New York Giants' General Manager Jerry Reese met with reporters Saturday following the conclusion of the 2011 NFL Draft. The transcript of his press conference is below:
Prince - we've talked about him, fell to us. We try not to be surprised in a draft because funny things always happen in a draft, but the guy fell right in our lap. We're really pleased with that, that he could come in and start challenging for a spot, help us on special teams, play in the nickel, do a lot of stuff for us. We thought he was a top-ten talent.
Marvin Austin - well documented off-field issues. Did our homework on him, thought he was a top 15 talent. We think he'll be a terrific player on our defensive front in the rotation.
Jernigan - wide receiver, return specialist, returns punts and kicks, fast, explosive player, will play in the slot for us probably. Hopefully he can give our special teams, our return game, a boost along with some other guys that we have. This guy gives us another option. But he is an explosive player. We really like him. We had him rated pretty high up there and we think he'll do a good job for us.
Brewer - talked about him a little bit earlier today. Height, weight, speed, really kind of a common thread though of all of these guys. We try to upgrade our speed at every position. Most of these guys are height, weight, speed people. Jernigan is not a height, weight, speed, but he's what we call a G-type. He's small and fast. Brewer - height, weight, speed player. Has some developmental things that he can get better. A lot of technique stuff that he'll get better at as a pro. But this is a gigantic man with long arms. You get excited about these kinds of guys.
Greg Jones - linebacker, has been incredibly productive over his time at Michigan State. One of the things that the late Tom Boisture taught me is when you scout guys, you respect production. This guy has tons of production. This guy has sacks. He has tons and tons of tackles. He's played at a high level, very instinctive player. Another guy who's going to come in with a chip on his shoulder because I'm pretty sure he feels like he should've been picked a lot higher than where he got picked. He'll come in here with something to prove as well, along with Marvin Austin.
Tyler Sash - height, weight, speed safety, more of a strong safety. Played a high level of comp. Lots of interceptions, I think he had 13 interceptions in his career there. Smart player, he came in, he can line up the entire defense. He can put everybody on there and tell you what they should do. You love those kinds of guys. We think he will definitely come in and challenge for a spot back in our secondary, back at one of our safety positions.
Jacquian Williams - the linebacker from South Florida, fast, athletic. The guy will strike you, will give us some more speed on our special teams. Junior college kid, so he'll be behind a little bit with regard to high level of play. Came there late, to South Florida, but he got into the mix really quickly there and just took off. A lot of people probably didn't know him. Our scouts really did a good job digging this guy out. We think he can really give us a boost on special teams with his speed while he's learning how to play up here at this level.
Da'Rel Scott - we took a flyer on the guy because he is big and fast. He is fast, he had a terrific sophomore season. His production fell off, but late in the draft this is what you look for. You look for guys with some redeeming qualities. This guy is big and fast. We hope this guy will come over here and do a Willie Parker, one of those kinds of things. We're really pleased with our draft class. We look forward to having these guys in here and get going with it.
Q: You said you took a flyer on Scott, what needs to improve?
A: Again, his production fell off. As a sophomore, he rushed for over 1,100 yards, I believe. Then his production fell off for the last couple of seasons. The height, weight, speed, that's what you take in the seventh round. Most of these guys, something is wrong with most of them. Really, in the first round, something is wrong with most of them. But these late rounds, what are the redeeming qualities? This guy was big and he was fast and he has proven he can be productive at a high level of competition. We hope he can get back to form and be that guy.
Q: Why do you think his production fell off?
A: I'm not sure. I'm not sure why his production fell off. We'll see. David Meggett's son plays there. He was in the rotation with him, he's a good, little running back. Could be a combination of a lot of things. Regardless of why it did, it did. His production fell off, but we're hoping we can catch lightening in a bottle with this guy.
Q: Similar to when you took Ahmad Bradshaw late?
A: Again, yeah. We took Bradshaw late like that. Probably why he fell, he had some off-field issues that probably put him down there because we thought he was probably more like a middle round pick. His off-field issues pushed him and took what we call a flyer, took the flyer on him as well. That worked out pretty good for us.
Q: Is it strange for the draft to end and not have anyone to call?
A: It is a little strange. Everybody's up there looking at each other like what do we do now. It's kind of a controlled chaos upstairs after the draft with trying to sign free agents and get guys lined up. Right now, we're just waiting for the draft to end. We'll re-stack the board to see who the free agents are that we want to target when it's time, when we're permitted to do that. We'll just ride it out and see what happens, who gets taken off the board with these last few picks and get ready to go. When they say go, we'll be ready to go.
Q: Guys who weren't drafted are technically not NFL players. Can you contact them?
A: No. No contact at all. No contact. No phone calls after the draft saying, we'll talk to you later, you do this, we'll do that. None of that. No talking to players. When the draft's over, no phone calls.
Q: What do you need to improve on your roster?
A: We'll look at it. We'll take a deep breath and take a look at it. There are some positions that we still think we can improve and upgrade. But right now, I'll take the fifth on that and reserve my comments on that for right now
Q: Was it tempting to go away from plan and take someone to fill this position because not sure what's going to happen with free agency?
A: No, that's why you try to take the best player available. We always try to get value and need with our picks. We were able to do that quite a bit the last couple of days. I thought we were able to do that. Now free agency is coming and we have some business to do there as well, when free agency comes around.
Q: Guys you got in first and second rounds, best value you ever got?
A: We'll see. On paper it looks pretty good, but they have to get out there and do it. It's on paper right now. They have to get out there and show us that they're top 15 picks. Hopefully they will do that.
Q: Did you improve your team speed and special teams?
A: We try to do that. Jernigan, we got him, a fast player, a return specialist. Williams is a fast linebacker. Tyler Sash is a height, weight, speed safety. Da'Rel Scott, if he makes it as a third running back, he's incredibly fast. All of those guys will play on special teams. That's a little bit of the method to the madness up there. We try to get a lot out of every pick. Everything goes into consideration. How does this guy help us on special teams? That's one of the main issues with us - how does this guy help us on special teams?
Q: Was special teams a main issue this year because of last season?
A: You always want to upgrade. I don't think our special teams have been up to par like we want it to be. We flashed and have done some decent things special teams wise. But we definitely could improve that unit. We're trying to help, with personnel, improve that unit.