Jerry Reese

[Lughead]

Jerry Reese Pre-Draft Press Conference

 

Apr 19, 2007 By MSG.com

Courtesy of New York Giants

 

Q: Last year at this time when Ernie Accorsi was talking to us, what were you doing? Are you more comfortable doing that than this?

 

A: Last year when Ernie was talking to you, we were preparing. Actually the scouting part of it was really over with. We were discussing with the scouts and the coaches and getting everybody's input. We were really ranking the players by position at this point. That is what I was doing last year. Really that is what we are doing now, as well.

 

Q: How has the double duty (heading up the draft process as the GM) been?

 

A: Busy. The double duty has been busy. The draft process in itself is a gigantic process. You can't imagine how much time, money, effort, and man hours we put into it. It is busy. It is really detailed. It's not like you look on the news or NFL Network and these guys have them ranked and it looks like it is a real easy process. But there is so much detail that goes into it you have to be meticulous about the way you rank the players - from their background to what he does on the field. Just a lot of details to this - the entire process.

 

Q: In general, do you prefer to draft by need or by position?

 

A: It's a combination of both. You don't want to get into the draft process and you have a great value guy - kind of like Mathias Kiwanuka last year. We really probably didn't need a defensive end but the guy was valued so high for us that we picked the guy. You can't just leave a guy (like that on the board). In the room at the time I asked them, I said, "Does anybody in this room think Mathias Kiwanuka is not going to be a Pro Bowl defensive end?" No hands went up. I said, "We are going to pick this guy. I know we don't need him at this point but at some point he is going to be a good player for us." But you are conscious of your needs. You just don't go in and say that we are going to pick the best player all of the time. You are conscious of your needs.

 

Q: Will you have more input and power now that you are GM and Director of Scouting?

 

A: We all do it together. We take everybody's input. We don't have guys that scouts go out for 200 days of the year and not have their input. The coaches go and work guys out. They go to the Combine as well. They write reports. We all put our input in it. So if it's a final decision, it will be my decision. Just like Ernie, if there was a final decision, it was Ernie's decision. But we all have input on the entire process.

 

Q: If you focus in on somebody that you really like, would you also start to think about making a deal to move up to ensure getting him?

 

A: I think 20 is a good spot but we could move up or we could move back. If there is a guy that is getting close to us that we like and we think all of a sudden, "You know what, this guy may make it to us we if we try to make a deal for it." But 20 is a very good spot for us. I like the value at 20. I think we are going to get a really good player at 20.

 

Q: At 20, can you get someone who can start?

 

A: I don't know if we can get a guy that can start, but I think that we can get a real good football player. There are not a lot of rookies that start in the National Football League if you look all the way across the board. There are not a lot of guys that can jump in and start right away. It is a different level. I think we can get a really good football player at 20. If we stay at 20. I think we will get a really nice player there.

 

Q: You don't look at the draft as ‘we are going to draft to fill a hole this year?'

 

A: Not necessarily. You develop players in the draft. You would love to get guys that come right in and play. That would be fantastic if you would do that every year. But you develop guys out of the draft. College players usually don't come in and play right away. You have some exceptional kids that you throw in the fire and they play right away, but most of the time that is not how it goes. You develop players from the draft.

 

Q: As you are going through guys, are you paying more attention to character background?

 

A: We have always, as an organization as a whole, we have always been conscious of the character background. So we have always been conscious of that. We have things in place to try to avoid some of that. But we are very conscious of the character issue, not just now. In the past we have been conscious of their character.

 

Q: Are character guys little more risky….?

 

A: Obviously it is a lot riskier now because of the steps taken by Commissioner Goodell. Obviously he slapped some hands, broke some plates. So with those high-risk character guys, you have to be a little bit more careful about taking those picks.

 

Q: One unnamed personnel director said that he thought there were only 18 first rounders in this year's draft.

 

A: Let me explain how we do it here. It is not rounds for us. We try to keep the guys in the draft room in rows. It is not rounds. If it were rounds, there would be 32 first-rounders in the first round if it was rounds. It is rows. You have to pick 32 players so you put them in the first row. We call them rows. They are not rounds, because usually there may be 12 first-rounders. If it were rounds, you would only have 12, maybe 18 guys this year. So there are rows. There are guys that you would like to have in the second round, but they get into the first row because you have to pick 32 players in the first row. They are not rounds, they are rows.

