Here is the transcript from the press conference:
http://www.azcardinals.com/press/pressdetails.php?sid=1169
Vice President-Football Operations Rod Graves (RG) and Head Coach Dave McGinnis (DM) sat down with the media on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming 2003 draft! Find out the latest from Cards Headquarters in this Q&A!
Where are the Cardinals thought processes right now?
RG "Well right now, we have spend a lot of time building are draft board and we feel good about where those areas are, where we might be focusing in terms of the depth and the quality at those positions. We have spent the last three weeks building the board and getting ready for next week. Right now and this point, we are looking at all of are options and trying to keep a lot of things open. You never can tell what will happen in the first five or six picks in the draft and as thing unfold, it's really hard to predict what we will do until that time comes. There is a directions which we can take several players and if there not there, then there is others ways which we could go by moving out of that pick and move back because one thing we would like to do in this draft is to be able to get more picks if possible. So, that is something that we will continue to observe not only through the first round but in later rounds as well.
Do you think that this draft is as deep at pass rusher and not just at
defensive lineman, but guys that can get to the quarterback?
RG "Well my opinion about that is if you are talking about peer pass rushers and if you are talking in those terms, it is not as deep. But, there are some outstanding defensive lineman in this draft and we are going to be looking at where we could get the greatest impact across the board. We are going to be looking at some quality defensive lineman if they are still there."
Has your draft board changed at all?
RG "Not really. We don't build our board until after the workouts are over. We have the benefit over being even-keel once we got all the information in. I haven't sensed that we have jumped a lot. There might be some discussions on whether we should take this guy over that guy, but taking guys out of one category and dropping them in another, we haven't had a lot of that. It may be some discrepancies over whether one player is better than another. But nothing dramatic."
How do you view the strengths and weaknesses of this draft?
DM "I think Rod hit it. There is some defensive lineman in this draft that is going to be some impact people in this league. There are some receivers, just as there always are. I just know that the receivers that we went over in the past three weeks have been large in number. There aren't many fullbacks. Fullback is a position that for some reason or another is a position that seems to be disappearing. It might be the use of multiple wide-out sets that everybody is employing, in our league all the way down through any division level in college. There aren't a lot of fullbacks in this draft. Linebackers have some at the top, then a little bit of a gap and then there are some more. Overall when you start looking at it, some players will go off of our board just like off of other teams boards a lot quicker than anybody thought because of needs of football teams."
How quickly can a receiver come in and make an impact?
DM "I think that depends on the person. Second of all, it depends on the system that he is going into. Thirdly, and not less important, it depends on the instruction he is getting wherever he arrives. The longer that anybody is in the league at any position the better they are going to be. If you have a need and a guy that is able to absorb coaching and able to absorb the system very quickly and plus is given the opportunity to stay on the field, his learning curve will be quicker than a guy that is in and out."
How clear are the first couple of picks this year?
RG "I tend to stay away from the predictions. You never quite know. I am sure that there is going to be at least one surprise ahead of us that no one from any of the publications or any of the people that I have talked to expect. You never quite know. The thing is to build your board and be confident with your top ten guys and be prepared to move in terms of your priority list and you go from there. You never quite know what Cincinnati or Chicago might do unless you are there."
When do trades happen, during the draft or before it?
RG "I don't know that I have a feel whether it will be heavier than one or the other. I think we will see some trade activity in this draft, and my guess is that it will probably be likely on draft day."
Is it more beneficial to make it while on the clock?
RG "I think there is always a tendency to be more pressure to make a deal when you are on the clock. Many times you are able to get deals done because there may be a player there that somebody really wants and it is hard to make that predication before draft day. You have a greater chance of getting deals done on draft day."
Evaluate Terrell Suggs
DM "Terrell has got a tremendous resume as far as what he has done on the football field, In all of my discussions with Dirk he is a guy they have really enjoyed having on the football team, in the community. What he has done on the football field speaks for itself and plus the way he has improved every year. It was a new position when he first went in there to school and he has progressive gotten better at it and this year he made a quantum leap as far as what he did. He has something that a lot of people
look for in our league. He can come off the edge and get the quarterback on the ground, or at least get back there and make the quarterback real nervous."
