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Head Coach Jeff Fisher and General Manager Les Snead – Pre-Draft Press Conference – May 6, 2014
(On what they have left to do with the process)
SNEAD: “We’ve got the scouts in. We’ve been meeting with those guys somewhat individually. They’ve smelled the guys and felt the guys more than anybody else in the building, kind of get their thoughts. Meeting again with the coaching staff, talking scheme fits. You’re just kind of fine tuning the board, going through scenarios and coming up with a game plan. Coach ‘Fish’ knows a lot about game plans during the week. I don’t know exactly where we’re at, whether it’s Thursday night, Wednesday night or Friday, but we’re somewhere toward the end of the week getting ready to play football.”
FISHER: “Friday afternoon. ‘Fast Friday.’”
(On the Johnny Manziel rumors and potentially trading QB Sam Bradford)
FISHER: “I’ll first say this: collectively, our scouts, our coaches over the last probably two weeks worked out 45 players in person. We did go to A&M. We worked out (WR) Mike Evans. We worked out (T) Jake Matthews and Johnny threw to an additional receiver there, in addition to Mike. Johnny was probably one of a dozen quarterbacks that we worked out over this process. With respect to Sam, he’s our starter. As you guys know, that was the reason I took this job was for our owner and because of Sam, our quarterback. We have all the confidence in the world that he’ll be back. But, we also have the responsibility to continue to upgrade this roster as it would suggest. If the right guy is there to help in a back-up role to Sam, then we’ll make sure we’ve done our due diligence.”
(On if they still agree – based on remarks made earlier in the year – that it is still too far outside the box to say there is potential to draft a quarterback with the No. 2 overall pick)
SNEAD: “I think what you do in this situation, I don’t know, there’s 260 players going to be drafted, maybe a little more. If there’s 260, you have a shot at 259 of them. You have to get the board right when you’re picking (No.) 2, you’ve got to figure out who all might be in play at 2 for all kinds of scenarios whether it’s a trade and all of that. I think, at any point with your football team you try to do what’s best. It’s Friday, I’m not going to tell you our first 10 plays.”
(On if they are shopping Bradford)
FISHER: “No, we are not shopping Sam. On the road, I forget where we were last week, but we saw (on T.V.) that Johnny Manziel was sighted in St. Louis. I think it was one of the next things that they wanted to discuss or something like that, you know? The reality is the 30 visits were over and it’s not permissible to bring in players at that point. So, that kind of gives you an indication of the rumors and things like that.”
SNEAD: “We broke a lot of rules on this rumor trail. Met with him 80 hours at the Combine - that broke it by about 79 hours and 45 minutes. Met with him. He was in St. Louis. So, a lot of rules were broken. (Joking)”
(On if the 45 workouts is a record)
FISHER: “Yes and no. We did, however many, 12 to 15 of them. And then we had coaches go out to different places and do private workouts. I think it’s a byproduct of having some extra time. We got a couple extra weeks now, so we’ve got most of the work done and wanted to go out and be able to put our hands on them.”
SNEAD: “We did about 12 to 15 locations. The key with private workouts, some are schools and you can bring as many players there as possible. Like the A&M one, you can bring in Johnny, Mike, Jake, more players. But, you can also go to cities and hometowns where those players are from and you can do somewhat of a mini-combine there. So, that’s where you can take advantage of locations as well. In different parts of this country, there are some locations with better football players than others. That’s where you load up – you may have been to 12 to 15 spots – but you may have gotten maybe 40 to 50 players done.”
(On if it is inconceivable that something could happen between today when Bradford is identified as the Rams’ quarterback and the team hasn’t shopped him to it’s Thursday and they could shop him)
FISHER: “Well, anything can happen – good question – but, I think it’s highly unlikely. We’ve identified six to eight players that we think potentially could fit us at (No.) 2. And then, of course, we’ve gone on with the additional process at (No.) 13. That’s been the challenge for us upstairs is that we have two separate issues going on and we have to make sure we address – equally -each pick. You don’t get consumed with one and then get caught off guard with the other, so we’ve got a couple different scenarios.”
(On how many players they have first round grades on)
SNEAD (to Fisher): “Can we tell them that?”
FISHER: “No.”
SNEAD: “There’s an element to, I’ll say this, an element to our grading scale where each draft is different, so you have to know where you’re going to pick them by round. But, there’s an element to predicting where they’re going to end up on your depth chart by Year 2: really good starter, difference-maker, versatile back-up – whatever they are.”