 

Q: Do you think this is a strong draft?

 

A: I don't like to judge one draft against another draft. All drafts have good players in them. You just have to develop the players. What do we have, eight picks this year? We only need eight players out of the draft. But there are good players to be had in this draft I think.

 

Q: Would you be averse to moving out of the first round to get an extra second- or third-round pick?

 

A: I'm not adverse to anything. We will look into all situations. We will look at everything. We can move up, we can move down, we could stay where we are.

 

Q: Is there a possibility?

 

A: Absolutely there is a possibility. There is a possibility of anything. There is a possibility we could move up, we could move back, we could move out of the first round, we could stay at 20 and pick.

 

Q: Has this team done enough in free agency?

 

A: We did what we could in free agency. We went after some guys in free agency and some things just didn't work out. The market was out of control to a degree and we try to be smart with our money and some situations just didn't work out for us.

 

Q: From what you said, are you a little disappointed in the results?

 

A: Well, I don't really get disappointed about things like that. It is what it is. We did the best we could as far as we could do it. And we went after guys. It didn't work out and you move on, move on.

 

Q: In what ways was it out of control?

 

A: The money was out of control. I think there were some guys who were probably, some people would consider marginal players, got paid astronomical amounts. We didn't feel like we were going to do that. We didn't feel like it was smart for us to do that.

 

Q: Did that change your draft strategy?

 

A: You have your ideas and you think you can get guys in free agency. It would be nice to say, "I want this guy in free agency. I want that guy in free agency." If it happened like that, it would be great, but it usually doesn't happen like that. So you have to be prepared to play the hand you are dealt and play it as you go, as it unfolds. Free agency, the draft, you have to play your hand as it unfolds.

 

A: There are still some opportunities left out in free agency. Free agency, trade opportunities. There's still some stuff left out there.

 

Q: In recent weeks several names have come up of veterans as free agents or trades. Are there any still live? And don't you need to get a decision before you draft?

 

A: Everybody's alive in trade opportunities. Everybody's alive. I'm not sure what you're asking me. There are still trade opportunities for us.

 

Q: How do you determine a guy's character? Does one arrest make him a bad guy?

 

A: Absolutely not. A lot of us have done things in our past. And I don't think everybody in here's a bad guy because we've done things in our past. These are young kids. They're impressionable kids. So you can't absolutely kill a guy because he went out and had a beer after a party and got into a scuffle or something. A lot of these kids get parking tickets. You're not a bad person. Some of them get speeding tickets. Probably everybody in here's got a speeding ticket. But we get all that information. If a guy's got a blotter, if he's got a long list of character flaws, you have to take that stuff into consideration.

 

Q: Can you talk about the dynamic with other general managers who don't know you because you're new to this role?

 

A: Well, I think all the GMs know who I am, I know who they are. They don't know me in the GM role, but they know me from being in the league. I've been working for the Giants for almost 14 years now, so most people know me around the league. Obviously GMs who have been in the business a long time know each other better than they know me at this point. Business is business. I don't care who's doing the business for you. If I'm doing the business, or whoever's doing the business, if a GM wants to talk to the Giants about a trade or something of that matter, whoever's taking care of the business, that's who they talk to. I don't think it matters if I'm the GM or if Ernie is the GM or whoever's the GM.

 

Q: They don't have a track record as to what kind of guys you like though.

 

A: No, they don't. I think you're reading too much into that though. I don't think they do that as much as you're saying. I don't think that happens as much as you're saying.

 

Q: Did that issue come up with Al Wilson. We're they testing you at all?

 

A: I'm not sure what they thought with Al Wilson. We liked Al Wilson to a degree. We had some things in place with the agreement with them. We brought him in for the physical. Things didn't work out with the physical and it was a deal breaker for us.

 

Q: When you let Luke Petitgout go, was that more your decision than Tom's?

 

A: No, it was us. It was us as an organization. From the top to the bottom. From the owners, all the way down to everybody involved with that decision, it was us. It wasn't totally my decision, it wasn't totally Tom's decision. It was our decision as an organization.

