36
Speaker 3: because it allows you to then stick to that formula
1:39
Speaker 3: draft and the best player available. But you know, we
1:43
Speaker 3: feel comfortable, you know, I think and coach can speak
1:46
Speaker 3: on that too. We feel comfortable with where we're at,
1:48
Speaker 3: but we got we got a ways to go.
1:52
Speaker 6: You know, I look at it too the same.
1:55
Speaker 7: You know, the first thing we try to do every
1:57
Speaker 7: off season is try to resign our own guys, right,
2:00
Speaker 7: That's that's kind of the priority there. And then and
2:02
Speaker 7: then look outside the building, you know too, to fill
2:06
Speaker 7: as Trent was saying, to to fill those those immediate
2:09
Speaker 7: needs possibly there and and then obviously this third bucket
2:12
Speaker 7: is the draft.
2:13
Speaker 6: And so.
2:15
Speaker 7: You feel good with the guys you got in the
2:17
Speaker 7: building because you were able to you know, answer answer
2:20
Speaker 7: a couple of questions and and now you know, heading
2:24
Speaker 7: into next week.
2:25
Speaker 6: You feel now you're.
2:26
Speaker 7: Just adding more talent, more depth and and the competition
2:30
Speaker 7: that as coaches we look for, uh as we continue
2:32
Speaker 7: to build.
2:33
Speaker 4: When you're dealing with positions of need that you have
2:36
Speaker 4: and it just so happens to line up that it
2:38
Speaker 4: might be a deep group of players at those positions,
2:41
Speaker 4: does that complicate.
2:42
Speaker 1: Things in terms of what you want to do?
2:44
Speaker 4: Uh? You know, can you afford to wait a little
2:47
Speaker 4: bit more? Does it make you want to wait a
2:48
Speaker 4: little bit more, or you know, before you grab one
2:51
Speaker 4: of those positions, or how does that well?
2:53
Speaker 3: So it's obviously it's more comforting to know there's a
2:56
Speaker 3: there's depth of a position where you have a need
2:59
Speaker 3: because it gives you have multiple opportunities within different levels
3:02
Speaker 3: of the draft, you know, and sometimes that you're split
3:05
Speaker 3: in hairs, and sometimes the guy that you got a
3:08
Speaker 3: little more value to doesn't doesn't play up to or
3:11
Speaker 3: doesn't play as well as the guy you got right
3:13
Speaker 3: behind him. So you know, there's a little luck involved
3:16
Speaker 3: as well. But we feel good about where the board's
3:19
Speaker 3: at now. We feel good about the where our needs
3:22
Speaker 3: lie and where the board, what the board is shaping
3:24
Speaker 3: up to look like. So you know now we just
3:26
Speaker 3: got to wait and play it out.
3:28
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the talent pool in this
3:30
Speaker 1: year's draft?
3:31
Speaker 5: Is this a draft where you feel like you can
3:32
Speaker 5: get a guy on day or two, day three?
3:35
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I think it's no different than most drafts.
3:39
Speaker 3: I think there's it's a there's talent at all levels.
3:42
Speaker 3: You just got to find them, you know, and a
3:44
Speaker 3: lot of a lot of finding them is fit. A
3:46
Speaker 3: lot of finding them is opportunity, you know, giving them opportunity.
3:50
Speaker 3: Once you get them, you know, on your on your program,
3:53
Speaker 3: within within the organization. So I think I think it's
3:56
Speaker 3: no different. I like this group of players coming in,
4:00
Speaker 3: it's a little bit older. That's an older group because
4:03
Speaker 3: of the COVID situation and guys that went back for
4:06
Speaker 3: their fifth six years of college.
4:08
Speaker 8: So that's a little different for us.
4:11
Speaker 7: Trying to mention how the four falls and how that
4:13
Speaker 7: can affect the approach.
4:15
Speaker 5: Is there an unique aspect to this last with the
4:18
Speaker 5: quarterback loss.
4:19
Speaker 2: At the top and maybe the teams.
4:21
Speaker 1: That are looking into that and how it defect ability.
4:25
Speaker 3: Well, when you don't need a position and it's it's
4:28
Speaker 3: heavy at a position like it is with quarterbacks and
4:32
Speaker 3: you know, four or five are more than likely going
4:34
Speaker 3: to go off before we pick at seventeen. You know
4:37
Speaker 3: that's a good thing, you know, because that leaves the
4:39
Speaker 3: position players or more position players available for us. You know,
4:44
Speaker 3: but again, you don't know what's going to happen one
4:47
Speaker 3: through sixteen. You know, you think you got an idea.
4:50
Speaker 3: You go in with a pretty good idea what it
4:53
Speaker 3: looks like and what your options might be. You know,
4:56
Speaker 3: whether that's three or four players we're looking at right now,
4:59
Speaker 3: we're not there yet. You know, we still got a
5:01
Speaker 3: couple of days of going through coaching. I haven't sat
5:04
Speaker 3: down and go, excuse me going through the final board yet.
5:08
Speaker 8: We'll do that on Monday.
5:10
Speaker 3: But we like how it's shaping up, but we still
5:12
Speaker 3: got some work to do.
5:14
Speaker 5: Do you treat the offensive line differently than say, defensive line,
5:18
Speaker 5: where it's natural to rotate guys for keeping everybody first,
5:22
Speaker 5: But with the offensive line, you don't really want to
5:24
Speaker 5: do that.
5:24
Speaker 1: You want more continuity.