Talk about his workout?
RG "I am not one to put a lot of stock into workouts. I think you take that information to a certain degree. The fact is that I think he has been a tremendous player at what he does and outstanding as a pass rusher for many years and I think that is something you have to evaluate Terrell Suggs on. I think one workout doesn't really dictate the kind of player that he is. Terrell is outstanding as a pass rusher, but there are some quality players in this draft. While we are taking a good look at Terrell, I don't want anybody to get too focused on that this is our selection. We would love to have him, but we would love to have a lot of other players too. We are going to be keeping a open mind as we proceed through the draft."
Where do you see yourself at linebacker right now?
DM "I think the whole issue with Levar (Fisher) is being healthy. He hurt a knee, tried to play on it, re-hurt it and then lost the year. He has been in here this whole offseason and appears to be healthy. I think Ray (Thompson) had a tremendous year last year, and he has even been in here doing better. Ron McKinnon has been a mainstay. We signed James Darling, we signed Trev Faulk last year who is a kid that I think will be able to work in there. You can never have too many people that can cover and never have too many linebackers that can run because that flows over into your special teams, which you all witnessed from last year when you start losing people at the top it incrementally sifts down through the bottom. So we will always be looking for guys that can run and play. Specifically about Fisher, I still have got some very, very good feelings about Levar if he stays healthy. We had some young guys that we played quite a bit, LeVar Woods and Michael Young, so that is a position that I don't see it as a dire need right now."
What do you think of Leftwich?
DM "He was a great interview. Face up, person-to-person he is extremely bright. You can see why a team in a huddle would migrate to him. You can understand what a leader he is. He has an extremely good arm and is a guy that played through some physical problems last year. He seems to have some good qualities for that position, which is important."
Where do you think Willis McGahee from Miami will be picked?
RG "You take a look at a player like that with that type of serious injury and you just have to ask yourself where are you willing to take the risk because there is no question about his ability and I think when you go back to a player like Shaun Rogers, a tackle that Detroit took. He had bad ankle, but they decided that in the second round that they were wiling to take a risk with him at that particular spot. I think Willis is going to be faced with the same type of scenario. Some team will decide at some point whether or not or where they would like to draft him. I don't think there is any question that if he his healthy or can get back to the point of health that he will be an outstanding running back.
Is it too much to ask to come out of this draft with two receivers and a pass rushing end?
RG "I think that is what we would like to do,
to come out of this draft with at least a couple of receivers and a pass rush situation addressed. We will walk in with needs we would like to see addressed, but we are going to try to get players that give us the biggest impact in certain areas. We don't want to get so focused in on need areas that we pass up quality football players. We are going to approach it from that standpoint."
Is it a cat and mouse game with how much you let on?
DM "I have always been honest with you. Between now and draft day anything you hear from a coach or general manager is a lie. That is part of the draft. You can speak in generalities. You don't know how it is going to unfold. It is a high stakes game and you have a group of cards in your hand with how many picks you have and it makes sense to not show them. It is not because you are trying to be coy or secretive, it is because you are in the game. It has been that way for all 18 years that I have been in it. I have been listening to people lie for 18 years."
How are Sanders and Lassiter coming along?
RG "I think it is safe to say in both cases that those players will not be back with us this year."
What about Thomas Jones?
RG "As of today, Thomas is with us and a member of our roster. We have talked with Thomas and his agent Tom Condon and they have expressed a desire to be traded and we are working with them along those lines."
Talk about Jimmy Kennedy and his positives on and off the field?
DM "Big defensive lineman to run people down. He can take a offensive guard and walk him back to the QB. We had Jimmy and Marcus Trufant in. I have spent a lot of time over the past couple of months going out to dinner with these guys and it is interesting seeing the difference in the free agents you bring in from other teams after they have been in the league for four or five years and these guys you just bring in coming into the league. I was very impressed with him when he was in here as a person. He was really very interactive to talk to. He is a talented player and wherever he ends up he is going to be a impact player. I would say this. The other 31 head coaches are going to look at him, they are going to like him like I do, a lot."