(On what the top grade would be)
SNEAD: “That’s just a difference-maker player. From there, you figure out how many of those you have because if this is a deep draft there may be more of those, and so you may have 35 of those guys. So, if you just said, well…what you like to do is say, we take 35 in the first round but you have to figure that out. It’s kind of hard. I don’t even think we’ve done the analytics yet on…I know how many we have draftable, but in terms of the grades we really want, I haven’t really done that yet.”
(On if there is more first-round quality talent in this draft compared to recent years)
SNEAD: “On that question, I think in the tiers of where you’re going to draft…let’s just call them your ‘Tier A.’ There may be a few more Tier A players and they may be top ten or five-type picks. If it’s
‘Tier B’ and that’s top seven through 20, there may be a little more of those in it. So in each time you take your tiers, however you do that, there may be a little more this year than normal. But now, some positions are thinner than normal, so it’s different. It gets deeper because some positions are deeper than the others.”
(On if they’ve identified multiple players that are suitable for the No. 2 pick)
SNEAD: “Hadn’t picked at (No.) 2 often. I think this year, definitely, there’s a lot of avenues we can go and we’re jacked about. But I think you’re right…you’re hitting on something there. But, I haven’t picked at (No.) 2 often.”
(On if this year’s draft is wide open and up in the air compared to previous drafts as he’s seen throughout his years)
SNEAD: “I think from a wide open, dramatic draft, I’ve mentioned, we don’t even know what Houston’s going to do yet. You’re starting to get a lot of different rumors. You don’t even know who’s going to be picking at (No.) 1 yet. Nobody knows who the first quarterback’s off the board yet. In that top whole (No.) 7 to (No.) 10, there’s a lot of things going on that I don’t even know in your mocks if you’ll get it right. So, I think that’s what’ll make it a little bit dramatic. It’ll be fun to watch.”
(On how much they have to play out scenarios considering the fact that they don’t know what Houston will do with the No. 1 pick)
FISHER: “That’s kind of what you do. You have those discussions. If Houston decides to take ‘Player A,’ fine, then we have to choose between these four or five players. If Houston trades out and Player A ends up going someplace else, then we have to choose between these players. So, that’s part of our discussions.”
(On what he likes about Manziel as a quarterback)
FISHER: “Well, I think his production and his competitiveness, and everything speaks for itself. I mean he was an outstanding college football player, as it was reflected the year before last with the rewards that he received. He can make all the plays, throw the football, and he’s a great teammate. He’s been a very productive player and great for their program.”
(On if a franchise-changing player is available in this year’s draft for the Rams at No. 2)
FISHER: “Well, I’ll go back to the last couple of drafts, I think we’ve done a pretty good job there based on where we picked and who we selected and the future of our draft choices. But yes, this year’s draft up top we think there’s a player that can certainly make a difference for you.”
SNEAD: “The draft’s a fun time of year and you talk about these players, and especially with the way college football’s popular now and they’ve got brands, but you’ve got to stress teams win, individuals don’t. Teams are made up of individuals. So I don’t know if there’s ever one player in the National Football League that’s going to give you, whatever, take you over the top, per se. Teams win, but there are some players that are really going to help teams.”
(On if they keep a pool of ‘Tier A’ players in order to provide flexibility for trading down and still landing one of their players of interest)
FISHER: “As a general rule, yes. We’ve drafted over the years, if you’ve got four guys you like, you can go down five spots and probably have a pretty good chance of getting one of them. So, there’s always that possibility.”
(On this year’s draft of receivers and if the position is a priority)
SNEAD: “We’ve said it, I mean, I think we’ve said it 100 times. We’ve drafted receivers. I think they take more time to develop than others. You’ve got to go through that process to get those guys on the field. This year’s receiver class, pretty deep class. Again, I haven’t gone back and said this year’s got 14 starters, last year only had eight. But when you look at the board, I think teams that really want receivers, they’re looking at the board and going, ‘Wow, we’ve got a chance to get one.’ Especially in the first round, second round, that can help those teams win or be starters.”