5:25
Speaker 5: How do you approach that position in the draft differently
5:28
Speaker 5: from saying why perceive your DV or for defensive line?
5:32
Speaker 8: I don't know if we address it differently.
5:34
Speaker 3: You know, you got guys that you rate as starters
5:36
Speaker 3: and guys they have raided as backups with a chance
5:40
Speaker 3: to develop. Depending on what depth of the draft you're
5:43
Speaker 3: looking at. You know, it is easier to get the
5:47
Speaker 3: defensive players on the field, the d line on the
5:49
Speaker 3: field first or earlier, because you can get them in
5:52
Speaker 3: a rotation, like you say, a lot more difficult to
5:55
Speaker 3: do that with old lignemen.
5:57
Speaker 8: So usually those back end guys, the eighth, ninth guy.
6:02
Speaker 3: Sometimes the teams that carry ten, Philly carries ten a
6:05
Speaker 3: lot of times. You know, the ninth tenth guy, they're
6:08
Speaker 3: not gonna they're not gonna get much playing time unless
6:10
Speaker 3: somebody goes down really there for developmental reasons. So it's
6:14
Speaker 3: a little bit unique in that way.
6:16
Speaker 9: When you look at your position at seventeen, which is
6:19
Speaker 9: you know, the middle of the first round is one
6:21
Speaker 9: of the areas where the Jaguars have really never drafted before.
6:25
Speaker 9: Do you feel like, given what your needs are and
6:27
Speaker 9: what's available and that seventeenth position, that there's probably a
6:31
Speaker 9: wider net for you to cast in terms of the options,
6:35
Speaker 9: whether it's trade up, trade.
6:36
Speaker 1: Down, stay put.
6:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, there's there's a there's a lot as
6:42
Speaker 3: you know that goes into it. You know, we feel
6:44
Speaker 3: good about the group that's there, you know, at different positions.
6:49
Speaker 3: You know that we're focused in on a little bit,
6:53
Speaker 3: But you don't know what's gonna happen, you know, you don't.
6:56
Speaker 3: You really aren't gonna know what we're gonna do until
6:58
Speaker 3: maybe the twelfth or thirteenth.
6:59
Speaker 8: Pick, you know, and and uh, then we'll we'll.
7:03
Speaker 3: Look at the opportunity to potentially move up, you know,
7:06
Speaker 3: and if we get to sixteen like we did last year,
7:08
Speaker 3: and somebody calls and there's a chance to move back
7:11
Speaker 3: one or two, you know, you just don't know. It's
7:14
Speaker 3: it's you're playing it on game day.
7:17
Speaker 10: I've done a couple of guys that uh last year
7:20
Speaker 10: were or Ventrail and Cooper. Where they right now?
7:24
Speaker 1: And do you anticipate them being able to make contribution
7:29
Speaker 1: this year?
7:30
Speaker 6: Both guys are doing extremely well.
7:33
Speaker 7: You know, both both have been here rehabbing and and
7:37
Speaker 7: did a nice job during the season, uh to get
7:40
Speaker 7: themselves in a position to uh, you know, perform this
7:43
Speaker 7: spring and and you know they're here in the building,
7:47
Speaker 7: they'll they'll be able to get on the grass with us,
7:50
Speaker 7: you know, in phase two. And then obviously during OTAs
7:52
Speaker 7: and Phase three and and it'll be a it'll be
7:54
Speaker 7: a be a big opportunity for both those guys, because
7:58
Speaker 7: I thought at the end of camp both guys were
8:00
Speaker 7: really trending in the right direction for us, you know,
8:03
Speaker 7: to potentially help and and.
8:06
Speaker 6: You know, so we'll see where they are.
8:08
Speaker 7: But they're they're they're healthy, they're ready to get back
8:11
Speaker 7: on the grass and and uh, you know, see where
8:14
Speaker 7: see where we can plug them in and contribute and
8:16
Speaker 7: and again give us, as we talk about, give us
8:18
Speaker 7: the depth that we're looking for at both of those positions.
8:21
Speaker 10: If you throw Tyler and you see her into the
8:23
Speaker 10: next did this guy essentially have a reach sher ear
8:25
Speaker 10: and did they use that all use that time too,
8:30
Speaker 10: you know, in the best way they could to get
8:33
Speaker 10: better and improve.
8:34
Speaker 6: And yeah, exactly.
8:36
Speaker 7: And you know, is Zer probably falls in, you know,
8:40
Speaker 7: probably more with Coope and and Ventreil and Away even
8:43
Speaker 7: though he was healthy, you know and in practice and
8:45
Speaker 7: all that, and unfortunately he didn't he didn't get much.
8:48
Speaker 6: Time you know, on the grass during during the regular season.
8:50
Speaker 7: But and then Tyler, did you know, and we've got
8:53
Speaker 7: to continue all four of those guys, We've got to
8:56
Speaker 7: continue their growth and development this spring and make sure
8:59
Speaker 7: that they're in a position help us.
9:00
Speaker 11: How do you look at the receivers in this draft
9:03
Speaker 11: that everybody's talking about those top three guys? Is that
9:06
Speaker 11: how you see it separation there? And then how deep
9:08
Speaker 11: there is the glastgow for you.
9:11
Speaker 3: I think it's a very good group of receivers, obviously.
9:14
Speaker 3: It's I think those three that everybody's talking about are
9:18
Speaker 3: really good football players. I think there's some guys in
9:20
Speaker 3: that next wave that are really good football players too.
9:23
Speaker 3: And I think there's there's good players that all the
9:26
Speaker 3: way through the draft in that at that position.
