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(Opening statement)
Les Snead: “For opening, I think, a couple weeks ago I was on maybe a radio show or a podcast and said it was campaign season. So, don’t be offended if everything we say up here is not totally accurate. But I can say this, we’re down to the last week. It’s great to be at the last week. Staff’s done an amazing job both the scouts during the fall, all-star season/combine season, getting the coaches involved starting probably around all-star combine season all the way to now. A lot of hard work goes into this. This week’s all about dotting some Is, crossing some Ts, still talking about scenarios and that’s what we’re in the process of doing. I think we’ll open it up. I’d rather have suggestions than questions, but if you’ve got any, we’ll take suggestions as well.”
(On who they’re going to take in the NFL Draft)
Jeff Fisher: “When?”
Snead: “Who’s going to be there in the seventh round?”
(On if it complicates things being at No. 16 and No. 22 because they have to wait for things to develop in comparison to last year’s draft preparations)
Fisher: “Yes, I mean that’s part of the process. You try to anticipate what’s going to happen ahead of you. There’s no way that you’re going to be entirely correct, but we go through the different scenarios. Again, that’s the process this week is you go through and watch 15 guys come off the board and look at your options at whoever’s left, and then you go from there. It’s hard to predict, but we have a good feel for it and we feel like we’ve got a good board right now.”
(On if they have three or four prospects in mind for the No. 16 pick)
Fisher: “There’s a few positions that we would probably eliminate just because of players that we have on our roster. But there’s more positions of need than one would expect, so we have a number of players that we think can help us there.”
(On if it’s more difficult to go through the scenarios this year and predict where which players will be there)
Snead: “I don’t know if it’s harder. It may be more scenarios because you have two picks and you can go frontwards, backwards, sideways a couple different times and like you said, picking later things happen in front of you that you’ve got to respond to. So, not necessarily harder, maybe a little more complicated.”
(On if there are prospects that they feel strongly enough about to trade up to pick)
Fisher: “Possibly.”
Snead: “It’s always a possibility. We’ve done it both ways in our careers. But just the same way there’s also some players behind you that you feel strong about, so the more picks the better as well.”
(On if the Rams’ phone lines are open)
Snead: “How many phone lines do we have in there? I think we just set up. We have three or four or five. We’ll definitely take calls. We’ll have fun.”
(On if they’re less likely to trade up because they only have the one additional first round pick)
Fisher: “No, you could trade one up and trade the other back.”
Snead: “Even if you trade up I don’t think that player is necessarily, ‘Hey, he’s going to put you over the top, you’re going to go undefeated per se,’ but if there’s somebody there that you want that you think fills a role, helps the team, you can go get him.”
(On not being afraid to take chances)
Fisher: “Well, it’s not a matter of taking chances. It’s a matter of identifying players that can help you and then how you position yourself to get him and whether or not you have them on the board where you think their value is and where they’re going to go off. There’s drafts over the years where the speculation prior to the start was this first round’s going to be all over the place and there’s going to be trades and this and that and there’s not one trade. Then, there’s other drafts that we’ve been involved in over the years where you thought things were going to go the way they’re supposed to and then things just break wide open and people start moving around. It’s hard. We can control what we can control and then just have to be able to adjust.”
(On if they agree with the speculation that this year is not a good draft class and if they pay attention to that speculation)
Snead: “I think you pay attention to it, but I think in every draft where people pick, they find players that are going to help their team out. What I’m noticing though is since the new collective bargaining agreement has come in, some of the teams up top they were least likely to be in the playoffs last year so they are thinking, ‘Hey, maybe trade back and get more picks.’ Then some teams that are on the backend they have less needs and maybe one player is really good up there that they want to get and help some and they think about jumping. It’s hard to say whether, ‘Hey, this is the draft where the players stop at 10, 11, 12 or wherever it may be.’”