 

Q: Now that Ernie's gone are you going to change anything in the draft process?

 

A: There are a few things that we've tweaked, but the entire draft process for everybody, it's all similar but different. It's not different from everybody's draft process. It's about the details. Get as much information as you can. And then, after you get the information, don't over-analyze yourself, because sometimes you meet for ever and ever and ever. We meet for two weeks, put them on the board, and then we pick them. Some teams meet for a month. I think you can over-analyze yourself when you meet for a long time.

 

Q: At this moment do you feel comfortable you have a left offensive tackle?

 

A: We have a left offensive tackle that we've won games with. Would we like a better player at that position? Maybe so, but we've won games with the left tackle that we have now, David Diehl. We've won games with David.

 

Q: Is there a style of defensive player that you're looking for because of your new defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo?

 

A: Spags, he's given us a list of players that he likes. So we're definitely looking at the type of players that he likes for his defense. Again, we have to wait and see who's on the board, let it unfold and see what happens. We do have a list of the traits that he likes for his defenders.

 

Q: Is this thing really as simple as you putting together a list of 20 players in your order of preference and when your turn comes, the highest one still standing is your pick?

 

A: I don't think it's that simple. The 20th guy on your board, that's your guy. There's a lot that happens. We may have some guys ranked in the first row—we may have a guy at 32 that gets picked before us. Or we may have a guy in our second row that gets picked that we don't like as well that gets picked before us in the first row.

 

Q: But that still wouldn't affect the 20 you like best in order.

 

A: It would affect it to a degree. Every pick affects where you are in the draft.

 

Q: Does position affect that?

 

A: Everything that happens in the draft affects you as the draft unfolds. Every pick, the draft changes. Every pick.

 

Q: Are you the tie-breaker?

 

A: Am I the tie-breaker? Yes, I'll break the ties.

 

Q: At the combine you said you would not give up any of your first day picks. Does that change on draft day now?

 

A: It would have to be a honey deal for us to give up our first day picks. Never say never. If I said never, I shouldn't have said never.

[Nesta]

Is it just me or does Reese repeat himself over and over?

Let me explain how we do it here. It is not rounds for us. We try to keep the guys in the draft room in rows. It is not rounds. If it were rounds, there would be 32 first-rounders in the first round if it was rounds. It is rows. You have to pick 32 players so you put them in the first row. We call them rows. They are not rounds, because usually there may be 12 first-rounders. If it were rounds, you would only have 12, maybe 18 guys this year. So there are rows. There are guys that you would like to have in the second round, but they get into the first row because you have to pick 32 players in the first row. They are not rounds, they are rows.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Is it just me or does Reese repeat himself over and over?

He knows his stuff that's obvious....but I could not finish it. It reminded too much of my childhood stammer.....Jesus he needs an editor or speech coach.....or both.

[fishgutmartyr]

He knows what he's doing. All that talk, not a speck of information released.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

He knows what he's doing. All that talk, not a speck of information released.

Be a great press secretary....after a half hour you would be begging him NOT to answer anymore questions.

[fishgutmartyr]

Be a great press secretary....after a half hour you would be begging him NOT to answer anymore questions.

I think he's handled himself very well so far. But of course, I'm saying that before the draft.

[boohyah]

This is about all you can expect from any GM before the draft. Save you're questions till after the draft, the answers will be a lot more interesting.

[Storm]

He knows his stuff that's obvious....but I could not finish it. It reminded too much of my childhood stammer.....Jesus he needs an editor or speech coach.....or both.

 

 

wow, I was going to mention this, too. he's absolutely horrible at speaking.

[RaginCaucasian]

He knows what he's doing. All that talk, not a speck of information released.

 

Be a great press secretary....after a half hour you would be begging him NOT to answer anymore questions.

Very Belichick-esque if you ask me.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

wow, I was going to mention this, too. he's absolutely horrible at speaking.

Ragin is right....I forgot how Belichik sounded when he was with us.

[Treehugger]

Is it just me or does Reese repeat himself over and over?

I couldn't help but picture Alan Iverson. "Practice, are we talking about practice...

[Nesta]

I couldn't help but picture Alan Iverson. "Practice, are we talking about practice...