|
Transcript: Sean Payton Discusses
2008 Draft Class
posted April 28, 2008 - print
me!
neworleansprofootball.com
courtesy neworleanssaints.com
“This next period of time (acquiring undrafted rookie
free agents) for us is important. Each of the last couple of years,
we’ve been able to a find a player through free agency.
Our message to those guys is no different than to any draft pick
once they’re on board; it doesn’t really matter to
us how they got here, they have an opportunity to make the team.
That’s what we’re going to be going through in the
next two or three hours. It’s interesting when you look
at it, there have been a number of free agents that not only have
made teams, but have been Pro Bowl players. There’s still
a fair amount of work to do; we’re looking to find a Pierre
Thomas, a Steve Weatherford, a Tyler Palko – these are all
guys that have made our team. Tony Romo made our team in Dallas
when I was there. We’ve been busy today.”
Q: Carl Nicks has had some issues off of the field, but you talked
with him before you made the pick. What did you talk with him
about?
“I had a long talk with him, and if it weren’t for
some of those issues, he’s probably a player that would
have been drafted earlier. We felt comfortable with what those
issues are. That being said, he understands that he’s coming
here to the environment that we have where we have little tolerance.
But it’s really just about getting him ready and getting
him going. He’s a big, athletic player that grades out well
when you watch him. He has some inconsistencies that concern you,
but he played well at the Senior Bowl. We didn’t feel in
his case that it was as much of real bad character as it was maybe
some maturity issues that we were willing to look at and go with.
We’ll see, but he does have some real good physical skills.
I had a good visit with him – probably about a half-an-hour
long a round-and-a-half before we selected him just so he could
reference that phone call. I think it’s important to him
and it’s going to have to be because it’s a competitive
group on our team. We have some flexibility at his position where
he could play tackle or possibly go inside and play guard.”
Q: He said those issues hurt his draft stock. Do you think he
can use that as motivation?
“We’ll find out. I think the players understand what
we’re looking for and they need to understand what we’re
looking for. In the last five years, for the most part, you’ve
seen teams gravitate in that direction. I’m excited about
our locker room right now and excited about our current roster.
Any time you can bring in some new players, it’s on them
to understand what’s expected here and what we expect as
coaches and what their peers expect of them. Hopefully our environment
is conducive to learning and bringing out the best in a player.
I think that if it is, this guy has a chance to compete and bring
something to the table.”
Q: When you’re talking to potential free agents, do you
tell them about guys like Pierre Thomas?
“I think it’s important they can reference that.
You can say that a free agent has a chance of making our team,
but I think their next question is to give some examples. All
you can do is to point to what has happened. We sell that, we
sell the opportunity, and we point to examples because we think
that it’s important to do that.”
Q: When you did the background check on Nicks, was his recent
problem the only one you found?
“I’m real familiar with this player. I’m real
close with his coach (Bill Callahan) and we felt very comfortable
with who we were drafting at that point in time. As I said at
the onset, if there weren’t a few issues with this player,
he would have been drafted much higher. That being said, he has
to come in and compete and work and be in shape and do all those
things, or else it won’t work out.”
Q: Did you have some luxury with flexibility on your roster?
“We had targeted a kicker, just because we wanted to give
a young player a chance to come in here and compete with Martín
(Gramatica). It’s kind of hard to predict where those guys
will get drafted if you look at the history. Last year there were
a couple drafted in the second day; one made it with Dallas and
the other one didn’t. The Giants signed a free agent kicker
that wound up hitting the game-winner in the NFC Championship
game, so we wanted to pay attention to that. We found a guy that
we had worked out and really spent a lot of time on. When Taylor
(Mehlhaff) became available, (special teams coordinator) Greg
McMahon had worked him out and we had studied the tape and were
excited about him. The opportunity that they are given is to come
in and compete, as all these guys are. No one is promised a spot,
and no one will be. But we felt like that was one area when it
came to it, with that additional pick we were going to go with
it and he was available in the sixth round. But we were able to
select an offensive lineman that we maybe didn’t necessarily
target in round five and we were able to select another defensive
lineman that we think can help us. We were able to work DeMario
(Pressley) out at his pro day and he gives us some flexibility
because he has played inside over the guard and he’s also
gone outside. He’s been a pretty productive player. We think
he has pretty good speed and agility. We felt like it was important
for us to move up two spots to get that pick in that we felt like
the team ahead of us was going to probably be targeting the same
player. I think what’s important is that you have to have
a vision for how you see the player in your own scheme and I think
that right now with a little bit of work to do, we’re excited
about how today unfolded.”