(On what he likes about Sammy Watkins and if he is head and shoulders above the other receivers in this year’s class)
SNEAD: “You know, he seems to be the poster child above the other guys, and hey, he’s proven that – run after the catch, ability to catch the ball, all those things. He’s got some development to do, like a lot of them, but I wouldn’t discount some of the others behind him. Whether it’s the Texas A&M (Mike Evans) guy because he go get rebounds…whoever is third and fourth, but Sammy, if he’s winning the horse race it’s for a reason, but he’s not up by two horse lengths.”
(On if anything is going on in terms of teams calling the Rams about trades)
SNEAD: “Man, people are still flirting. Nobody’s asking me to the prom yet. I think this week it gets slightly more serious, but again I think with our pick at (No.) 2, hey just like we’re waiting on Houston to draw first blood, those teams somewhat have to wait on Houston as well. I think that’s why we’ve always said this stuff may really come down to they make the pick and you’ve got 10 minutes.”
(On if teams reveal to each other what player they’re targeting when discussing potential trades)
SNEAD:“In my case, nobody really ever tells you the individual’s name. Every now and then, maybe.”
FISHER: “It’s, ‘If our guy is there.’ That’s the conversation you have. So if your guy’s there or your guy’s not there, then you would come out or you would come up if your guy’s there. But not specific on who their guy is, no.”
(On if they can usually figure out who a potential trade partner is targeting)
SNEAD: “It’s an educated guess. You’ve got a good feel for who you think they’re probably coming up for. But the – I guess you call it – ‘fail safe’ in that situation is you better be willing to lose certain players and know that you’re fine. If you go back there, you’re going to get a guy and you’re happy because they can come get the guy you really want here. So you’ve got to be willing to lose a few to make it a fail-safe situation.”
(On if they enjoy all the pre-draft chatter and speculation)
SNEAD: “Last week we were on a plane so much I think we missed all the hoopla. But we would catch it every now and then.”
FISHER: “I haven’t paid much attention to it.”
(On how much credence they put in to what they hear this time of year)
SNEAD: “We’ve kind of been meeting. I didn’t take my phone in the meetings. I come out and I’ve got a good many texts. So I don’t know what’s going on in the world.”
FISHER: “This is the time of the year where you don’t have to pay particular attention to your sources.”
(On how they weigh potential versus polish in players that are similarly graded)
FISHER: “That discussion would be solved by looking at your depth chart and your roster, where your holes are, where your spots are. You’ve got a guy that you want that, as you say, is more polished, I’m not putting words in your mouth but you would assume that he would come in and play sooner than the other one that may need a redshirt year, need some time. If you’ve got two guys that would vary a little bit, it would be really dependent on the need spot on your roster.”
(On how the signing of WR Kenny Britt may impact the team’s approach to receivers in the draft and how Britt has looked to this point)
FISHER: “We’re two weeks into the program and he’s done a great job. He’s healthy, he’s running and he’s having a blast. I think that helps. We’re trying to create as much competition as we can. Certainly Kenny has added to that. I think we brought him in here for a reason, that’s to make plays. But again, if the guy is there at that position at the right time, sometimes they’re hard to pass up.”
(On what the team gets out of conducting private workouts)
SNEAD: “To me, these are all human beings. A lot of times positions, they’re just two initials in the alphabet. You watch them on film, that’s kind of two dimensional. You may have gone and seen them practice or play and they’re in shoulder pads. But you can go spend a good two to three hours with them, they greet you at the door, show you around the facility. All of those things, workout...you can smell them, you can feel them. It makes them 3D, 4D, whatever you want to call it. It brings them to life a little more and you get a good feel of the human being that you’re going to invest in. Because at the end of the day, that’s what these guys are.”
FISHER: “We’ve done it the last couple of years. We went out and we focused on a particular position last year and we were able to compare. If you go out and you work out three, four, five guys at the same position, you can compare and you can rank them. I think it’s much easier to do when you see them in person late in the process. It’s been very helpful.”
(On if this year’s draft becomes particularly important in light of the fact that it contains the last portion of the picks received from the 2012 trade with Washington)
SNEAD: “I think it’s important to nail this draft. It probably has nothing to do with the RGIII (Robert Griffin, III) trade. Any draft you want to nail, but to your point, we’ve been given some extra shots at the basket. If we can turn those into points, per se, you’ve got a better chance of winning down the line. You definitely want to take advantage of it, but there’s no one draft more important than the other.”