9:29
Speaker 8: There's gonna be some.
9:30
Speaker 3: Later round guys that make a mark for themselves at
9:33
Speaker 3: some point in their careers in this league as well.
9:36
Speaker 8: So it's a good group.
9:37
Speaker 3: It's there's a lot of variations of guys. Guys strictly
9:41
Speaker 3: in the slot, guys strictly out on the on the perimeter.
9:44
Speaker 3: There are some guys that can move around the formations
9:47
Speaker 3: a little bit more.
9:48
Speaker 8: So, it's a good group of receivers.
9:51
Speaker 9: If if it comes down to the seventeenth pigeon, let's
9:54
Speaker 9: say you do not trade up, but you wait until
9:56
Speaker 9: it's you're time to pick, and there's two guys that
9:59
Speaker 9: you like a lot.
10:02
Speaker 1: Does it go strictly do you go strictly by your
10:04
Speaker 1: value board?
10:05
Speaker 9: In that instance, say hey, this is where we had them.
10:10
Speaker 3: I think we do what we did last year. Just
10:12
Speaker 3: look at each other, flip a coin and take one.
10:14
Speaker 3: But I think you know when it's when it's very similar,
10:20
Speaker 3: you're gonna go with the need, right, what what's the need?
10:23
Speaker 8: Pick?
10:24
Speaker 3: You know, if there's two players at competing positions and
10:28
Speaker 3: you say, okay, the higher what's the higher need? They're
10:31
Speaker 3: both good football players, we like them both, they both
10:33
Speaker 3: fit our culture. Everything everything equal, go with the guy
10:37
Speaker 3: that's gonna get on the field first.
10:40
Speaker 1: So you would you would take You would take the
10:42
Speaker 1: need over the day.
10:43
Speaker 9: If the other guy had better value, but the other
10:45
Speaker 9: guy was a bigger need, you would you would still
10:47
Speaker 9: go with the need guy.
10:48
Speaker 3: As long as it's very as long as there's a
10:50
Speaker 3: very similar When you talk about what's the difference in value,
10:54
Speaker 3: is it minimal? Is it one space on the on
10:56
Speaker 3: the board? I mean, if it's the two rounds on
10:59
Speaker 3: the board, no, we're going with the better player. But
11:01
Speaker 3: if they're both in the first round, and we feel
11:04
Speaker 3: good about both of them, and everything else is equal.
11:07
Speaker 3: Culture if a football IQ, all that stuff go with the.
11:10
Speaker 1: Need you mentioned culture.
11:12
Speaker 5: When you're building that draft board, how much How important
11:15
Speaker 5: is the person for where the players kind of slot?
11:18
Speaker 8: Very important?
11:19
Speaker 1: You know.
11:20
Speaker 3: I think you look at this roster and you look
11:21
Speaker 3: at it since the coach and I have been together.
11:24
Speaker 8: The locker room's good.
11:25
Speaker 3: You know.
11:26
Speaker 8: We place an emphasis on leadership.
11:30
Speaker 3: We're a young group, you still, you know, we focused
11:33
Speaker 3: on that, you know, as we went into the off season,
11:36
Speaker 3: especially in free agency. Type of guys that we brought
11:39
Speaker 3: in here, Guys from winning programs that are used to winning,
11:43
Speaker 3: that are used to leading and being a part of
11:45
Speaker 3: that that championship run, you know, and we're looking for
11:49
Speaker 3: players that have similar characteristics as we move forward.
11:52
Speaker 12: Chang, do you when when you're building this team, do
11:57
Speaker 12: you take into consideration what's going on in the division
12:01
Speaker 12: since obviously that's the goal, right, I mean, you got
12:04
Speaker 12: to beat those people.
12:05
Speaker 1: In your division in order to advance into the postseason.
12:07
Speaker 1: I mean, do you do.
12:09
Speaker 12: You say, all right, we need these kind of players.
12:11
Speaker 1: To beat Tennessee, to beat Indianapolis, to beat Houston.
12:14
Speaker 13: I mean, does that as you build the roster through
12:17
Speaker 13: all the different moving parts, you.
12:19
Speaker 7: Know, you're gonna you're gonna pay close attention to your
12:21
Speaker 7: division obviously and see what's going on. And we saw,
12:24
Speaker 7: you know, last year in the division. I mean, you know,
12:27
Speaker 7: there were three brand new quarterbacks that were taken right
12:29
Speaker 7: in the division. So you pay close attention to that.
12:31
Speaker 7: And and you know some of the free agent moves
12:34
Speaker 7: that were made even in this offseason, right, and and
12:36
Speaker 7: some of the things and the decisions that are our division,
12:39
Speaker 7: they're looking at us the same way, you know, And
12:42
Speaker 7: and you.
12:42
Speaker 6: Know we we we.
12:44
Speaker 7: Have to construct the best roster for us, and and
12:47
Speaker 7: and making sure that we have the best eleven offense, defense,
12:51
Speaker 7: and special teams on the field. Right, I think I think, yeah,
12:54
Speaker 7: if you go in and saying, hey, you know, we've
12:56
Speaker 7: got to stop the run, then we need run run stoppers,
12:59
Speaker 7: right if we if we got to in the past,
13:00
Speaker 7: and we need cover.
13:01
Speaker 6: Guy, you know what I'm saying, our pass rusher. So
13:03
Speaker 6: you're going to take a look at all of that.
