Pre
Draft Press Conference
Redskins Executive Vice President of Football
Operations Vinny Cerrato:
“We have been very busy getting prepared. First
of all welcome Zack (Bolno, Executive Director of Communications). If
you all don’t know, Zack is our new PR person. The last two weeks in
preparation really have been a lot of the coaches and scouts meeting
15-16 hours a day in preparation for this coming draft. Like I said,
we have nine draft picks. What we have been doing is, all the coaches
and the scouts have been together, by position, watching, grading,
ranking, evaluating, putting the board together in preparation for the
draft this weekend.”
“With the addition of new coaches, the scouts, I
think things have meshed tremendously. I think the coaches have done a
tremendous job, offensively, defensively and Danny (Smith, Special
Teams Coach), giving their opinion, meshing with the scouts. Things
have progressed very well. At this time we are ready. We could draft
today if need be, but we still need some preparation time to make some
final decisions yet. We still have a couple of things to work out,
evaluating a little bit more, doing a little bit more background on
other guys and that will all be completed by Friday. We are looking
forward to the draft this weekend. As Dan (Snyder, Redskins Owner)
said, it is exciting having all these draft picks. It is going to be
fun to add, right now, nine new guys. That is what has been going on.”
“As you know the scouts, they work it year-
round. Let me just say that Scott Campbell (Director of Player
Personnel) has done an excellent job of organizing the meetings and
leading the scouts through this process and all the scouts have done a
good job too.”
On whom the Redskins are going to draft with
their first choice:
“It was a lot easier last year when we were
picking sixth because there was only so few guys that could go in
front of you. Now, at 21, you have to sit back and try to figure out
what is going on and it seems like it changes all the time on guys who
may be there, may not be there. The thing that we will look at also,
over the last couple days I have contacted the teams behind us and the
teams in the top of the second round about moving up to 21. Usually
the teams that are looking for a quarterback possibly, they may want
to come up, so we have talked to all those teams about possibly moving
up. Come draft day, at 21, we may have an option of trading back.”
On the speculation that the Redskins have
offered the Cincinnati Bengals draft picks for Chad Johnson:
“We have never commented on trades or hearsay on
what is going on. When we complete trades or do anything like that we
comment on them, but we don’t comment on hearsay.”
On if having all these draft picks represents
a change in philosophy or if it is a one year thing:
“I don’t think it is a change in philosophy. We
got the extra compensatorys, otherwise we would have six picks. With
the compensatorys it was an added bonus for us. I don’t think it was a
change in philosophy. It all starts with the free agency. When you
evaluated the free agency, there are less and less free agents it
seems like every year and the value of the players in free agency we
were getting was not the value we put on them. That is why we weren’t
active in free agency, other than signing our own guys. The other way
to add players is through the draft. Fortunately we got the extra
compensatory picks, so that is just the way it worked out this year.
There are three ways to acquire players, free agency, trades and the
draft. Some years we have done more in free agency, some more we have
done with trades, this year it happens to be the draft. We will always
be active in everything, but we like to have draft picks. It is
exciting.”
On if the Redskins would trade up draft picks
in order to get a certain player:
“We have always been an aggressive team, so if
there is somebody there that we like, we have made efforts to go get
them. Like with Chris Cooley (TE, #47), we didn’t have a pick and we
really thought the guy was talented so we went and got a pick. I
don’t think we are afraid to do anything. We are willing to do
anything, move up, move back, get picks, go get a player. Whatever is
in the best interest to help the football team in, that has always
been Dan’s philosophy.”
On now that Joe Gibbs is gone, how will the
dynamics on draft day change:
Redskins Owner Daniel M. Snyder
“I don’t think it is going to change much, at
all. The system we use is the same system with Coach Zorn as with Joe
Gibbs. We really rely on the work product of all of the scouts
throughout the year and then the coaches and the scouts working
together for three plus weeks in 18 hour days. At the end of the day,
we believe in the work product, not fooling around with getting out of
order or heat of the moment, we have really avoided that. As Vinny
said, occasionally there is a player that we have a high grade on that
we will say ‘That is an opportunity to be aggressive and go get,’ and
Cooley (Chris, TE, #47) is an example that we traded next year’s two,
back then, for a third round pick, because we had a very high grade on
him. As he went to his first Pro Bowl this year, I think it is more
than justified, but you do try to make those opportunities when you
can.”
Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn
“I have been involved with the process from day
one. Not only individually looking at all the players, but then
collectively within the group atmosphere with the scouts and the rest
of the coaches. I think the process has helped me so that on draft day
when I am sitting there I will know who we are talking about, I have
seen the guy, we have talked all through the issues and I think it
will be a pretty methodical function of all the information that we
have gotten to make that choice.”
Redskins Executive Vice President of Football
Operations Vinny Cerrato
On if they have talked about limiting rookie
salaries:
“No, not really. [We] haven’t really thought
about it that much to be totally honest with you.”
On if not having full drafts in previous years
has depleted the youth on the team:
“Like we talked about, there are a lot of
different ways to acquire players and a lot of those guys were through
trades, which cost us draft picks. A lot of the free agents that we
signed were young guys. I think we realized the value of draft picks,
especially in the cap era, because you have to develop young guys. If
you want to pay a lot of starters a lot of money, then it has to come
from somewhere. To have depth as inexpensive guys, that is the best
way to go, and the best way to get those is through the draft. This
year we have a full draft, and every year forward we have a full
draft.”
On how difficult is it to have the 21st
pick in the draft:
“The way we picked everybody, we are not looking
for a certain thing. We are going to draft the best player. Last year
we were looking for a Pro Bowl player, Dan said ‘Get us a Pro Bowl
player.’ This year, we may have a need here, we may have a need there.
We will look to take the best player that is available at 21, because
what happens is, if you get to 21 and you say we have to have this
position, and that position is gone and you might be taking a late
second round pick where at another position you are getting a guy who
is valued at 21. In the long run, you are much better getting the
value for the player then reaching for the guy. The biggest mistakes
are made when you reach for a player. The most overvalued, over
drafted position is the defensive line because if you don’t usually
get them early, you are not getting them, so that is why they all go.
A lot of second, third round guys end up going in the first round.
That is why, if you look at history, a lot of times the best value in
the draft is in the second round.”
On if there are some positions they will not
take at 21:
“When I walked in the training room this morning
Clinton (Portis, RB, #26) was down there getting stretched and he says
‘What are we doing?’ I said ‘Didn’t you hear? We traded up for
McFadden (Arkansas, RB).’ He laughed. If something crazy happened
where somebody fell, you have to look and evaluate it. There are some
positions that don’t really warrant us taking.”
On if they look at a prospects character
issues as well as athletic ability when grading them:
“With every guy, you evaluate every piece of the
puzzle. It is all pieces of the puzzle, you put it all together and
evaluate it as a whole. You don’t evaluate it individually with
certain pieces of the puzzle, but you put it all together and look at
the whole body of work.”
Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn
On the importance of drafting offense or
defense:
“I have become far more neutral in really feeling
the urges of all those coordinators, position coaches involved. I just
remember wanting to make sure I got my voice as a position coach
heard and then as a head coach I have tried to listen to all of it.
I’m not favoring on over the other, I’m fairly neutral in my thoughts
at this present time.”
On if they would take a receiver with pick 21
to gain height in the receivers:
“What I am looking at too is who we already have.
We have Anthony Mix (WR, #19) who has some size. We have Maurice Mann
(WR, #80) who also has some size. Those are the guys that at this
mini-camp I really want to take a good look at. So as far as receiver
goes, yes if that guy is there and there is a guy that we like and he
is graded out well and we see him, we are willing to take a look at
that. I would not say that there is going to be one position that I
look at over another, especially with pick 21. I am sure there are
going to be four or five guys there and it is going to be a difficult
pick. It is going to be a difficult choice.”
Redskins Executive Vice President of Football
Operations Vinny Cerrato
On Phillip Merlings (Clemson, DE):
“He is working out on Thursday, so he is going to
get a chance to do some drills. So we will get a chance to evaluate
him at that time.”
On if Greg Blache (Defensive Coordinator) is
making a push to draft defensive linemen:
“The thing that is great about our coaches in our
meetings, when we meet with the defense as a group, they are like
whatever player we need to best help the Redskins Greg Blache is not
sitting there saying, I have to have a d-lineman or I have to have
this. He is saying whatever player helps the Redskins win is what we
need to do. There has not been one coach standing up, but they haven’t
yet stood up on a soapbox and said I have to have this or I have to
have that, they are just saying, we want to win, let’s get the best
player that helps us win.”