(On the Wonderlic test and how it factors into their evaluation of a prospect)
Snead: “I think that’s a good question and I’ll let Coach (Fisher) answer it. You take the test so it means something, but I think at the end of the day as more and more research comes out on how human beings learn, the Wonderlic may not answer those questions. There’s a lot more science in that and we look at all of those. Then, I think the big thing is we identify some players, we bring them in, and I think that our coaching staff – and I’ll let Jeff elaborate – will spend time with him because at the end of the day it may not be about a standardized Wonderlic test, but about how they can learn their football plays and then learn to adjust to the opposing team off of those plays.”
Fisher: “In years past the Wonderlic was – I mean years ago when the league introduced it – it was the only way to get information. Now, it really becomes just a red flag. Over the years we’ve had guys in the building that have had 35, 40 scores on their Wonderlic – they couldn’t process football. We’ve had guys that had single-digits that had no problem with football, it just happened to be some type of reading disorder or disability. It serves as a red flag, but we didn’t, in our ‘Top 30’ visits this year, we didn’t bring in guys just because of Wonderlic deficiency. We brought them in for all different reasons. What we were consistent with in the visits was the process and how we introduced offense and defense to the prospects. We gave them an hour or so and then asked them to go back in and share the information and how they process and retain. The 30 visit thing is something that is very important to us. We thought we were very productive and especially selective this year.”
(On if there are ways other than the Wonderlic to gauge a player’s ability to learn and process information)
Fisher: “We have many other resources now than we did in the past.”
(On if they think the Wonderlic results should be kept confidential between the teams and players)
Fisher: “It’s confidential information. The height, weight, speed and the workout stuff is for public knowledge, but everything else should be and must remain confidential. It’s personal information and each club collects information that’s confidential to themselves as well.”
(On what teams can learn from players during the top 30 visits)
Fisher: “That’s it. You sit down, Les and I each had an opportunity to visit with every single player that came in on the 30 visit, as did the coaches and the rest of the guys in the organization, and observe them for the day and watch them interact and get to know them. If there’s a story, then we’re going to get to it and find out background information if at all possible. It’s detrimental from a player standpoint if you’ve got a young man that’s got 10 or 12 of them because he’s on the road for two and a half weeks and he doesn’t get a chance to work out and that affects him when he reports to rookie minicamp, but beyond that, we think it’s real important.”
(On T Rodger Saffold)
Fisher: “No issues. He’s having fun, working out, in really good shape. We started our offseason program a week ago today with 100 percent attendance, which was impressive.”
(On if the Rams have changed their approach this year in regards to drafting players with ‘character issues’ in their past)
Snead: “I think we said last year it’s a case-by-case situation. I’ve said it many times before, these are young kids. What they’ve done in their past doesn’t necessarily determine their future, as we all have learned. If they’re 20, they’ve still got a lot of years left on this planet to produce. They’re still maturing, but you take it case by case, try to find out how you best get that player to thrive, and if our organization can handle it, we’ll take that on. But it’s case-by-case.”
Fisher: “I might add, last year there were guys that were not on the Rams’ draft board, and that will be the case this year. We have criteria. We have standards as it applies to character and on the field and off the field things. Again, there are guys that will not be drafted by the Rams this year.”
(On if they like to take multiple players at the same position in the same draft)
Snead: “Every year is different. I think last year you had a lot of holes. You have less holes this year, but philosophically, when you can get a position group strong in one draft, that’s a good way to go. I think it’s also how things fall and who you have on your board. It’s a combination of those two things, because you could set out to do that and the players to do that with aren’t there. Then the philosophy is broken. I think it’s a combination of who’s getting picked before you, how your board is and what your needs are, but it worked out well last year.”
(On if they pay any attention to the mock drafts that are published)
Fisher: “No.”
Snead: “They seem to be changing a lot, right?”
(On if a player’s stock can rise or fall during the spring in their mind)
Fisher: “Well, we’ll have prospects that we’ll initially place somewhere on the vertical board and then after further discussion and further film review and evaluation and compromise, we’ll move them up or down. We have nothing to do with a player that’s falling Thursday or Friday or Saturday because obviously we’ve got guys that we like and we’re going to draft accordingly. So to answer your question, it probably is more of a media driven thing where you’ve got early projections of a player that’s set high and then for some reason he’s not selected. That has nothing to do with us. We have them, what we think is appropriate, placed on our board.”
