Q: This guy, what'd you like about him? A lot of the scouts said he's a real hit or miss kind of player.
A: Well, you hear guys on TV say that. I don't think you hear many scouts saying that. There's a lot to like about him. He's one of those guys where he has a lot of things you can't teach. He's a rare, gifted, talented kid. He is just uncommon, I think that's a good word to use to describe his skill set. He's long, fast, athletic, he has a great motor. We're excited about having him and we are going to put him right into the mix with our three, four defensive ends, including Tollefson. We're not trading Osi, so you don't even have to ask that question. I know that is on everybody's mind and we're not trading Osi. We're excited about having the defensive ends that we have. He's a great pass rusher, and we like to pass in this league as we all know. This guy is really going to do a tremendous job coming in to help us rush the passer. We will also be helped on special teams with his speed and his length. We will always need some type of kick blocker and stuff in that respect as a special teamer.
Q: How about the fact that he didn't have a lot of high level college experience?
A: You take that into consideration, but he played well in a big league this past season. We think the guy has the biggest upside out of any player in the draft. Any player in the draft. That's how we really feel about this guy. We think that the sky is the limit. Robert Nunn and Perry Fewell are really excited about this player.
Q: How much input does Perry have in the process?
A: Well, our scouts have the most input. They go out and they know these guys. They have watched him for a couple of years. They know all the background so they are our number one source of information. Marc Ross and his staff, our coaches go out and do some work. They go to the pro days and they go to the combine. The coaches have input on it as well. Everybody in the room felt good about him, and that's what we try and do. We want everyone to feel good about the pick and everyone is excited about him.
Q: What are these things he has that you can't teach him?
A: The length, number one. He's 6'4", 270 lbs. The speed that he has and the long arms he possesses, the athletic ability that he has. Those kinds of things just come naturally raw, oozing with talent and the motor that he has. All those kind of things he has, you know, it's hard to find a package like that. He has some freakish athletic skills that we're excited about trying to hone and get him on a good path toward workouts.
Q: You say he has a good motor, is he a play-to-play kind of player?
A: Yeah, he has a great motor and plays hard. I have no problem with that at all, he motors.
Q: Do you think he's similar to Jevon Kearse coming out?
A: Length-wise, he's built similar to Jevon Kearse so yeah that's a good comparison. The body type he has that's kind of stringy looking. You rarely see guys with that kind of length and that type of body type. He does have a body type like Kearse, yeah.
Q: As the first round progressed and the 15th pick came closer, was it easy to pick him?
A: This was an easy pick for us. This was an easy pick for us. Obviously we have guys that we thought might be in our window. Again, when you pick in the middle of the round it's really tough to target guys. We felt like he could be one of the guys there. We're excited about him. If you pick in the top seven or eight, or bottom seven or eight, you can really target a player. Being right in the middle, guys come off the board all over the place. You're really not sure. It got close with this guy, and obviously they were a lot of good players picked before him. We were very happy to see he was still up there.
Q: Was there any player you were really holding your breath on?
A: No, we don't hold our breath on anybody. We just look for good players.
Q: How about on him, that another team might take him?
A: Not really. We don't hold our breath on anybody. We felt like there were some good players on the board two or three picks away from ours that we liked. We knew we were going to get a good player right there.
Q: How close did you come to moving up or down?
A: You know, we always keep our options open. I can't say we were close to moving up or down.
Q: We talk about this guy as a pass rusher, can Pierre-Paul play the run?
A: He can play the run. He can play the run, the pass; he has the whole package. We think that he has the entire package as a defensive end. Perry Fewell thinks he has good promise.
Q: Do you think he has the temperament and the maturity after limited time at the top level?
A: All the psychological elements were there. All of the interviews were good. We brought him in, on one of his visits here, and we wanted to find out everything about him. We don't have any reservations about this player.
Q: You used the word ‘raw'...is he going to ease in this year or is he a contender to play?
A: When you pick a guy in the first round, you expect him to come in and play. We expect him to come in, and obviously, we like guys to come in and to play on special teams and we think he can do that. We expect him to get into the rotation pretty quickly.
Q: You mentioned not trading Osi before we could...are you worried about his reaction?
A: No.
Q: Will you talk to him about that?
A: Osi and I have talked. Osi knows that he is going to be here. Osi knows we are not looking to shop him. He knows he is going to be a Giant in the fall and he is looking forward to that.
Q: Did any teams try to get him, maybe for a bargain deal?
A: Well, there is always chatter in the media about what we're doing and what we're not doing. This time of year, there is so much false information flying around out there. We did get a couple calls. They were like, 'Are you really serious about that?' So, we did get some calls. We are not looking to shop Osi in any kind of way.
Q: At the point you picked him, was he your value board choice?
A: Let me just tell you that this guy was high on our board, okay. He was high on our board.
Q: Did you identify defensive end as a need?
A: We identified this player.
Q: So it wasn't by position?
A: No. Our value board isn't by position. It is about who the best players are for us that we think are in the first row. He was high in our first row.
Q: His height and weight is what right now?
A: At the combine he was 6'4.6", 270 pounds.
Q: Does he have the frame to put on more?
A: He could be bigger, yeah. He is a lean 270 pounds so he can be a much bigger man.
Q: Do you think you will use him the way you used Tuck in his first year, playing all four positions?
A: We like that. That's what we look for. We look for guys who have versatility and can play inside and outside. Guys who can play special teams. We target that kind of thing so we expect him to play all over the place.
Q: Rolando McClain went early to the Raiders...were you surprised by that? How high was he on your board?
A: Well, not really. Nothing surprises me. You should never be surprised by anything that happens in the draft. He is a good football player and I'm not surprised he went that early, no.
Q: Do you think middle linebacker is a priority going into tomorrow?
A: We are looking for good players.
Q: You said this was an easy pick but you used most of the ten minutes:
A: You know, we looked to see if there was a possibility of something else happening. We talked, and then talked to him on the phone for a while. We made sure he was OK, healthy, and ready to go. So we took our time.
Q: After giving up 427 points last year, do you think defense is a number one need?
A: I think we can do better all over our football team. Our offense can do better, our special teams can do better, our defense can be better. We can't target anything. We win together and lose together. I don't think the defense is the only reason we went 8-8 last year. I'm the reason, the head coach is the reason, the players are the reason. Everyone is the reason. We win together and lose together.
Q: You brought J.P.P. here on a visit, did you put him on the board to see about his football knowledge?
A: We put him on the board and we were satisfied with what we thought he is capable of. We did our work on him, we did.
Q: Is he the best back flipper on the defense?
A: Hmm...maybe so, probably. I don't know.
Q: The other day you said you weren't going to pick a gymnast...
A: Yeah, well, I'm not interested in that. He's a good football player who can do flips, I guess. That's a good thing, too.