(On what allows this to be a successful draft for the Rams)
SNEAD: “You’ve got 12 picks; make the most of the opportunity. That could be using some of your picks to go up and get a guy. It could be trading a pick for a better pick in the future. It could be picking a better player there...you’re going to have picked people before, and you want to look at everybody and say, ‘If we pick this player, what’s his role on this team, the next two or three years,’ and try to make the best choice. So whether it’s using those picks to go get people you want or actually picking players, you just want them...I’d say just stack good decisions. Make them one at a time. Try to stack as many good decisions as possible and there will be a flywheel, there will be a snowball effect and guess what, it’ll turn into good things.’
(On if they could see three offensive tackles drafted in the top 10 this year)
FISHER: “I think there’s a chance. It really depends on need. We’re hearing that there’s a number of clubs between us and 13 that need quarterbacks. Really, the needs kind of vary, so we need to be able to try to determine that, but I would assume that those three players (Taylor Lewan, Jake Matthews and Greg Robinson), they’re going to be productive and somewhat high picks.”
(On their impressions of Manziel as a person during their visits)
SNEAD: “I say this all the time: as Jeff alluded to, you can go to Starkville, Mississippi, and it’s late Saturday night and it’s third-and-whatever. It’s a ‘money’ down and that guy’s going to get the first - you appreciate that. You sit down and meet with a kid, you can tell he’s intelligent, he’s engaging. He’s passionate about football. What’s neat about it...we always hear about today with kids and millennials and all this, the more times I meet these young kids, the more I’m like, ‘Wow, these guys are getting smarter. They’re getting more dynamic.’ They’re impressive young men and a lot of the guys that came through this building, all 30 of them, there weren’t many that I couldn’t say, ‘Wow, that was a great kid.’”
(On if they plan to continue their recent trend of first-round trades)
SNEAD: “What’s Houston going to do?”
(On if anything surprises them anymore with the draft)
SNEAD: “Probably not. It depends on what you think surprising means.”
(On if there is more intrigue with the 13th pick because of the potential for a highly-rated player to fall)
FISHER: “That’s what 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 are doing. They’re going through all of their scenarios and mocks hoping that maybe somebody will get to them. We’re doing that as well. That’s what I said initially. To a certain extent, we have to kind of separate the two (picks), or start all over at three and then sit there and go right back to work on 13. If there’s a player that falls, if you like them, go get them."
(On what they have left to do with the process)
SNEAD: “We’ve got the scouts in. We’ve been meeting with those guys somewhat individually. They’ve smelled the guys and felt the guys more than anybody else in the building, kind of get their thoughts. Meeting again with the coaching staff, talking scheme fits. You’re just kind of fine tuning the board, going through scenarios and coming up with a game plan. Coach ‘Fish’ knows a lot about game plans during the week. I don’t know exactly where we’re at, whether it’s Thursday night, Wednesday night or Friday, but we’re somewhere toward the end of the week getting ready to play football.”
FISHER: “Friday afternoon. ‘Fast Friday.’”
(On the Johnny Manziel rumors and potentially trading QB Sam Bradford)
FISHER: “I’ll first say this: collectively, our scouts, our coaches over the last probably two weeks worked out 45 players in person. We did go to A&M. We worked out (WR) Mike Evans. We worked out (T) Jake Matthews and Johnny threw to an additional receiver there, in addition to Mike. Johnny was probably one of a dozen quarterbacks that we worked out over this process. With respect to Sam, he’s our starter. As you guys know, that was the reason I took this job was for our owner and because of Sam, our quarterback. We have all the confidence in the world that he’ll be back. But, we also have the responsibility to continue to upgrade this roster as it would suggest. If the right guy is there to help in a back-up role to Sam, then we’ll make sure we’ve done our due diligence.”
(On if they still agree – based on remarks made earlier in the year – that it is still too far outside the box to say there is potential to draft a quarterback with the No. 2 overall pick)
SNEAD: “I think what you do in this situation, I don’t know, there’s 260 players going to be drafted, maybe a little more. If there’s 260, you have a shot at 259 of them. You have to get the board right when you’re picking (No.) 2, you’ve got to figure out who all might be in play at 2 for all kinds of scenarios whether it’s a trade and all of that. I think, at any point with your football team you try to do what’s best. It’s Friday, I’m not going to tell you our first 10 plays.”