Snead: “Usually they’re going to fall in a certain tier. There may be four or five guys at that position at that tier, and after further work you feel like this player of the five fits your system the best. But, I don’t think you see a lot of guys on a board go from where you initially have them to way up. That’s looking at the mocks in the media world and maybe a guy was in the first round, now he’s in the second. Even then, that’s not a meteoric fall. I think the guys that have to do the mock draft the day after this draft for next year, now those guys may have a meteoric fall or rise.”
(On if the Rams hope a bunch of quarterbacks go before the 16th pick to push more position players down to the Rams)
Snead: “I’ll take that. That helps us. I haven’t looked at any quarterbacks this year.”
Fisher: “I have, because they throw to receivers (joking). You have somewhat of an idea who should or is going to come off. We’re always hoping that there will be another position or two that comes off that did not apply to us. The – I don’t want to say typical, but – the standard 3-4 defense outside linebacker, he doesn’t necessarily fit our scheme, so you hope that there’s a handful of those guys that come off that would allow some of the other players that do fit our scheme to fall to us.”
(On the receiver class)
Snead: “Receiver, historically, to me is the toughest transition from college to the NFL, so that’s always a historic, probably, marker. I think it’s a sexy position but I can say that a lot of good receivers have come in the second and third tier and fourth tiers of the draft. In this year’s draft – as Jeff’s said – he’s looked at receiver, I really haven’t.”
Fisher: “Just because the corners are covering them.”
(On if they have made trips to work out players)
Fisher: “We’ve made some trips, but don’t believe what you hear, what you read because I was just informed that I am currently in Clemson right now working out that receiver. Along with Les, we’re both there.”
Snead: “You can figure out if we were there this morning or not.”
(On their thoughts on the receiver class)
Fisher: “It’s a good class. There’s going to be receivers that can help you throughout the draft.”
Snead: “And to answer your question too, the workouts are nice because each receiver comes from a team with his offense. Then, we have our offense. So, you can go there and put him through some of the routes that you’re going to run. That helps you so that when you get a little bunch of receivers, that helps you separate who may be best for you. I think that’s just more icing on the cake as you go through the process.”
(On why the receiver position is the toughest transition from college to the NFL)
Snead: “Good question. Coach can probably allude to that. I think, receivers typically in college, a lot of corners are scared of them, so they don’t get a lot of tight coverage. People back off, let him catch the ball, probably doesn’t have to be as detailed in his routes. And offenses are changing. They’re not running traditional NFL routes, which not saying that’s good or bad because those guys are successful down there. And it’s a timing thing with your quarterback here. There are a lot of things that go on with receivers than at other positions.”
(On the running back class and how comfortable they are going into the season with RBs Isaiah Pead and Daryl Richardson)
Snead: “We’re always going to be looking. I think like I’ve mentioned before, we’ve lost a veteran, great leader, great player for this organization. We had two young ones last year that were up there in yards per carry. One at 4.5 (ypc), one at 4.8 (ypc), so we’re excited to get them the ball as well, so it’s a little bit of both: you lose a good player, but you have some young ones coming up. They’re going to have to become pros from last season through this offseason and the season, but we’ll definitely keep our eye out on that position as well.”
(On if he believes that he can find value at running back in later rounds more so than other positions)
Snead: “It seems like that seems to be the case, at least with Mike Shanahan teams, but I think he’s the one that started that trend and they did it again last year with their running back. But again, I think each draft is different and each offense is different and when you get to those back of the rounds, the player needs to fit your scheme. I think it just depends on draft haze – is there a pod of guys there that you could wait to take and you need depth in the draft for that to happen. Traditionally, yes that occurs, but then there are the Adrian Peterson’s of the world and I think you were in that (Edward Jones) Dome when we played him, he may have been a top five pick and he looked like it.”