On if they need to look at getting defensive
linemen in the draft due to the ages of those currently on the roster:
“It all depends on how the draft falls. Like I
said, we’re not going to sit there at 21 and because you have some
older guys on the d-line we’re going to take a d-lineman no matter
what and we have a third round grade on a guy we are taking in the
first. That doesn’t make sense. We are looking o-line, d-line, wide
receiver, cornerback and we need depth at linebacker, fullback and
also at safety, so there are a lot of things we could use help at, so
that is kind of good when we get our choice to pick we can pick the
best player, because we do have some needs.”
Redskins Owner Daniel M. Snyder
On getting impact players:
“If you look historically at the draft, not only
first round, but primarily second round, you end up with a real
opportunity to get some real long-term, great players. We are not
quite panicked at any one position as a franchise. We feel like we are
in a pretty good place to select the best player. There are only a few
positions where we say we wouldn’t take. Other than that we are
looking at it from a broad prospective. I think we feel pretty good.”
Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn
On why it is hard for receivers to come in and
immediately make an impact:
“It is hard for a wide receiver to come into any
program, learn a new language basically and try to understand the
techniques that that particular offensive philosophy encourages and
demands. When a receiver comes in he is getting used to be being a
part of a pro team, he is getting a whole new vocabulary and the only
way to play receiver in the League is to play fast and I think it is
hard for a young guy to immediately just free up and play as fast as
he is going to play his first time out, so it is a bit of a process.
I think it is a process for every receiver. I think you will see the
young guys that come into the League, the thing that they will do well
if they are great receivers, they will go deep well. Everybody can go
deep but when you are trying to run patterns and when you are trying
to use the philosophy of the offense and think on the football field,
it gets more difficult.”
Redskins Executive Vice President of Football
Operations Vinny Cerrato
On if they have a favorite pick over the years
that they are particularly proud of:
“Probably like Dan said, he has talked a lot
about Cooley. I don’t know that you can say that Sean Taylor and LaRon Landry (S, #30) were finds.”
On day two of the draft, how does the depth of
the prospects look:
“I think that there is more depth in the draft
this year than there was last. I know we have more names on our name
this board. Last year Bill Belichick (New England Patriots Head Coach)
called, I think it was in the fourth round he called, ‘We will give
you our fifth, two sixes and a seventh for your fifth.’ I said ‘Is
your board empty too?’, and he said ‘Yes.” I think it will be better
this year. There is will be more depth. As you know, big people go
quickly. The guys that will be there at the end will be some guys that
will probably need some development, is usually what happens with the
big guys. We were fortunate last year with a guy like Stephon Heyer (OL,
#74) that we got. It helps when you have an outstanding offensive line
coach that can develop guys like that. When you have a good teaching
staff you can take those guys, like the Montgomery (Anthony, DT, #94),
Golston’s (Kedric, DT, #64), Heyer’s and they can develop into players
quickly because you have good teachers. So, we are fortunate to have
good teachers, which enables us to take guys that you can develop
because the coaches want to develop young guys. They are not in the
frame of mind that I have to have a proven product. Give me somebody
that I can develop and they have done that and they have proven that.
That is why I think that we do get some quality guys later.”
Redskins Owner Daniel M. Snyder
On if it has been tough this off-season to sit
back and not make a big splash:
“No. All we have tried to do year after year is
improve the Redskins and that is get the best available players out of
free agency, out of the draft, trade, what have you. This year Vinny
and the whole staff and the coaching staff felt as if free agents were
a little thin this year, so we didn’t have a big free agent list to go
after this year. We felt that when you grade them you also grade
against your own players. We felt that as a club we were stronger than
many of them.”
Redskins Executive Vice President of Football
Operations Vinny Cerrato
On if he feels that there is more quality or
quantity of players on their draft board:
“At the offensive tackle, there is probably more
quality- it will be early, it will probably be gone before we pick,
but there are more quality big men at a left tackle then there has
been in a lot of years, but they are going to go fast. I think there
is decent depth later in the draft in the O-line. Defensive line, what
happens is once you get past the first round you are getting guys that
maybe they are only good run players or they can only rush the passer
or they are undersized. They are lacking something and like I said,
that is when you have to develop those guys. Receivers, there are not
top of the draft guys, it is more probably late ones, and twos and
threes is probably where the depth is at wide receiver. So there is
more depth in the middle than at the top.”
