On the linebackers and defensive line in the draft:
"Linebacker was not a deep draft this year. After the first two in the first round then there was a long drop off. We had a guy ear marked in the fifth round, and then he got taken. Then we were looking at a guy in the seventh and he got taken. We signed two undrafted guys [linebackers]. We signed 13 undrafted guys [total]. We're done with that. D-line, the thing about it is, if you don't get them early then you look later on as you are going and when we got in the fifth, sixth round you look and say, ?Alright, does that guy have a chance to make the team, or is it better off to take a guy who has a chance to make the team?' We brought Blache (Greg, Defensive Coordinator) and asked, ?What do you think,' and he said, ?No, take those other positions first'."
On Rob Jackson (DE, Kansas State):
"Our scouts liked him when they went in and then John Palermo (Defensive Line) watched him on film. It is kind of like Blache (Greg, Defensive Coordinator) with Montgomery (Anthony, DT, #94) and Golston (Kedric, DT, #64), there was something that Greg Blache saw in those guys when we took them. There was something that John saw in Jackson. He went out and worked him out a few weeks ago and then he came over again Thursday when we were over there to see Jordy (Nelson). The guy played very good against Auburn, so he has ability. He flashes ability. Now it will be just to get him stronger in the upper body. It will be to get him consistency. There is a reason why he went in the seventh. We just have to get it out of him, like we did with Montgomery and Golston. That's the same type of guy. When you see him he is not real big upper body, but he has a solid lower body, so he needs to get stronger up top. Jordy told me when we were there working out that the receivers had to watch Rob's hands, because he used his hands so well. It's a guy who has ability and we just have to get it out of him."
On Durant Brooks (P, Georgia Tech):
"How we do the punters and kickers is, I let Danny (Smith, Special Teams) evaluate them all. Punters, kickers and go work them all out, find out all the information you need about them and then tell me on the draft board where would we consider them. We liked his ability and Danny went down and worked him out. He has a very powerful leg. He was the Ray Guy award winner, so the guy has ability and he has a big leg. So, it will be good competition."
On an overall assessment of this draft class:
"This draft class we covered a lot of positions. We were able to fulfill a lot of things that we went in the draft looking for. One defense, when you talk to the defensive coaches, the number one need coming in on defense really was safety because we just had three on the roster, so that was big need. Greg (Blache, Defensive Coordinator) told me we can go play, but we just have no depth at safety, so that was a priority to go get that. You always want defensive linemen if you can find them. Overall offensively I think we satisfied everything that we went in looking for. We didn't go in looking for a tight end but it just happened to be that's the way it fell on the board and we are happy that it did."
On trading down three times:
"The reason we did was because we had a lot of guys we liked at that spot. We felt like we have guys that we like, so let's trade back and there is a good opportunity that somebody will still be there we like, and we can gather another pick. All three times that we traded back, the guy that we were going to take at the previous position was the guy that we ended up getting at the next spot. At 21 when we traded back to 34, Devin Thomas was a good chance he was going to be the guy. In the fourth round Tryon (Justin) was going to be the pick at 103 when we traded back to get him, so it worked out. Some years it works out great, some years it doesn't."
On the undrafted free agents:
"It was four O-linemen, one quarterback, one wide receiver, two safeties, two linebackers, two D-linemen and a corner. It was two [defensive] ends."
