**Head Coach Jay Gruden

**

On drafting LB Trent Murphy:

"We saw in Trent Murphy another guy that can rush a passer. He's a proven pass rusher – 14-and-a-half sacks this year. He led the country in sacks. He works his tail off. He's first on the field every day and the last to leave. He studies the game. He's big, he's long. He may not have the explosion right now off the line of scrimmage, which might have knocked him down to the second round, but I look for production, I look for intensity, I look for toughness and accountability. He's got all those traits and if he has all those traits, I know he is going to work hard in the weight room to get stronger and provide another pass rusher and some depth at the position. We felt like he was a very good fit for our team."

On the trade with the Dallas Cowboys leading to the selection of Murphy:

"There were a lot of people we had targeted that went early, but when we had the ability to gain another pick and not move down so far, we felt like we had a good chance to get a very good player. We ended up getting Trent Murphy, obviously, and we gained another pick so it was a no-brainer for us. Any time you have the chance to add a player in the third round, it's a heck of round to get a good player. We feel like we did that. We took the chance with hopes that Trent would drop and he did."

On if these three picks will make an immediate impact:

"The beauty of what we've done in free agency I think is we don't have to have somebody come in start right away and be a dynamic player. I think we've addressed a lot of positions in free agency and we have a lot of good players in-house. The draft is all about adding to your depth, adding to your roster, adding good character people, adding tough people to your roster. I think we've done that. We've added some tough offensive lineman with Morgan Moses, who can play both tackle spots, and of course Spencer Long who can play the guard spots and can also player center. Tough, high-character guys, high motor guy are what you want to add to your football team and we feel like we've done a good job."

On if he was confident Moses would still be available at No. 66 and what he sees in Moses:

"We like Morgan. He's long. He's a big kid. He's played a lot of football. He's played both the left side and the right side in his career. He's got a major upside. He's young, he's talented, like I said. A chance to get a guy with that type of length is very hard to pass up, so we're fortunate to have Morgan and we feel like he has a bright future in pro football."

On G Spencer Long's recovery:

"We feel good about his recovery. We do a lot of work on medical research on all of these players, and he has passing marks, so we feel like he's going to come in and be healthy and ready to go. Tough, tenacious offensive linemen are hard to find – big, physical guys that love football. That's kind of the motto. All three of these guys that we drafted have football as one of their top priorities in life. We know that they are going to come in here and battle and compete every day. You have to love what you do. We feel that all three of these guys love what they do and will contribute sooner than later."

On if his first draft as head coach was any different for him:

"No, not really. There is a lot of opinions out there. There is a lot of information that you have to go through – positions, who's the best player in your rankings – and you have a lot of different opinions, like I said. You have to go through a lot of information and medicals. It's a grind, and it's been a grind for a long time and sometimes you get disappointed a guy is not there or somebody picks him right in from of you. But the main thing is when you do make that pick, everybody is on board and everybody is happy with what happened, and we feel good about the three picks we had. We are going to move forward with these three guys and they're Washington Redskins now and moving forward we're happy to have them."

* *

On if there was talk about taking Moses with the team's first selection and if they were surprised he was available later:

"Definitely, there was talk about taking him in the first selection. We just thought that Trent Murphy's resume was very impressive and the things he has done and accomplished in his career at Stanford and talking to Coach [David] Shaw at Stanford and the accountability he has, possesses, and the production he has provided for Stanford was too hard to pass up. Then we just crossed our fingers and hoped that Morgan would fall and he did."

* *

On if he remembers his conversation with Moses a couple weeks ago:

"He is a great kid and like I said, [we're] very interested in guys that… there is a lot of people that are close, there are a lot of good football players in college football, and when you are making a decision, I think the overwriting factor has to be what kind of person he is, what kind of work ethic does he have, accountability and all that good stuff that I have been talking about. Is the game important to him? And it is important to Morgan. I think he has got a lot of room to develop, I really do. He can develop some foot quickness, but the one thing you can't coach is his length and his size, and then you throw a little work ethic in there that he is going to get better every day and when he starts, when he plays will be to be determined, but we are excited to work with a young, big, athletic kid like Morgan."

* *

On competition along the offensive line:

"I think all great teams will have competition at every position and that's what we are trying to build here. We are not discounting anybody. We are happy with the guys that we acquired in free agency. We are happy with the guys that have played here and done a lot and accomplished a lot for the Redskins. So we are not penciling anybody as starters, but we are trying to provide ourselves with great competition day one of training camp and may the best man win. And I think that's the best way you get a better team is having great competition at every position so people come to work and the more competition you have on the offensive line… a defensive line is now competing, linebackers are competing, everybody is competing and that will make you a better football team."

On if it will be easy to get Murphy on the field in a lot of situations:

"No question, and I think that's what drew us to him is his football smarts. He's predominately lined up outside but we feel like he can line up inside. He can move around a little bit, but for the most part his flexibility, his athleticism, I think is a little bit underrated. We feel like he can provide us with immediate pass rush on third down and we'll find a spot for him."

On if he was reference Murphy's role on first and second down or in nickel packages:

"More so the nickel packages. You know nickel packages get pretty extravagant now-a-days. Coach Haslett has a lot of plans for him, but coming in right now, he's going to line up obviously at outside linebacker, back up Ryan [Kerrigan] and Brian [Orakpo] and provide us with some depth at that position. Anybody knows about the 3-4 you need to have depth at linebacker because those guys are working their tail off. They're dropping the coverage, they're rushing the passer, so it's very important this day and age with the no huddle that you keep guys fresh and you're able to filter in guys in and out and make sure you can continue to get after the quarterback. We felt like anytime you can add a good pass rusher with the resume Trent has, it was a great opportunity and we couldn't pass it up."

* *

* *

* *

On how hard it is to know the intangible elements of the players:

"You're right, we do have a lot of scouts that we have to trust with what they write down and the research that they do and provide, and then we have the opportunity at the combine. We have the opportunity to bring some people in. We brought Trent in for a visit. So we try to get as intimate as we can with these players, especially top two, three, four rounds to get to know them and make sure we're drafting the right kind of person that fits what we're trying to build here at Washington."

On if he was able to accomplish his goal of getting bigger up front:

"They're big. Yeah, and it's not necessarily bigger we're looking for. We're looking to have people come in and compete. Size is important. They've got some big defensive linemen nowadays now and we want to be able to protect our quarterback the best way we can, but also we want to be athletic and get up to the next level and be able to run the football. It's been a very successful zone running team here with athletic offensive lineman, but there's going to come a time when we're going to have to throw the ball a little bit. We need some size in there and these guys will compete. But, moving forward, when I got the job here, I wasn't as disappointed with the offensive line as I read about. A lot of people had a lot of things to say about them, but anytime you have chance to add depth with some big kids like Morgan and Spencer, it can only help add to your depth, and down the road, young, good, big offensive lineman are hard to find. So when they play for us, it will be to determined, but you can never have too many big guys that can run and block in your room."

On if he expects Long to be ready for minicamp: "Yeah… We'll see. We'll get him in here, but we feel good about his recovery. He's a smart kid too. He's a pre-med student I believe, and he'll let us know when he's ready. He's been working his tail off. He's strong, he's excited, but we're anxious to meet him and we'll see where he is and we'll go forward."