(On if they are shopping Bradford)
FISHER: “No, we are not shopping Sam. On the road, I forget where we were last week, but we saw (on T.V.) that Johnny Manziel was sighted in St. Louis. I think it was one of the next things that they wanted to discuss or something like that, you know? The reality is the 30 visits were over and it’s not permissible to bring in players at that point. So, that kind of gives you an indication of the rumors and things like that.”
SNEAD: “We broke a lot of rules on this rumor trail. Met with him 80 hours at the Combine - that broke it by about 79 hours and 45 minutes. Met with him. He was in St. Louis. So, a lot of rules were broken. (Joking)”
(On if the 45 workouts is a record)
FISHER: “Yes and no. We did, however many, 12 to 15 of them. And then we had coaches go out to different places and do private workouts. I think it’s a byproduct of having some extra time. We got a couple extra weeks now, so we’ve got most of the work done and wanted to go out and be able to put our hands on them.”
SNEAD: “We did about 12 to 15 locations. The key with private workouts, some are schools and you can bring as many players there as possible. Like the A&M one, you can bring in Johnny, Mike, Jake, more players. But, you can also go to cities and hometowns where those players are from and you can do somewhat of a mini-combine there. So, that’s where you can take advantage of locations as well. In different parts of this country, there are some locations with better football players than others. That’s where you load up – you may have been to 12 to 15 spots – but you may have gotten maybe 40 to 50 players done.”
(On if it is inconceivable that something could happen between today when Bradford is identified as the Rams’ quarterback and the team hasn’t shopped him to it’s Thursday and they could shop him)
FISHER: “Well, anything can happen – good question – but, I think it’s highly unlikely. We’ve identified six to eight players that we think potentially could fit us at (No.) 2. And then, of course, we’ve gone on with the additional process at (No.) 13. That’s been the challenge for us upstairs is that we have two separate issues going on and we have to make sure we address – equally -each pick. You don’t get consumed with one and then get caught off guard with the other, so we’ve got a couple different scenarios.”
(On how many players they have first round grades on)
SNEAD (to Fisher): “Can we tell them that?”
FISHER: “No.”
SNEAD: “There’s an element to, I’ll say this, an element to our grading scale where each draft is different, so you have to know where you’re going to pick them by round. But, there’s an element to predicting where they’re going to end up on your depth chart by Year 2: really good starter, difference-maker, versatile back-up – whatever they are.”
(On what the top grade would be)
SNEAD: “That’s just a difference-maker player. From there, you figure out how many of those you have because if this is a deep draft there may be more of those, and so you may have 35 of those guys. So, if you just said, well…what you like to do is say, we take 35 in the first round but you have to figure that out. It’s kind of hard. I don’t even think we’ve done the analytics yet on…I know how many we have draftable, but in terms of the grades we really want, I haven’t really done that yet.”
(On if there is more first-round quality talent in this draft compared to recent years)
SNEAD: “On that question, I think in the tiers of where you’re going to draft…let’s just call them your ‘Tier A.’ There may be a few more Tier A players and they may be top ten or five-type picks. If it’s
‘Tier B’ and that’s top seven through 20, there may be a little more of those in it. So in each time you take your tiers, however you do that, there may be a little more this year than normal. But now, some positions are thinner than normal, so it’s different. It gets deeper because some positions are deeper than the others.”
(On if they’ve identified multiple players that are suitable for the No. 2 pick)
SNEAD: “Hadn’t picked at (No.) 2 often. I think this year, definitely, there’s a lot of avenues we can go and we’re jacked about. But I think you’re right…you’re hitting on something there. But, I haven’t picked at (No.) 2 often.”
(On if this year’s draft is wide open and up in the air compared to previous drafts as he’s seen throughout his years)
SNEAD: “I think from a wide open, dramatic draft, I’ve mentioned, we don’t even know what Houston’s going to do yet. You’re starting to get a lot of different rumors. You don’t even know who’s going to be picking at (No.) 1 yet. Nobody knows who the first quarterback’s off the board yet. In that top whole (No.) 7 to (No.) 10, there’s a lot of things going on that I don’t even know in your mocks if you’ll get it right. So, I think that’s what’ll make it a little bit dramatic. It’ll be fun to watch.”
(On how much they have to play out scenarios considering the fact that they don’t know what Houston will do with the No. 1 pick)
FISHER: “That’s kind of what you do. You have those discussions. If Houston decides to take ‘Player A,’ fine, then we have to choose between these four or five players. If Houston trades out and Player A ends up going someplace else, then we have to choose between these players. So, that’s part of our discussions.”