(On Coach Fisher’s teams not traditionally taking an offensive lineman in the first round and if that was a philosophical decision or a matter of circumstance)
Fisher: “It was circumstance. There was one taken or two taken before I got there in the first round. They played a long time and they played at a high level, so therefore you can fill in, that’s what we did. In the past, I think if you do a good job of evaluating and projecting you can get quality players throughout the draft and that was out philosophy. I think we’ve done a real good job of evaluating up to this point.”
(On if everything is set at this point)
Fisher: “There’s going to be a lot more discussion. We’re going to visit with coaches and then scouts and back-and-forth, and make sure that the board is right and everyone is happy with it. There’s a lot more to be discussed, but I think the hard work is done at this point. May jump a guy on the board because of another tape that somebody looked at or more production in their junior year versus this, but for the most part the work is done.”
(On if any discussions or arguments on players are going on at this point)
Snead: “I think you’re always going to have discussion. Like I said, there are a lot of smart people in this building that coach different positions, different sides of the ball, a lot of scouts and personnel people, so it’s not like you’re going to walk in there and have 100 players and they all have the exact same thoughts on the 100. So, you’re still going to have discussion, but not really any more arguments but pin pointed discussions on how this player fits or if we take this player here, what happens in the next round, things like that.”
Fisher: “It makes no sense to sit there and try to decide whether or not you’re going to take this guard in the sixth round versus this receiver in the sixth round right now because in all likelihood one of them is going to be gone. That discussion takes place during the draft as that scenario gets closer to where you have to make your selection. There’s a lot more discussion than people would expect during the draft than there is at this point.”
(On how Coach Fisher feels about small receivers)
Fisher: “I think they have a chance to play if you have a tall quarterback because he can find him. If you have a shorter style quarterback it’s tough to find a shorter receiver.”
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stlouisrams.com/media-center/videos/GM-Les-Snead-HC-Fisher-Pre-Draft-Press-Conference/e9aa2108-cfdf-4e90-8c75-8358b2364524" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stlouisrams.com/media-center ... 58b2364524</a>
(Opening statement)
Les Snead: “For opening, I think, a couple weeks ago I was on maybe a radio show or a podcast and said it was campaign season. So, don’t be offended if everything we say up here is not totally accurate. But I can say this, we’re down to the last week. It’s great to be at the last week. Staff’s done an amazing job both the scouts during the fall, all-star season/combine season, getting the coaches involved starting probably around all-star combine season all the way to now. A lot of hard work goes into this. This week’s all about dotting some Is, crossing some Ts, still talking about scenarios and that’s what we’re in the process of doing. I think we’ll open it up. I’d rather have suggestions than questions, but if you’ve got any, we’ll take suggestions as well.”
(On who they’re going to take in the NFL Draft)
Jeff Fisher: “When?”
Snead: “Who’s going to be there in the seventh round?”
(On if it complicates things being at No. 16 and No. 22 because they have to wait for things to develop in comparison to last year’s draft preparations)
Fisher: “Yes, I mean that’s part of the process. You try to anticipate what’s going to happen ahead of you. There’s no way that you’re going to be entirely correct, but we go through the different scenarios. Again, that’s the process this week is you go through and watch 15 guys come off the board and look at your options at whoever’s left, and then you go from there. It’s hard to predict, but we have a good feel for it and we feel like we’ve got a good board right now.”
(On if they have three or four prospects in mind for the No. 16 pick)
Fisher: “There’s a few positions that we would probably eliminate just because of players that we have on our roster. But there’s more positions of need than one would expect, so we have a number of players that we think can help us there.”
(On if it’s more difficult to go through the scenarios this year and predict where which players will be there)
Snead: “I don’t know if it’s harder. It may be more scenarios because you have two picks and you can go frontwards, backwards, sideways a couple different times and like you said, picking later things happen in front of you that you’ve got to respond to. So, not necessarily harder, maybe a little more complicated.”