13:05
Speaker 7: And and but yet we have to focus internally too
13:09
Speaker 7: and make sure that we're putting the best best guys
13:12
Speaker 7: for what we're doing. You know, because schematically we're not
13:15
Speaker 7: the same, right and we do things a little bit different,
13:18
Speaker 7: so building it that way as well.
13:20
Speaker 6: But do we pay attention? We sure do.
13:22
Speaker 2: Dam will join in the front office and in what role?
13:25
Speaker 1: And how did that hire come about?
13:27
Speaker 3: Well, Tom and I have been together for a long time,
13:30
Speaker 3: you know, so and we've been together on three different occasions.
13:34
Speaker 8: You know, he.
13:36
Speaker 3: Understands the system that we have in terms of the
13:39
Speaker 3: evaluation process. He's a senior personnel executive. He's in all
13:44
Speaker 3: the draft meetings with us, He's in the free agent
13:47
Speaker 3: part of it with us.
13:48
Speaker 8: He's a he's a valued guy.
13:50
Speaker 3: He's been around the league a long time, knows what
13:53
Speaker 3: a good football player looks like, knows what again, what
13:57
Speaker 3: our system is and what we do. So just glad
14:00
Speaker 3: to have him back again. Yes, well he got back here.
14:06
Speaker 3: I don't know the exact date he got back here.
14:08
Speaker 3: Sometime after the National Championship. I think sometime in February
14:13
Speaker 3: is when he fully when he came on board with US.
14:15
Speaker 6: Dog.
14:15
Speaker 9: How much does it concern you with this draft? And
14:19
Speaker 9: when you see a team like you talk about that
14:21
Speaker 9: you pay attention about the division. When you see a
14:24
Speaker 9: team like the koles Is drafting two spots ahead of
14:26
Speaker 9: you and at least two of their top three needs.
14:29
Speaker 9: See the dovetail with the needs that you guys have.
14:33
Speaker 7: You know, it's something you can't can't control. It's just
14:35
Speaker 7: the way it falls. Every year, it's different, you know.
14:38
Speaker 7: And and and like I said, you know, we're gonna
14:42
Speaker 7: put the best roster together for twenty twenty four and
14:44
Speaker 7: and go play football and be competitive. And and that's
14:48
Speaker 7: all we can control. We can't control, you know, what
14:51
Speaker 7: happens above us. We can't control what happens behind us. Now,
14:55
Speaker 7: we can control ourselves, right and as trying to alluded to,
14:58
Speaker 7: we can move up and move back whatever. And and
15:01
Speaker 7: but again we're gonna we're gonna pick, you know, pick
15:05
Speaker 7: players that can help us.
15:06
Speaker 1: You uh, you guys.
15:08
Speaker 11: Picked Anton, Brenton and Tank. I think in part to
15:12
Speaker 11: help that short yardage our game.
15:16
Speaker 1: This year.
15:16
Speaker 11: You resigned Ezra and obviously bringing bitch you do you
15:20
Speaker 11: feel like you're in a good spot now with that
15:22
Speaker 11: short yardage game that's been a little bit of an
15:24
Speaker 11: issue or can you get more help a week from today?
15:29
Speaker 6: Was that to me? I do? I do?
15:35
Speaker 7: I mean, that's that's something that that we we've as
15:38
Speaker 7: a staff, we focused on this offseason so far, and
15:41
Speaker 7: you know, put our finger on some of the whys,
15:43
Speaker 7: you know, why we why we weren't as good in
15:46
Speaker 7: third and one and fourth and one situations and and
15:50
Speaker 7: all things that are correctable and fixable. And and you know, Tank,
15:56
Speaker 7: Tank is gonna be a part of that. Travis is
15:58
Speaker 7: gonna be a part of that. Uh, we know Ezra
16:00
Speaker 7: be a part of that. And and you know, whether
16:04
Speaker 7: it's Luke or Mitch, they're going to be a part
16:06
Speaker 7: of that. So you know, we've got to we've got
16:08
Speaker 7: to you know, a plan. We're going to stick to
16:11
Speaker 7: our plan or we've got to be convicted on it.
16:13
Speaker 7: We've got to you know, present it to the players
16:17
Speaker 7: the same way and and and make the necessary corrections
16:20
Speaker 7: this offseason to uh, you know, to fix those areas.
16:23
Speaker 5: How do you go from waiting for something for something
16:25
Speaker 5: that happened like last year, you guys were waiting for
16:28
Speaker 5: that moment with the team, you really how can you
16:30
Speaker 5: force them, the players and have them create those minutes
16:33
Speaker 5: as opposed to getting the plays.
16:35
Speaker 1: And waiting for that.
16:37
Speaker 7: I think what we've been through the last two years,
16:39
Speaker 7: I think these players are understanding that that you just
16:41
Speaker 7: can't wait, you can't wait around. You know, we're sitting
16:44
Speaker 7: there at eight and three and and uh, we had
16:46
Speaker 7: a chance to keep our foot on the gas and
16:48
Speaker 7: keep pushing. And you know, this is why you're seeing
16:52
Speaker 7: some of the players we've gone out and brought to
16:54
Speaker 7: this team. You know, Trent mentioned it. These guys are
16:57
Speaker 7: our winners. They've been to the AFC or NFC championship games.
17:00
Speaker 7: They've been deep. You know, Eric was in the Super Bowl,
17:03
Speaker 7: you know, and we need more guys like that, right.
17:06
Speaker 7: We have a young football team, but the culture is
17:08
Speaker 7: heading in that right direction, and just having more guys
17:11
Speaker 7: like that on your roster who've been there, done it
17:14
Speaker 7: can help the players, right, Even coaches can help the
17:17
Speaker 7: players kind of kind of punch.
