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ESPN: Ken Whisenhunt, the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. That team took Michael Floyd, wide receiver out of Notre Dame, last night. He joins us now. Ken what was it about Floyd's game that you like so much to make him your 1st round pick?
Whiz: Well, I think the thing that stood out for us was how physical he was. Not only as a blocker, when you say 'physical' that's the first thing that pops into your mind, but how physical he was going after the ball. There's a number of clips of him making the catches over the top of guys, in the red zone. Those are the type of qualities that we've seen Larry do for all these years, and when you see another guy that can do that, that's a good combination of size and speed, it gets you excited.
ESPN: There were a lot of trades last night in the 1st round. All this stuff is moving around, obviously you're locked in on Floyd. Did you know or did you realize that maybe St. Louis moved back thinking that they were gonna be able to grab a guy like Floyd, and ultimately you take him out right in front of them?
Whiz: I actually heard from about 3 or 4 teams, that were all sitting there in the late 10's and early 20's, that were trying to get Floyd. So we didn't know that at the time. We had our board set and the way they came off we felt very good about Michael at that pick. But it's always good, I think, when you know that other teams are really interested in the guy that you picked. Not that that makes any difference, but we felt very good about our evaluation of him and how he'll fit into our team.
ESPN: Coach, Floyd returned for his senior year at South Bend after a little bit of controversy, being suspended after his on-campus arrest for driving under the influence a year ago. What did he say when you asked him about that?
Whiz: He said he made a mistake. I think that one of the things I liked about him was the fact that he did go back. It would've been very easy, with the quarterback situation the way it was, with what happened to him last spring, to come into the supplemental draft and kind of put that behind him. But he didn't do that. He didn't bail on his teammates. He came back and he finished last year and he did a nice job. And whenever you see a guy do that, then it makes you believe how important the concept of team is to him. And that's the kind of guys you're looking for. And we asked him some tough questions. We spent a lot of time with him talking about those things and his past, and I think you've seen the young man mature over the last year. That was the impression that we got. And I really liked how he handled himself and how honest he was about it.
ESPN: Quite a potent 1-2 combo with Larry Fitzgerald, what do you think Larry's gonna help him most with?
Whiz: Learning how to be a pro. Just how you work, everyday in practice how you prepare. Larry's done that with a lot of our young guys, and we've seen him have success with Steve Breaston, Early Doucet had a bigger year last year, we got a good young player in Andre Roberts. So throw in Michael Floyd into the mix. And just because of the connection that Larry has with him from Minnesota. I think that that is a real positive for us.
ESPN: Ken, I wanna challenge you a bit on the Larry stuff because I played in Kurt Warner's charity flag football game and Larry was our celebrity QB, and he was late, our playcalling was an issue, and he really didn't show the leadership I was actually expecting from him in that game.
Whiz: Wow, that's really disappointing to hear, I guess. He probably won't get into the hall of fame with the flag football association then.
ESPN: I just wanted to warn you in case you're putting a lot on Larry's plate as far as that leadership stuff.
Whiz Let me tell you something. If it's 3rd down at the 5 yard line late in the game, there's no hesitation. There's no indecisiveness with Larry, I'll guarantee you that. His purpose is, 'just throw me the ball and I'll make the catch' and that's what you like to see.
ESPN: I think that part of his career he's covered up pretty well. I think you got that figured out. What can we expect from your team from the quarterback situation? Because last year with injuries and uncertainty it was all over the place.
Whiz: Well I think that obviously it's a little bit of question mark for us from the standpoint of who it's gonna be. We've got 2 young guys that, at times, showed that they can operate our system and do a good job with it. And I think winning 7 of the last 9 really built some momentum for us. It gives us an opportunity to let these guys compete and see who's gonna take that step forward and take the team. And I think between John Skelton and Kevin Kolb, we do have 2 guys that we feel can operate the position. This is gonna be the 1st offseason for both of those guys with us. So I'm excited to see how they continue to grow and develop, and we feel comfortable that we've got 2 guys, 1 of which is gonna lead our team this year.
ESPN: What's the next position you'd like to upgrade, whether it's through the draft, or through free agency?
Whiz: I think we've got a couple. I'm kinda hesitant with a number of rounds left to talk too much about it, because you saw it yesterday with all the different trades, you don't want to put something out there where people might have an idea of what your strategy is. I think we're gonna continue to go with our philosophy which is the best player available, with an eye towards what our needs may be. But we feel very good about some of the players that we think we may have an opportunity with our next picks.