Q: Is it also a sign that you’ve built a roster in your
three years and filled the locker room with your kind of guys
that you able to only need six draft picks?
“I would have loved to have had seven or eight. But we’re
still working and hoping to find some guys to come in and add
depth. We didn’t draft a linebacker. We acquired some linebackers
this offseason, but there are still areas that you can still look
at. We didn’t draft a running back, and you could argue
whether there are needs for those positions. When you can bring
in competition and bring in the guys that you think will fit in
your system and fit in your locker room, I think you help yourself.
The next few weeks, we’re going to read all about the grades
of everyone’s draft and I understand that, but I think in
three years we’ll have a pretty good feel for how this draft
unfolds. How you acquire players, you can easily evaluate, but
I think we did a pretty good job to get up and get ourselves in
a position to get Sedrick Ellis.
“When I was driving home last night and looking at where
we were going into it with the 10th pick in the draft, I know
that we got a player that we felt was better than the 10th player,
and it was at a need. He was a guy that probably came up daily
in our discussions of how we could get into position to get him.
I thought we were off to a good start when that happened. I know
he has a great motor, he works extremely hard and he’s been
extremely productive. We’ve seen him at the Senior Bowl
and you guys will have a chance to meet him here in a couple of
weeks and I think that you’ll be impressed with him as well.
I think he’s an outstanding player and that gave us a good
start and a little bit of momentum.
“With the corner selection (Tracy Porter), you’re
sitting and waiting for that run and when the first round ended,
he became the next corner on most people’s boards –
clearly he was on ours – and we thought that he might be
taken ahead of us at our pick of number 40. When he fell to us,
we were pretty excited about it. We had had conversations with
him and his coach. He gives us return ability and he has real
good ball skills. He would clearly have been a guy that was in
our second round circle a week ago. What we try to do is draw
these circles with the idea of ranking who we think will be available,
and in Porter’s case he was a guy because there was a need,
but just as importantly, we felt his skill set ranked in that
area. So our first day went smooth and we were excited about that
and giving up the three to get to where we had to get to to get
Sedrick Ellis was perfect and well worth it. After that, today
you really start trying to project to how these guys will have
a chance to make the team and with each of these selections we
made today we tried to do that and to have a vision of how they’re
going to make the team, and hopefully that vision comes to fruition.”
Q: Was Sedrick Ellis’ pro day work out the thing that really
sold you on him?
“I think the number one thing that sells you on that player
is his body of work. I think the workouts are important, the postseason
bowls and all of that are important, but if you look at his body
of work and what he’s done and how disruptive he can be,
and then having a guy that has worked with him… Any time
you’re able to hire a college coach, every once in a while
they’re able to bring some insight to other players in their
conference or players that they’ve come across in recruiting
and when it specifically happens to be a player that he’s
recruited and coached, that’s really an additional bonus
that happens. In Ed Orgeron’s case, we had a pretty good
idea of what we were getting and that’s a good thing.”
Q: You mentioned linebacker. Do you see that as a position you’ll
target with rookie free agents?
“We’re trying to find the best players now. You’re
only going to have so many magnets that you put up on that board
and we’ll be on the phone with a lot of these guys and we’ll
see what happens. We’ll try to get this thing filled out
tonight and tomorrow morning and then get them ready for the first
opportunity, which is the rookie camp two weekends from now.”
Q: Would you have a quarterback in that group?
“We would like to. There is a fourth spot and an opportunity
for a guy to come in and compete. I’ve spoken to a few guys
already and we’ll see how it unfolds.”
Q: Do you have a few guys in mind?
“There are two. We’ll see what happens. Often times
they get drafted in the last round, but we’ll see.”
Q: Is Tyler Palko a guy that you feel like you hit on at this
stage last year?