17:19
Speaker 6: Through that wall.
17:20
Speaker 7: And you know it's it's my job to make sure
17:23
Speaker 7: that that we continue to push and push hard and
17:26
Speaker 7: you know, get over that hume.
17:28
Speaker 8: This draft is.
17:30
Speaker 14: Very competible, comparable excuse me to the twenty twenty one draft.
17:34
Speaker 1: Your first one here obviously different.
17:36
Speaker 14: Selection, but quarterback heavy and twenty twenty one the eighth
17:39
Speaker 14: and ninth pit with ebs, the.
17:41
Speaker 1: Other ten with offensive players.
17:43
Speaker 14: The montdrafts this year quarterback heavy, nine or ten of
17:47
Speaker 14: the top ten.
17:48
Speaker 1: Consistently with these Mont drafts all offense.
17:51
Speaker 14: Can you make a comparison to something just a couple
17:54
Speaker 14: of years ago or is it totally irrelevant? And what
18:00
Speaker 14: does that say to you if you've identified at the
18:02
Speaker 14: defensive all these offensive players go with maybe just three
18:06
Speaker 14: or four spots ahead of when you.
18:07
Speaker 3: Select, well, I think I think in one way it's
18:10
Speaker 3: totally irrelevant because what happened back then, who was picking,
18:14
Speaker 3: what were their needs? What was this you know, what
18:17
Speaker 3: was the true strengths of the draft. I'd have to
18:19
Speaker 3: go back and replay that in my head. I don't
18:22
Speaker 3: worry about what happened in twenty twenty one. I'm trying
18:25
Speaker 3: to figure out what's going to happen in twenty three
18:27
Speaker 3: or twenty four. Here again, we can't control what happens
18:33
Speaker 3: in front of us. You know, whatever happens happens. The
18:36
Speaker 3: only thing we can control is be calculated on if
18:39
Speaker 3: we really target someone and we really feel we need
18:42
Speaker 3: to make a run, let's say get up to twelve,
18:45
Speaker 3: get up to thirteen, get up to you know, we'll
18:47
Speaker 3: be prepared to do that if the right person's there
18:51
Speaker 3: and look at the other side like we did a
18:55
Speaker 3: year ago, trade back twice and get the same player.
18:59
Speaker 3: You know, there's so many things that can happen. You
19:01
Speaker 3: just you got to go in prepared. But the board's
19:05
Speaker 3: gonna fall the way it falls. You can't change that.
19:08
Speaker 3: So you just got to be ready for everything.
19:11
Speaker 9: Try how much more of a temptation, if that's the
19:13
Speaker 9: right word is it, to try to maybe try to
19:16
Speaker 9: move up from your ninety six spot in the third
19:19
Speaker 9: round or your forty eight in the second round, knowing
19:22
Speaker 9: you probably won't have to sacrifice as much draft capital
19:25
Speaker 9: to move up as you would if you went from
19:27
Speaker 9: like seventeen to.
19:28
Speaker 1: Eleven or twelve.
19:29
Speaker 3: Well, if you talk to the analytics people, they'll tell
19:32
Speaker 3: you never move up right, acquire as many darts as
19:36
Speaker 3: you can keep moving back again. You you just got
19:44
Speaker 3: to look at the board and let the board speak.
19:46
Speaker 3: I mean, we've spent three hundred and sixty some days
19:49
Speaker 3: putting this thing together, and to try to make something happen.
19:54
Speaker 3: That enforce something to happen sometimes backfires on you. Right,
20:01
Speaker 3: You get you chase something that and it doesn't pan out.
20:05
Speaker 3: So you lose out there, and then you lose out
20:07
Speaker 3: on the on the guy that you would have picked,
20:09
Speaker 3: or the two guys you would have picked with the
20:11
Speaker 3: with the other picks he gave up. So if you're
20:14
Speaker 3: gonna move up, you better be right when you.
20:16
Speaker 6: Look at the cornerback group.
20:17
Speaker 1: Is there much separation between some of the top guys.
20:21
Speaker 8: I think it's a good group.
20:22
Speaker 3: I think there's a you know, I think if you
20:25
Speaker 3: looked at thirty two boards, you'd probably find twenty eight
20:27
Speaker 3: different ways to stack the top ten corners in this
20:30
Speaker 3: draft you might find thirty two different ways.
20:33
Speaker 8: I think it's that close. I think there's there's there's
20:36
Speaker 8: good value. They're good players. The makeup and character to
20:40
Speaker 8: these guys is all different. It's all over the board.
20:44
Speaker 3: You know, it's going to be interesting how that group
20:47
Speaker 3: falls off the board.
20:48
Speaker 10: On draft day, Trent Derbert Morren talks about there's been
20:53
Speaker 10: some conversations with his contract extension.
20:56
Speaker 1: You know, looking back at some the other quarterbacks in
20:58
Speaker 1: the report.
20:58
Speaker 11: Here the sign their extension in the offices in so
21:01
Speaker 11: would you like to have that signed before.
21:04
Speaker 1: The scene and the stars or during fresh is extension?
21:07
Speaker 3: You know, again, try not to force anything you know,
21:11
Speaker 3: we've had some great talks, some great conversations. I spoke
21:14
Speaker 3: with his agency again last night. You know, we're working,
21:18
Speaker 3: you know, but you can't force this stuff. It's it's
21:22
Speaker 3: you know. I said the same thing with Josh's situation.