Redskins Owner Daniel M. Snyder
On if he looks at this as the year for Vinny
Cerrato to have his signature draft:
“I don’t want to discount the previous drafts and
going back to the question asked about where did you think you end up-
well in the third pick in the draft we took Chris Samuels (OT, #60)
and he has been to the Pro Bowl five times. So, you have some
signature draft picks you that you have made more so than signature
drafts overall. If we can do that job that I think we have done here,
I think we will be very successful in this draft.”
Redskins Executive Vice President of Football
Operations Vinny Cerrato
On if he has a quarterback in mind that he
thinks teams will try to move up to get:
“There are a number of quarterbacks that teams
would like to come up and get. There are probably two to three that
people are looking at. It all depends on what happens at the
beginning of the draft. If teams at the beginning of the draft don’t
get the quarterback then they want to come back and get him in the
second, but a lot of times they will probably get gone by the time
they are picking, so teams like to move up to be sure. When you are
trying to get the quarterback, you do what you have to do to go get
him. There has been a lot of interest in teams to move up. Everybody
is interested on Monday, come Saturday we will see.”
On if they have taken any guys off their board
because of character issues:
“Yeah, we have a long list. We have a long list
of guys. That hasn’t changed. The thing that we have learned and Jim
(Zorn) has also said, you win with quality people and quality guys and
we have an outstanding locker room and we don’t want to bring bad guys
into a good locker room. We want to add more good guys to a good
locker room.”
On how they feel about having ten minutes
between draft picks in the first round:
“That is great. We like it much better. You
didn’t need 15 minutes. Probably there will be more preparatory work
early Saturday and maybe Thursday, Friday about teams contacting teams
about wanting to move up. You will have Joe Bussert (NFL) on speed
dial as you are picking, that is the trade guy. There is plenty of
time to make trades and do what you have to do. You get to sit there
and watch your team for fifteen minutes and see highlights, that what
is was.”
Redskins Owner Daniel M. Snyder
On if his thoughts have changed on obtaining
older players since he bought the team:
“When I first came in I wanted to not only win
now, but also didn’t understand what I do today. With today’s salary
cap and today’s system, the contracts need to burned off. If you sign
them for a five year contract, you really need them to play for most
of the contract, if not all of it, so you have to get a younger free
agent. You can’t really sign a 33-year-old to a five year deal, or you
are going to be in trouble.”
On at what point do they analyze their
previous drafts:
Redskins Executive Vice President of Football
Operations Vinny Cerrato
“You can kind of evaluate it after one and then
after two to see how the guys are doing. After the first year you get
a pretty good idea of what direction they are headed. A lot of times
guys make their most improvements, especially guys that aren’t picked
as early, make their most improvement year one to two, so after two
years you should have a pretty good idea of what direction they are
headed, if they are going to be a part of the program or not part of
the program.”
Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn
“What most teams do, and we will do the same, is
after the draft when we start our mini-camps and our OTA’s and then we
go to training camp, those scouts who put in all that ground work and
everybody who had a part in the evaluating will be out there at those
practices comparing those draft choices, free agents, with who we have
on our team and then they learn. There is a learning curve there as
far as they will see the real talent in their evaluations. Either I
was right on or I missed it here or this was exactly what we thought
this guy was going to be. Once those scouts learn that after the
draft, that is where we will put our grade on what kind of draft we
really had.”
Redskins Executive Vice President of Football
Operations Vinny Cerrato
“Plus, the thing that we do is we bring our
scouts in in December and we have them grade our players in December
before they are getting ready to grade- they each get a position to
grade after the season is over- so they will come in and grade our
players at that position and go to one of our games, so they get a
chance to see our guys at the end of the year. Then, the position that
they are going to grade in the draft, they have just evaluated the
players that we have on our team so that it is easier for them to
compare. Say that you are evaluating our receivers. You get a chance
to grade all the Redskins receivers while you are here for a week,
watch them live, go to practice everyday and then they are going to
grade the 25 or 30 receivers in the draft and then it is easier for
them to compare with what they have. Then, in their final summary in
their reports when they right the college reports it is how do they
fit into our team- they are better than, they are not as good as. So,
we grade for the League, but then in the summary, they are grading for
how they fit into our team.”
Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn
On if he put his other coaching duties on hold
to prepare for the draft:
“I have really put on hold the playbook
preparation. The things we are trying to do, other guys are doing
that. I haven’t stopped preparing the quarterbacks, just because I
think that is a valuable part of the process, especially to start
mini-camp in a few weeks here.”