(On what he likes about Manziel as a quarterback)
FISHER: “Well, I think his production and his competitiveness, and everything speaks for itself. I mean he was an outstanding college football player, as it was reflected the year before last with the rewards that he received. He can make all the plays, throw the football, and he’s a great teammate. He’s been a very productive player and great for their program.”
(On if a franchise-changing player is available in this year’s draft for the Rams at No. 2)
FISHER: “Well, I’ll go back to the last couple of drafts, I think we’ve done a pretty good job there based on where we picked and who we selected and the future of our draft choices. But yes, this year’s draft up top we think there’s a player that can certainly make a difference for you.”
SNEAD: “The draft’s a fun time of year and you talk about these players, and especially with the way college football’s popular now and they’ve got brands, but you’ve got to stress teams win, individuals don’t. Teams are made up of individuals. So I don’t know if there’s ever one player in the National Football League that’s going to give you, whatever, take you over the top, per se. Teams win, but there are some players that are really going to help teams.”
(On if they keep a pool of ‘Tier A’ players in order to provide flexibility for trading down and still landing one of their players of interest)
FISHER: “As a general rule, yes. We’ve drafted over the years, if you’ve got four guys you like, you can go down five spots and probably have a pretty good chance of getting one of them. So, there’s always that possibility.”
(On this year’s draft of receivers and if the position is a priority)
SNEAD: “We’ve said it, I mean, I think we’ve said it 100 times. We’ve drafted receivers. I think they take more time to develop than others. You’ve got to go through that process to get those guys on the field. This year’s receiver class, pretty deep class. Again, I haven’t gone back and said this year’s got 14 starters, last year only had eight. But when you look at the board, I think teams that really want receivers, they’re looking at the board and going, ‘Wow, we’ve got a chance to get one.’ Especially in the first round, second round, that can help those teams win or be starters.”
(On what he likes about Sammy Watkins and if he is head and shoulders above the other receivers in this year’s class)
SNEAD: “You know, he seems to be the poster child above the other guys, and hey, he’s proven that – run after the catch, ability to catch the ball, all those things. He’s got some development to do, like a lot of them, but I wouldn’t discount some of the others behind him. Whether it’s the Texas A&M (Mike Evans) guy because he go get rebounds…whoever is third and fourth, but Sammy, if he’s winning the horse race it’s for a reason, but he’s not up by two horse lengths.”
(On if anything is going on in terms of teams calling the Rams about trades)
SNEAD: “Man, people are still flirting. Nobody’s asking me to the prom yet. I think this week it gets slightly more serious, but again I think with our pick at (No.) 2, hey just like we’re waiting on Houston to draw first blood, those teams somewhat have to wait on Houston as well. I think that’s why we’ve always said this stuff may really come down to they make the pick and you’ve got 10 minutes.”
(On if teams reveal to each other what player they’re targeting when discussing potential trades)
SNEAD:“In my case, nobody really ever tells you the individual’s name. Every now and then, maybe.”
FISHER: “It’s, ‘If our guy is there.’ That’s the conversation you have. So if your guy’s there or your guy’s not there, then you would come out or you would come up if your guy’s there. But not specific on who their guy is, no.”
(On if they can usually figure out who a potential trade partner is targeting)
SNEAD: “It’s an educated guess. You’ve got a good feel for who you think they’re probably coming up for. But the – I guess you call it – ‘fail safe’ in that situation is you better be willing to lose certain players and know that you’re fine. If you go back there, you’re going to get a guy and you’re happy because they can come get the guy you really want here. So you’ve got to be willing to lose a few to make it a fail-safe situation.”
(On if they enjoy all the pre-draft chatter and speculation)
SNEAD: “Last week we were on a plane so much I think we missed all the hoopla. But we would catch it every now and then.”
FISHER: “I haven’t paid much attention to it.”
(On how much credence they put in to what they hear this time of year)
SNEAD: “We’ve kind of been meeting. I didn’t take my phone in the meetings. I come out and I’ve got a good many texts. So I don’t know what’s going on in the world.”
FISHER: “This is the time of the year where you don’t have to pay particular attention to your sources.”