(On if there are prospects that they feel strongly enough about to trade up to pick)
Fisher: “Possibly.”
Snead: “It’s always a possibility. We’ve done it both ways in our careers. But just the same way there’s also some players behind you that you feel strong about, so the more picks the better as well.”
(On if the Rams’ phone lines are open)
Snead: “How many phone lines do we have in there? I think we just set up. We have three or four or five. We’ll definitely take calls. We’ll have fun.”
(On if they’re less likely to trade up because they only have the one additional first round pick)
Fisher: “No, you could trade one up and trade the other back.”
Snead: “Even if you trade up I don’t think that player is necessarily, ‘Hey, he’s going to put you over the top, you’re going to go undefeated per se,’ but if there’s somebody there that you want that you think fills a role, helps the team, you can go get him.”
(On not being afraid to take chances)
Fisher: “Well, it’s not a matter of taking chances. It’s a matter of identifying players that can help you and then how you position yourself to get him and whether or not you have them on the board where you think their value is and where they’re going to go off. There’s drafts over the years where the speculation prior to the start was this first round’s going to be all over the place and there’s going to be trades and this and that and there’s not one trade. Then, there’s other drafts that we’ve been involved in over the years where you thought things were going to go the way they’re supposed to and then things just break wide open and people start moving around. It’s hard. We can control what we can control and then just have to be able to adjust.”
(On if they agree with the speculation that this year is not a good draft class and if they pay attention to that speculation)
Snead: “I think you pay attention to it, but I think in every draft where people pick, they find players that are going to help their team out. What I’m noticing though is since the new collective bargaining agreement has come in, some of the teams up top they were least likely to be in the playoffs last year so they are thinking, ‘Hey, maybe trade back and get more picks.’ Then some teams that are on the backend they have less needs and maybe one player is really good up there that they want to get and help some and they think about jumping. It’s hard to say whether, ‘Hey, this is the draft where the players stop at 10, 11, 12 or wherever it may be.’”
(On the Wonderlic test and how it factors into their evaluation of a prospect)
Snead: “I think that’s a good question and I’ll let Coach (Fisher) answer it. You take the test so it means something, but I think at the end of the day as more and more research comes out on how human beings learn, the Wonderlic may not answer those questions. There’s a lot more science in that and we look at all of those. Then, I think the big thing is we identify some players, we bring them in, and I think that our coaching staff – and I’ll let Jeff elaborate – will spend time with him because at the end of the day it may not be about a standardized Wonderlic test, but about how they can learn their football plays and then learn to adjust to the opposing team off of those plays.”
Fisher: “In years past the Wonderlic was – I mean years ago when the league introduced it – it was the only way to get information. Now, it really becomes just a red flag. Over the years we’ve had guys in the building that have had 35, 40 scores on their Wonderlic – they couldn’t process football. We’ve had guys that had single-digits that had no problem with football, it just happened to be some type of reading disorder or disability. It serves as a red flag, but we didn’t, in our ‘Top 30’ visits this year, we didn’t bring in guys just because of Wonderlic deficiency. We brought them in for all different reasons. What we were consistent with in the visits was the process and how we introduced offense and defense to the prospects. We gave them an hour or so and then asked them to go back in and share the information and how they process and retain. The 30 visit thing is something that is very important to us. We thought we were very productive and especially selective this year.”
(On if there are ways other than the Wonderlic to gauge a player’s ability to learn and process information)
Fisher: “We have many other resources now than we did in the past.”
(On if they think the Wonderlic results should be kept confidential between the teams and players)
Fisher: “It’s confidential information. The height, weight, speed and the workout stuff is for public knowledge, but everything else should be and must remain confidential. It’s personal information and each club collects information that’s confidential to themselves as well.”