“I do. I’m excited about working with him. He was
a starter at Pitt and the guy behind him transferred to Delaware
and just got taken in the first round. He brings some intangibles
that I think are maybe a little bit harder to see unless he’s
playing. I know he’s had a great offseason. He’s been
here this whole time. He’s working hard and he and (Mark)
Brunell now outnumber the righty two to one, which is a little
different. He’s done a great job with our offseason program
and I’m anxious to see him get in there because in some
of the snaps he had in the preseason last year, you saw him move
the team pretty well and he’ll get more snaps this upcoming
training camp. He’s very focused; it’s very important
to him, and he has some of those intangibles that you look for,
and that excites me.”
Q: Did he come with you to help on some workouts with cornerbacks?
“He was with us on one trip, but it was 160 throws at three
different stops and he did a good job. We took a little group
of guys and we went to work out the corner at Tennessee State,
Cromartie, the corner at Troy State, McKelvin, and then the corner
at South Florida, Jenkins, and he did a real good job. He’s
doing well.”
Q: In Mehlhaff’s case, are his kickoffs one way that he
might be able to make the roster?
“I think still there has to be the confidence level. Last
year, it took place with Gramatica where we felt like he began
to hit important kicks for us. I think the job description is
to be accurate and to be able to convert drives, be it on long
field goals or short field goals, and then also as a kickoff guy.
I think you take the combination. We thought at the beginning
of the year a year ago, that Olindo (Mare) gave us that and it
didn’t work out. This is an opportunity for us to look at
a young kicker that we’ve done a lot more research on that
maybe some kickers that we would bring in in free agency and we
think he can come in and compete.”
Q: Does he have to options – to compete to win the main
job or also as a kickoff specialist?
“Right now, I look at it as two kickers that are competing
for that spot. Whether we create another spot, I think that becomes
something down the line. I really look at two guys that will come
in here and it’s probably not unlike most camps where you
have competition. In this case, you have the young player coming
in with the veteran already here. I was pleased with the way Gramatica
came in here and in a short period of time was consistent and
did a good job for us. With any of these picks, it’s never
an indictment of any of your current guys; we’re trying
to improve the New Orleans Saints. When the player was available
in the sixth round, we felt like it was a good match. We had just
worked him out a week ago and really liked his leg strength. But
they’re going to have to be able to kick field goals.”
Q: At the end of last season, five of your draft class were on
the roster but Usama Young was really the only who that saw a
lot of playing time. Do you almost see yourselves as having two
draft classes this year?
“We have some young players. Of course, Robert Meachem
is a guy that has had a lot written about him. I’m excited
about where he’s at from a health standpoint; he’s
progressed tremendously. You don’t see the knee being an
issue at all. We’re going to find out a lot about him this
coming spring and fall. Jermon Bushrod is another guy that we’re
really excited about. He’s a young lineman that went through
that first year. He’s healthy and he’s been doing
a great job with the offseason program. The timeframe on when
they play is sometimes something that they can’t control,
but again, I think a couple of years from now we’re going
to be able to look back and say if these were good selections
or they weren’t, and I like the guys that we have. I think
Usama Young is going to be a guy that competes for playing time
this year; just as he played last year, I think he’ll compete
for more playing time. Again, we’re trying to get younger
and improve the roster, and that being said, still be mindful
of the chemistry that we have in that locker room and what we
think gives us the best chance to win and win in this upcoming
season.”
Q: With Ellis and Porter both filling needs on the team, did
each of them have the highest grade of any player on the board?
“No question. There was no discussion at all with Ellis.
When you make a trade to go up to get a player, you make the trade
knowing that you’re getting that player. In other words,
you’re not going up hoping that that player comes to you.
You only go up if that player is there, and then you go up, get
it and take that player. Clearly, that was our target when we
moved up and that’s why the trade took place immediately
when Ellis fell to the spot of New England’s pick. With
Porter, when he became available, there wasn’t discussion
or debate – and often times there is, sometimes there might
be three players – but in his case there wasn’t. It
isn’t always that smooth or that easy, but we were happy
about yesterday. There are 31 other head coaches that are sitting
before their media today saying that they got just who they wanted
and they had a great day and are happy about it, and I understand
that, but in the end, the proof will be in the pudding and we’ll
find out sooner than later. We’re excited about these players.
They do fill needs for us; they fit what we’re looking for
and we’ll keep going here. Hopefully we can find a few free
agents that can come in and compete as well.”
Home
Back
|