(On how they weigh potential versus polish in players that are similarly graded)
FISHER: “That discussion would be solved by looking at your depth chart and your roster, where your holes are, where your spots are. You’ve got a guy that you want that, as you say, is more polished, I’m not putting words in your mouth but you would assume that he would come in and play sooner than the other one that may need a redshirt year, need some time. If you’ve got two guys that would vary a little bit, it would be really dependent on the need spot on your roster.”
(On how the signing of WR Kenny Britt may impact the team’s approach to receivers in the draft and how Britt has looked to this point)
FISHER: “We’re two weeks into the program and he’s done a great job. He’s healthy, he’s running and he’s having a blast. I think that helps. We’re trying to create as much competition as we can. Certainly Kenny has added to that. I think we brought him in here for a reason, that’s to make plays. But again, if the guy is there at that position at the right time, sometimes they’re hard to pass up.”
(On what the team gets out of conducting private workouts)
SNEAD: “To me, these are all human beings. A lot of times positions, they’re just two initials in the alphabet. You watch them on film, that’s kind of two dimensional. You may have gone and seen them practice or play and they’re in shoulder pads. But you can go spend a good two to three hours with them, they greet you at the door, show you around the facility. All of those things, workout...you can smell them, you can feel them. It makes them 3D, 4D, whatever you want to call it. It brings them to life a little more and you get a good feel of the human being that you’re going to invest in. Because at the end of the day, that’s what these guys are.”
FISHER: “We’ve done it the last couple of years. We went out and we focused on a particular position last year and we were able to compare. If you go out and you work out three, four, five guys at the same position, you can compare and you can rank them. I think it’s much easier to do when you see them in person late in the process. It’s been very helpful.”
(On if this year’s draft becomes particularly important in light of the fact that it contains the last portion of the picks received from the 2012 trade with Washington)
SNEAD: “I think it’s important to nail this draft. It probably has nothing to do with the RGIII (Robert Griffin, III) trade. Any draft you want to nail, but to your point, we’ve been given some extra shots at the basket. If we can turn those into points, per se, you’ve got a better chance of winning down the line. You definitely want to take advantage of it, but there’s no one draft more important than the other.”
(On what allows this to be a successful draft for the Rams)
SNEAD: “You’ve got 12 picks; make the most of the opportunity. That could be using some of your picks to go up and get a guy. It could be trading a pick for a better pick in the future. It could be picking a better player there...you’re going to have picked people before, and you want to look at everybody and say, ‘If we pick this player, what’s his role on this team, the next two or three years,’ and try to make the best choice. So whether it’s using those picks to go get people you want or actually picking players, you just want them...I’d say just stack good decisions. Make them one at a time. Try to stack as many good decisions as possible and there will be a flywheel, there will be a snowball effect and guess what, it’ll turn into good things.’
(On if they could see three offensive tackles drafted in the top 10 this year)
FISHER: “I think there’s a chance. It really depends on need. We’re hearing that there’s a number of clubs between us and 13 that need quarterbacks. Really, the needs kind of vary, so we need to be able to try to determine that, but I would assume that those three players (Taylor Lewan, Jake Matthews and Greg Robinson), they’re going to be productive and somewhat high picks.”
(On their impressions of Manziel as a person during their visits)
SNEAD: “I say this all the time: as Jeff alluded to, you can go to Starkville, Mississippi, and it’s late Saturday night and it’s third-and-whatever. It’s a ‘money’ down and that guy’s going to get the first - you appreciate that. You sit down and meet with a kid, you can tell he’s intelligent, he’s engaging. He’s passionate about football. What’s neat about it...we always hear about today with kids and millennials and all this, the more times I meet these young kids, the more I’m like, ‘Wow, these guys are getting smarter. They’re getting more dynamic.’ They’re impressive young men and a lot of the guys that came through this building, all 30 of them, there weren’t many that I couldn’t say, ‘Wow, that was a great kid.’”
(On if they plan to continue their recent trend of first-round trades)
SNEAD: “What’s Houston going to do?”
(On if anything surprises them anymore with the draft)
SNEAD: “Probably not. It depends on what you think surprising means.”
(On if there is more intrigue with the 13th pick because of the potential for a highly-rated player to fall)
FISHER: “That’s what 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 are doing. They’re going through all of their scenarios and mocks hoping that maybe somebody will get to them. We’re doing that as well. That’s what I said initially. To a certain extent, we have to kind of separate the two (picks), or start all over at three and then sit there and go right back to work on 13. If there’s a player that falls, if you like them, go get them."