21:25
Speaker 3: I said it would take some time. It did, but
21:27
Speaker 3: we were glad that it got completed when it did,
21:30
Speaker 3: so we could go into this offseason program knowing that
21:33
Speaker 3: that's behind us and we can move forward. So we're
21:36
Speaker 3: working at it. We'll continue to work at it. You know,
21:39
Speaker 3: ownerships involved, obviously, you know, coaches involved. We're we're going
21:44
Speaker 3: to put our best foot forward and hope to get
21:46
Speaker 3: something accomplished here.
21:48
Speaker 2: From a football at Q scouting perspective, how do you
21:52
Speaker 2: scout that portion of a prospect and story from a
21:56
Speaker 2: coaching perspective or are you comfortable.
21:58
Speaker 6: With what you hear from a prospects a football.
22:01
Speaker 3: I you, Well, you do a lot of work. You know,
22:04
Speaker 3: you do a lot of work. You talk to a
22:06
Speaker 3: lot of people, You look at the film. The film
22:09
Speaker 3: will tell you some it'll certainly speak to you about
22:13
Speaker 3: the player's instincts, which is part of the football IQ obviously,
22:17
Speaker 3: in a big part of the Football IQ. But you know,
22:21
Speaker 3: we zoom call these guys. We send coaches to workouts,
22:25
Speaker 3: we send coaches to meet with them, We bring them
22:27
Speaker 3: in on the thirty visit. We get in front of
22:29
Speaker 3: them as much as we can. Every opportunity we get
22:32
Speaker 3: a chance to talk to a guy that we have
22:34
Speaker 3: concerns about, we do. We interview them at the Combine,
22:38
Speaker 3: We interview them at the All Star Games, we interview
22:41
Speaker 3: them at their pro days. We get as much time
22:44
Speaker 3: in front as we can. The coaches make calls to
22:46
Speaker 3: the to the coaches that work with these players. You know,
22:51
Speaker 3: you gather as much as you can, you know, and
22:53
Speaker 3: so and usually by the time you get to the draft,
22:57
Speaker 3: you got them pretty well figured out from that perspective.
23:00
Speaker 3: And sometimes guys come in and they fool you, you know,
23:03
Speaker 3: and you can't just use test scores to say a
23:05
Speaker 3: guy can learn or can't learn. That doesn't work. There's
23:07
Speaker 3: guys that have had low test scores that learn extremely well.
23:11
Speaker 3: There's guys that have had high test scores that don't
23:13
Speaker 3: learn very well when it comes to football.
23:16
Speaker 8: So you just got you just got to do your homework.
23:19
Speaker 5: Tom Camble, being that he was just in that recruiting world,
23:22
Speaker 5: and you may know a lot of those kids ever
23:24
Speaker 5: since they were in high school.
23:25
Speaker 8: Well that that that helps.
23:26
Speaker 3: And we got some coaches that we brought on board
23:29
Speaker 3: from the college game that have spent a lot of
23:32
Speaker 3: time with a lot of these guys uh in the
23:34
Speaker 3: recruiting process, whether they've coached them directly or recruited them,
23:39
Speaker 3: So that gives.
23:40
Speaker 8: You some insight as well.
23:41
Speaker 3: So you just use every opportunity in every resource you
23:45
Speaker 3: have to try to try to figure these guys out.
23:48
Speaker 12: About five or six months during the pro day circuit,
23:52
Speaker 12: you had a lot of your coaches that were leading
23:54
Speaker 12: the workouts for some of these guys.
23:55
Speaker 1: What is it does that.
23:56
Speaker 5: Help that you have those guys with the practical on
23:59
Speaker 5: field experience leading the workouts for some of the evaluation.
24:02
Speaker 3: Well, most of the universities they let the pro guys
24:06
Speaker 3: take over the workouts. There's certain certain big schools that
24:10
Speaker 3: want their coaches to handle the workouts, but for the
24:13
Speaker 3: majority of the workouts, we go to the coaches, the
24:16
Speaker 3: NFL coaches that are there. If there's a position coach
24:19
Speaker 3: there and they're going to work that position out, and yeah,
24:23
Speaker 3: they're putting them through you know, drills that they're going
24:26
Speaker 3: to be put through on a daily basis once they
24:28
Speaker 3: get to the league. But most of the time it's
24:30
Speaker 3: drills these guys have been doing since they were fourteen
24:33
Speaker 3: years old or whatever.
24:34
Speaker 5: Right, how does the new kickoff rule effect roster building
24:37
Speaker 5: if at all?
24:38
Speaker 1: And Doug, if you don't mind.
24:39
Speaker 2: It, answering just delight the rule and gets the challenge
24:42
Speaker 2: from a coaching perspective.
24:45
Speaker 3: Well, from a from a roster perspective, you know, obviously
24:49
Speaker 3: you're gonna have two returners back there, you know, so
24:52
Speaker 3: having two really good returners helps you a lot because
24:56
Speaker 3: they can't kick it away from the one that's back there.
24:58
Speaker 8: So that's that's going to be something that you have
25:01
Speaker 8: to deal with.
25:02
Speaker 3: I think, uh, you know, when you talk to the
25:04
Speaker 3: special team coaches, getting guys that can can button release,
25:08
Speaker 3: you know, press and release, get off of get off
25:10
Speaker 3: of blocks, quickly, striking, strike and go.
25:14
Speaker 8: H is going to be important.