(On what teams can learn from players during the top 30 visits)
Fisher: “That’s it. You sit down, Les and I each had an opportunity to visit with every single player that came in on the 30 visit, as did the coaches and the rest of the guys in the organization, and observe them for the day and watch them interact and get to know them. If there’s a story, then we’re going to get to it and find out background information if at all possible. It’s detrimental from a player standpoint if you’ve got a young man that’s got 10 or 12 of them because he’s on the road for two and a half weeks and he doesn’t get a chance to work out and that affects him when he reports to rookie minicamp, but beyond that, we think it’s real important.”
(On T Rodger Saffold)
Fisher: “No issues. He’s having fun, working out, in really good shape. We started our offseason program a week ago today with 100 percent attendance, which was impressive.”
(On if the Rams have changed their approach this year in regards to drafting players with ‘character issues’ in their past)
Snead: “I think we said last year it’s a case-by-case situation. I’ve said it many times before, these are young kids. What they’ve done in their past doesn’t necessarily determine their future, as we all have learned. If they’re 20, they’ve still got a lot of years left on this planet to produce. They’re still maturing, but you take it case by case, try to find out how you best get that player to thrive, and if our organization can handle it, we’ll take that on. But it’s case-by-case.”
Fisher: “I might add, last year there were guys that were not on the Rams’ draft board, and that will be the case this year. We have criteria. We have standards as it applies to character and on the field and off the field things. Again, there are guys that will not be drafted by the Rams this year.”
(On if they like to take multiple players at the same position in the same draft)
Snead: “Every year is different. I think last year you had a lot of holes. You have less holes this year, but philosophically, when you can get a position group strong in one draft, that’s a good way to go. I think it’s also how things fall and who you have on your board. It’s a combination of those two things, because you could set out to do that and the players to do that with aren’t there. Then the philosophy is broken. I think it’s a combination of who’s getting picked before you, how your board is and what your needs are, but it worked out well last year.”
(On if they pay any attention to the mock drafts that are published)
Fisher: “No.”
Snead: “They seem to be changing a lot, right?”
(On if a player’s stock can rise or fall during the spring in their mind)
Fisher: “Well, we’ll have prospects that we’ll initially place somewhere on the vertical board and then after further discussion and further film review and evaluation and compromise, we’ll move them up or down. We have nothing to do with a player that’s falling Thursday or Friday or Saturday because obviously we’ve got guys that we like and we’re going to draft accordingly. So to answer your question, it probably is more of a media driven thing where you’ve got early projections of a player that’s set high and then for some reason he’s not selected. That has nothing to do with us. We have them, what we think is appropriate, placed on our board.”
Snead: “Usually they’re going to fall in a certain tier. There may be four or five guys at that position at that tier, and after further work you feel like this player of the five fits your system the best. But, I don’t think you see a lot of guys on a board go from where you initially have them to way up. That’s looking at the mocks in the media world and maybe a guy was in the first round, now he’s in the second. Even then, that’s not a meteoric fall. I think the guys that have to do the mock draft the day after this draft for next year, now those guys may have a meteoric fall or rise.”
(On if the Rams hope a bunch of quarterbacks go before the 16th pick to push more position players down to the Rams)
Snead: “I’ll take that. That helps us. I haven’t looked at any quarterbacks this year.”
Fisher: “I have, because they throw to receivers (joking). You have somewhat of an idea who should or is going to come off. We’re always hoping that there will be another position or two that comes off that did not apply to us. The – I don’t want to say typical, but – the standard 3-4 defense outside linebacker, he doesn’t necessarily fit our scheme, so you hope that there’s a handful of those guys that come off that would allow some of the other players that do fit our scheme to fall to us.”
(On the receiver class)
Snead: “Receiver, historically, to me is the toughest transition from college to the NFL, so that’s always a historic, probably, marker. I think it’s a sexy position but I can say that a lot of good receivers have come in the second and third tier and fourth tiers of the draft. In this year’s draft – as Jeff’s said – he’s looked at receiver, I really haven’t.”
Fisher: “Just because the corners are covering them.”
(On if they have made trips to work out players)
Fisher: “We’ve made some trips, but don’t believe what you hear, what you read because I was just informed that I am currently in Clemson right now working out that receiver. Along with Les, we’re both there.”