ESPN: Ken, congrats on adding a nice piece there at wide receiver and good luck the rest of the draft.
Whiz: Well, I think the thing that stood out for us was how physical he was. Not only as a blocker, when you say 'physical' that's the first thing that pops into your mind, but how physical he was going after the ball. There's a number of clips of him making the catches over the top of guys, in the red zone. Those are the type of qualities that we've seen Larry do for all these years, and when you see another guy that can do that, that's a good combination of size and speed, it gets you excited.
ESPN: There were a lot of trades last night in the 1st round. All this stuff is moving around, obviously you're locked in on Floyd. Did you know or did you realize that maybe St. Louis moved back thinking that they were gonna be able to grab a guy like Floyd, and ultimately you take him out right in front of them?
Whiz: I actually heard from about 3 or 4 teams, that were all sitting there in the late 10's and early 20's, that were trying to get Floyd. So we didn't know that at the time. We had our board set and the way they came off we felt very good about Michael at that pick. But it's always good, I think, when you know that other teams are really interested in the guy that you picked. Not that that makes any difference, but we felt very good about our evaluation of him and how he'll fit into our team.
ESPN: Coach, Floyd returned for his senior year at South Bend after a little bit of controversy, being suspended after his on-campus arrest for driving under the influence a year ago. What did he say when you asked him about that?
Whiz: He said he made a mistake. I think that one of the things I liked about him was the fact that he did go back. It would've been very easy, with the quarterback situation the way it was, with what happened to him last spring, to come into the supplemental draft and kind of put that behind him. But he didn't do that. He didn't bail on his teammates. He came back and he finished last year and he did a nice job. And whenever you see a guy do that, then it makes you believe how important the concept of team is to him. And that's the kind of guys you're looking for. And we asked him some tough questions. We spent a lot of time with him talking about those things and his past, and I think you've seen the young man mature over the last year. That was the impression that we got. And I really liked how he handled himself and how honest he was about it.
ESPN: Quite a potent 1-2 combo with Larry Fitzgerald, what do you think Larry's gonna help him most with?
Whiz: Learning how to be a pro. Just how you work, everyday in practice how you prepare. Larry's done that with a lot of our young guys, and we've seen him have success with Steve Breaston, Early Doucet had a bigger year last year, we got a good young player in Andre Roberts. So throw in Michael Floyd into the mix. And just because of the connection that Larry has with him from Minnesota. I think that that is a real positive for us.
ESPN: Ken, I wanna challenge you a bit on the Larry stuff because I played in Kurt Warner's charity flag football game and Larry was our celebrity QB, and he was late, our playcalling was an issue, and he really didn't show the leadership I was actually expecting from him in that game.
Whiz: Wow, that's really disappointing to hear, I guess. He probably won't get into the hall of fame with the flag football association then.
ESPN: I just wanted to warn you in case you're putting a lot on Larry's plate as far as that leadership stuff.
Whiz Let me tell you something. If it's 3rd down at the 5 yard line late in the game, there's no hesitation. There's no indecisiveness with Larry, I'll guarantee you that. His purpose is, 'just throw me the ball and I'll make the catch' and that's what you like to see.
ESPN: I think that part of his career he's covered up pretty well. I think you got that figured out. What can we expect from your team from the quarterback situation? Because last year with injuries and uncertainty it was all over the place.
Whiz: Well I think that obviously it's a little bit of question mark for us from the standpoint of who it's gonna be. We've got 2 young guys that, at times, showed that they can operate our system and do a good job with it. And I think winning 7 of the last 9 really built some momentum for us. It gives us an opportunity to let these guys compete and see who's gonna take that step forward and take the team. And I think between John Skelton and Kevin Kolb, we do have 2 guys that we feel can operate the position. This is gonna be the 1st offseason for both of those guys with us. So I'm excited to see how they continue to grow and develop, and we feel comfortable that we've got 2 guys, 1 of which is gonna lead our team this year.
ESPN: What's the next position you'd like to upgrade, whether it's through the draft, or through free agency?
Whiz: I think we've got a couple. I'm kinda hesitant with a number of rounds left to talk too much about it, because you saw it yesterday with all the different trades, you don't want to put something out there where people might have an idea of what your strategy is. I think we're gonna continue to go with our philosophy which is the best player available, with an eye towards what our needs may be. But we feel very good about some of the players that we think we may have an opportunity with our next picks.
ESPN: Ken, congrats on adding a nice piece there at wide receiver and good luck the rest of the draft.