25:16
Speaker 3: So I think you're gonna see some bigger bodies, more
25:19
Speaker 3: bigger bodies involved in it, you know, if I were
25:22
Speaker 3: to guess, But I think, you know, for the most part,
25:26
Speaker 3: bringing the kickoff back into the play is going to
25:30
Speaker 3: help the guys. You know, the teams guys especially you
25:35
Speaker 3: know when you when you build the roster with linebacker
25:37
Speaker 3: type players.
25:39
Speaker 6: You know, I like the rule.
25:43
Speaker 7: I think it's going to bring excitement back to our game.
25:46
Speaker 6: You know, there were.
25:49
Speaker 7: Close to two thousand kickoffs last year and you know
25:52
Speaker 7: twenty one were returned. Where back in you know twenty ten,
25:57
Speaker 7: it was we were upped about eighty percent, you know,
25:59
Speaker 7: no almost nice eighty percent returnable, you know, kick So
26:02
Speaker 7: it's gonna bring some excitement back to the football game.
26:06
Speaker 7: You know, as Trent mentioned, the dual returners back there,
26:08
Speaker 7: it's gonna look different. You know, it's gonna look a
26:10
Speaker 7: little awkward at first. It's gonna take some getting used to.
26:12
Speaker 7: I mean, you know, Heath Farwell, Louke Thompson, special teams
26:15
Speaker 7: guys here are really diving into the x's and o's
26:18
Speaker 7: and and and to transpoint, I think you're going to
26:20
Speaker 7: see bigger athletic guys you know that are especially on
26:23
Speaker 7: the return team that can that can run and move
26:26
Speaker 7: and and because they're gonna be a little bit closer
26:28
Speaker 7: together and being able to block a little bit, a
26:32
Speaker 7: little bit faster. So you know, we're working through all
26:35
Speaker 7: those things right now. This spring is going to be
26:38
Speaker 7: important for us as we dive into you know, the
26:40
Speaker 7: next phase, phase two and phase three and and really
26:43
Speaker 7: kind of iron out our own uh design, you know,
26:47
Speaker 7: and and figure out who are two guys you know
26:49
Speaker 7: back there, and what it's going to look like.
26:53
Speaker 15: You're talking about spooring a trade up into the draft,
26:56
Speaker 15: it's maybe the toss in. You have these placeholder type
26:58
Speaker 15: discussions with the team beforehand or draft or do you
27:01
Speaker 15: wait so you get on the clock to after you
27:03
Speaker 15: start seeing how that folds.
27:05
Speaker 3: Well, we know who's willing to move, and we've had
27:09
Speaker 3: preliminary discussions on what that looks like, what it's going
27:12
Speaker 3: to cost to move up there. You know, I'm not
27:14
Speaker 3: a big believer in moving before draft day, you know,
27:17
Speaker 3: because what are you moving for?
27:20
Speaker 8: You know, the guy?
27:21
Speaker 3: Unless you know exactly who you're moving for, and you
27:23
Speaker 3: know that he's going to be there, which is impossible
27:25
Speaker 3: to know, you know, why move unless you're going to
27:28
Speaker 3: number one?
27:29
Speaker 8: That's the that's the only guarantee, right number one?
27:32
Speaker 3: Who's you know that you'd have your choice, So you
27:36
Speaker 3: have exploratory conversations. You know what it's going to take
27:39
Speaker 3: you to get to the twelve or thirteen or fourteen
27:41
Speaker 3: or fifteen or whatever the number is, and then you
27:44
Speaker 3: wait till draft day to figure out whether you're gonna
27:46
Speaker 3: do it or not.
27:47
Speaker 11: You first got here a few years ago, you guys
27:50
Speaker 11: hadn't worked together before.
27:53
Speaker 1: Do you have more input now than you did that
27:55
Speaker 1: first year? Less?
27:57
Speaker 4: In?
27:58
Speaker 11: How has the trust between you guys in the front
28:02
Speaker 11: office's development over time?
28:07
Speaker 6: I'll tell you something.
28:09
Speaker 7: It as far as you know, our involvement is a
28:11
Speaker 7: staff myself, it's it's the best I've been around. It's
28:16
Speaker 7: one of the things that Trent really has been open
28:19
Speaker 7: to to, you know, the evaluation process from the coaches
28:23
Speaker 7: right and and he understands the coaching side of it
28:25
Speaker 7: as well as the scouting side of it. And and
28:29
Speaker 7: the involvement has been you know, it's the same every year.
28:32
Speaker 7: It's probably even gotten a little bit more, you know,
28:34
Speaker 7: just the more comfortable that that we are working together.
28:37
Speaker 7: And and you know, it's it takes everybody, you know,
28:41
Speaker 7: to put a roster together, and it's not about one
28:44
Speaker 7: guy making all the decisions, right and and so there's
28:47
Speaker 7: a lot of input. He values what the coaches say
28:50
Speaker 7: and how the coaches ranked and stack players just like
28:54
Speaker 7: you know, you know, we appreciate what the scouts do
28:56
Speaker 7: because they're the ones that are out there, you know,
28:58
Speaker 7: every single day scouting players. So it's been a really
29:02
Speaker 7: good process and one that one that uh, as a coach,
29:07
Speaker 7: you know, you can really appreciate, you.
29:09
Speaker 9: Said, Trent, you said earlier you seem to agree with
29:13
Speaker 9: the idea that the top three receivers have had a
29:16
Speaker 9: little bit of separation with whoever's next.
29:19
Speaker 1: Do you feel the same.
29:19
Speaker 9: Way about the cornerbacks that top two have created a
29:24
Speaker 9: little bit of separation from the others or is.