Snead: “You can figure out if we were there this morning or not.”
(On their thoughts on the receiver class)
Fisher: “It’s a good class. There’s going to be receivers that can help you throughout the draft.”
Snead: “And to answer your question too, the workouts are nice because each receiver comes from a team with his offense. Then, we have our offense. So, you can go there and put him through some of the routes that you’re going to run. That helps you so that when you get a little bunch of receivers, that helps you separate who may be best for you. I think that’s just more icing on the cake as you go through the process.”
(On why the receiver position is the toughest transition from college to the NFL)
Snead: “Good question. Coach can probably allude to that. I think, receivers typically in college, a lot of corners are scared of them, so they don’t get a lot of tight coverage. People back off, let him catch the ball, probably doesn’t have to be as detailed in his routes. And offenses are changing. They’re not running traditional NFL routes, which not saying that’s good or bad because those guys are successful down there. And it’s a timing thing with your quarterback here. There are a lot of things that go on with receivers than at other positions.”
(On the running back class and how comfortable they are going into the season with RBs Isaiah Pead and Daryl Richardson)
Snead: “We’re always going to be looking. I think like I’ve mentioned before, we’ve lost a veteran, great leader, great player for this organization. We had two young ones last year that were up there in yards per carry. One at 4.5 (ypc), one at 4.8 (ypc), so we’re excited to get them the ball as well, so it’s a little bit of both: you lose a good player, but you have some young ones coming up. They’re going to have to become pros from last season through this offseason and the season, but we’ll definitely keep our eye out on that position as well.”
(On if he believes that he can find value at running back in later rounds more so than other positions)
Snead: “It seems like that seems to be the case, at least with Mike Shanahan teams, but I think he’s the one that started that trend and they did it again last year with their running back. But again, I think each draft is different and each offense is different and when you get to those back of the rounds, the player needs to fit your scheme. I think it just depends on draft haze – is there a pod of guys there that you could wait to take and you need depth in the draft for that to happen. Traditionally, yes that occurs, but then there are the Adrian Peterson’s of the world and I think you were in that (Edward Jones) Dome when we played him, he may have been a top five pick and he looked like it.”
(On Coach Fisher’s teams not traditionally taking an offensive lineman in the first round and if that was a philosophical decision or a matter of circumstance)
Fisher: “It was circumstance. There was one taken or two taken before I got there in the first round. They played a long time and they played at a high level, so therefore you can fill in, that’s what we did. In the past, I think if you do a good job of evaluating and projecting you can get quality players throughout the draft and that was out philosophy. I think we’ve done a real good job of evaluating up to this point.”
(On if everything is set at this point)
Fisher: “There’s going to be a lot more discussion. We’re going to visit with coaches and then scouts and back-and-forth, and make sure that the board is right and everyone is happy with it. There’s a lot more to be discussed, but I think the hard work is done at this point. May jump a guy on the board because of another tape that somebody looked at or more production in their junior year versus this, but for the most part the work is done.”
(On if any discussions or arguments on players are going on at this point)
Snead: “I think you’re always going to have discussion. Like I said, there are a lot of smart people in this building that coach different positions, different sides of the ball, a lot of scouts and personnel people, so it’s not like you’re going to walk in there and have 100 players and they all have the exact same thoughts on the 100. So, you’re still going to have discussion, but not really any more arguments but pin pointed discussions on how this player fits or if we take this player here, what happens in the next round, things like that.”
Fisher: “It makes no sense to sit there and try to decide whether or not you’re going to take this guard in the sixth round versus this receiver in the sixth round right now because in all likelihood one of them is going to be gone. That discussion takes place during the draft as that scenario gets closer to where you have to make your selection. There’s a lot more discussion than people would expect during the draft than there is at this point.”
(On how Coach Fisher feels about small receivers)
Fisher: “I think they have a chance to play if you have a tall quarterback because he can find him. If you have a shorter style quarterback it’s tough to find a shorter receiver.”