29:26
Speaker 1: It just a matter of beauty being in the eye
29:29
Speaker 1: of the older.
29:30
Speaker 8: I think a little bit of that.
29:31
Speaker 3: I think system, right, I think system plays an important
29:35
Speaker 3: role in that as well. Uh, you know, how how
29:38
Speaker 3: are you gonna play the corners. You're gonna play them
29:40
Speaker 3: off man, You're gonna play them on the line of scrimmage,
29:43
Speaker 3: on press and run with guys.
29:45
Speaker 8: So I do think that plays into it.
29:47
Speaker 3: I think again, I think there's there's a really good
29:51
Speaker 3: depth and really good skill at the at the corner
29:54
Speaker 3: position in this draft, more so than maybe the last
29:57
Speaker 3: couple of drafts. You know, that I've been involved with here,
30:01
Speaker 3: So it'll be interesting how these top guys fall off
30:04
Speaker 3: the board.
30:06
Speaker 13: Have tred outline how much time and money and investment
30:10
Speaker 13: there is basically all year long to.
30:12
Speaker 1: Get to next Thursday.
30:14
Speaker 13: From your perspective as a player and then as an
30:17
Speaker 13: assistant and obviously as a head coach. Then what goes
30:20
Speaker 13: wrong when you miss on a guy where a guy
30:23
Speaker 13: doesn't fit the way that you thought.
30:26
Speaker 1: Is there a thread that.
30:27
Speaker 13: Runs through all of that or is it individually just
30:30
Speaker 13: sometimes is there something that that just doesn't work sometimes?
30:34
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's it.
30:35
Speaker 7: You're gonna be wrong at times. You know, you do
30:37
Speaker 7: everything you can to be right. You know Trent's already
30:39
Speaker 7: talked about it. But are you gonna make a mistake? Yeah,
30:43
Speaker 7: you're gonna make a mistake. You know, it happens, right,
30:46
Speaker 7: But the key is not to not to make too
30:50
Speaker 7: many mistakes. And and uh, that's why there's so much
30:54
Speaker 7: time spent in this process, and there's so much dialogue
30:57
Speaker 7: and so much film and on the road and just
30:59
Speaker 7: the the process itself, and all thirty two clubs are
31:02
Speaker 7: going through the same thing. But will you miss on
31:05
Speaker 7: a player from time to time?
31:06
Speaker 6: You will?
31:07
Speaker 7: You will and and like I said, it's it's a
31:10
Speaker 7: matter of just minimizing those opportunities, maximizing the ones you have,
31:15
Speaker 7: and then developing those guys so that they can help
31:17
Speaker 7: you come November, December, January, and ultimately into February.
31:22
Speaker 2: You've talked about, you know, coaches collaborating with you guys
31:26
Speaker 2: in the personnel department. How much has Ryan Nielsen his
31:29
Speaker 2: staff sort of maybe changed at all what you guys
31:31
Speaker 2: might look for as far as traits or anything.
31:33
Speaker 3: As far as the players in the draft, Well, there's
31:36
Speaker 3: a definite change. You're going from a three thirty to
31:40
Speaker 3: a forty. You know, what he's looking for at the
31:44
Speaker 3: end position is different than we were looking for, you know,
31:47
Speaker 3: in the last in the last scheme. So there's definitely
31:50
Speaker 3: a change, but it's a change I'm very familiar with.
31:53
Speaker 3: So it's been good. You know, Ryan and his staff,
31:56
Speaker 3: you know, we have that very good dialogue. We spent
31:59
Speaker 3: a lot of time when he first here going through
32:01
Speaker 3: exactly what he was looking for at the different positions.
32:04
Speaker 3: How we were gonna play the corners in this scheme
32:07
Speaker 3: versus how we played him in the past, how the
32:10
Speaker 3: linebackers were gonna fit and how we were gonna get
32:12
Speaker 3: the sam linebacker position filled from within, you know. So
32:17
Speaker 3: we had a lot of great dialogue, you know, and
32:19
Speaker 3: it's been fun to learn what he's looking for in players.
32:22
Speaker 3: Uh he comes from you know, he was with coach
32:25
Speaker 3: Peyton and that goes back to coach Barcels. So the
32:28
Speaker 3: traits that he's looking for I'm very familiar with obviously.
32:32
Speaker 8: So it's been good.
32:35
Speaker 1: This offensive line class has kind of lauded. Does it
32:38
Speaker 1: live up to the hype in your ears?
32:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's a very I think it's a
32:42
Speaker 3: very good group, you know, and again it's a it's
32:44
Speaker 3: a group that whether it's inside or outside, I think
32:47
Speaker 3: there's there's there's great value throughout the draft. I think
32:51
Speaker 3: you're gonna find starters in the in the fourth, fifth round,
32:54
Speaker 3: you know, that are eventually gonna find their way into
32:57
Speaker 3: starting and there's always some guys that even go later
32:59
Speaker 3: than that. I was telling the group yesterday the local
33:03
Speaker 3: workout guys, and most people don't realize that there's more.
33:06
Speaker 3: There's more guys in the national in the Football Hall
33:09
Speaker 3: of Fame that were undrafted free agents and our first
33:13
Speaker 3: round picks, you know, so good players come from all
33:16
Speaker 3: levels of the draft and even the undrafted, and I
33:19
Speaker 3: think we just got to remember that it takes time.
33:21
Speaker 3: These guys got to they've got to be given time
33:23
Speaker 3: to develop