Q. I was going to ask you a football question, but based on that smile I got to ask the most obvious question: How excited were you to hear your name called, and what was it like for you and what do you think of coming to Philadelphia?
JACOBY STEVENS: It was a dream come true. You know, I was actually sitting down and talking with my trainer and just talking about (indiscernible) are being made. We saw Philly's pick up come up and my phone started to ring and I saw the area code and I said, man, this might be it.
So he was happy. He walked off, and literally as soon as I got off the phone tears just came out of my eyes. I'm just really excited. It's a dream come true I'm able to come to Philly and play in front of some really loyal and really good fans, supportive fans.
So I'm ready for it. I'm ready to tackle and contribute any way that I can.
Q. I just see that they have linebacker listed under your name there. Linebacker, safety, do you have a preference? Have you played much linebacker?
JACOBY STEVENS: I don't have a preference. You know, at the end of the day my thing is about coming in and being able to contribute any way possible. So they have me come in and want me to play linebacker or safety, regardless what position, my job now is to contribute to the Philadelphia Eagles defense.
So that's what I'm going to do to the best of my ability. You know, what they label me as or where they see me playing, that's my coaches and that's the front office's job.
For me it's just to come in and do the task they give me.
Q. Continuing off on that team, one thing. The C is capitalized this JaCoby?
JACOBY STEVENS: Yes, sir.
Q. Wanted to make sure I had that. On to where you're going to play, the linebacker part, how do you see that? I know you said you would do whatever. Do you think that's a good role for you if they make you a hybrid linebacker? There are a lot of those kind of guys in the league now. Have you thought about that a lot?
JACOBY STEVENS: I mean, I think that's -- that's what I really did at LSU. At LSU I really did some of that. I just had the safety title. I have -- you know, before LSU, before the draft process, I always have a theory of where -- you know, football is kind of like basketball in a sense where it's all about matchups and all about getting this guy on another guy.
And so now defenses are getting guys that can do just about a little bit of everything and it's getting to point now where all these guys are playing different positions and you don't know what to call them.
I don't get into the label. At the end of the day the Eagles organization and hopefully when I come to Philadelphia the fans know I'm a football player. I love football.
So I can -- you can label me as a D tackle, but at the end of the day I'm on the football field hopefully making plays.
Q. We see the thing behind you, and you said you're with the trainer. Are you actually at the LSU facility?
JACOBY STEVENS: I'm not at the LSU facility. I'm actually in a facility in Covington, Louisiana. I been training for the combine -- I'm sorry, pro days, I decided to have my friends and family here to watch the draft with me. This is where all the hard work was at for three months, and I felt like it was right to be able to be here.
Q. If I can ask you one more question about the linebacker/safety thing, have you talked to Nick Rallis, the linebackers coach? Is that the person you've been interacting with?
JACOBY STEVENS: Yes, sir. So that is who I've done my zooms with. We did some -- we watched some film, and the thing is, you know, he basically just picked my brain on my football IQ. He really never just -- we never just watched film and he was like, tell me what the wheel does and that's it. He wanted to see if I knew the entire defense and how I learned and stuff like that.
So I think that was just an interesting approach that he took. But, yes, my Zoom was with Coach Nick.
Q. If I can fire two questions. First, is there a hybrid player that you see in the NFL who you think is most comparable to the way you play? And a new teammate of yours, what's it like to try to cover Devonta Smith or be in the secondary against Devonta Smith?
JACOBY STEVENS: I'm going to answer the second one because that's the easiest one. I'm glad he's on my team. I'm glad that I have to try to go against him in practice and that it's not so much as public as the game, because he's somebody, like I said in zooms when they asked me who is the hardest person I've covered in 2020 or defend in 2020, that was Devonta Smith hands down.
Just because he can run every route. He makes every route look the same. We hear often he's a quarterback at receiver. When he's running the crossing routes at Alabama he knows the holes and the gaps in the zone, and believe it or not, a lot of receivers don't know that.
So he knows when to sit down and when to idle his speed back t0 appear open for his quarterback. So I'm happy that Devonta Smith is on my team. That's one less guy that I have to worry about covering in the game, and in a sense in this draft class.
You know, the first question, somebody that I like looking at, you know, the really and truly first is Derwin James that's more of a safety/linebacker type deal with him, and he is really good at that.
And a lot of guys don't give him credit over in Arizona, but Budda Baker, somebody that he covers, he tackles, blitzes, you know, I think he's a very underrated guy.
I don't think he gets a lot of credit he deserves.
And another guy I think that's really, really good comes out of LSU is Jamal Adams. Like I said, he came in as -- all these guys are listed as safety, but if you go in their organization you see that they do everything.
Sometimes they may be with the linebackers because this week they're in the box and taking on tackles or taking on guards. So guys like Jamal Adams come in and he breaks the DB sack records. So guys like that is who I'll watch when I was at LSU and I plan on watching now, going on in my career. You never get too good to watch film on other guys. There is always something to learn.
Q. Welcome to Philadelphia. Two years ago such a dream season for you guys and everything went right for you as a team and for you individually. How challenging was that past season with everything that went on? How challenging was it for you to kind of deal with everything that was happening? And a lot was made of your role changing and you were in the conversation to be a first or second round pick at one point. Obviously what happened with the season changed that. How tough was all that to deal with?
JACOBY STEVENS: Oh, I mean, the stuff with the draft and all that, you know, that comes with it. The one thing that, you know, you don't go into a season wanting to just break 500. You don't go into a season with the goal of just being 5 and 5.
So I'm not going to sit here and lie to you guys and say that I was excited or happy with how the season went last year. You know, I'm going to say I'm excited on how we finished, how we responded to adversity, how our young guys stepped up.
I'm the first one to say that the young guys at LSU were put in a rough situation coming in. These are 17, 18 year old guys that are asked to play 100% SEC schedule and just throwing us in the fire. So I have the utmost respect for those guys, and I was really proud to see how those guys -- how they grew up and matured.
I'm really excited for them, and I think that they are going to really benefit from that.
Q. Talking about LSU, LSU players tend to be very prideful. We just had Jalen Mills here for five years. I was curious if you built a relationship with him and if you learned anything about coming to the NFL from him?
JACOBY STEVENS: Yeah, Jalen, he always came back to LSU and always talked and spoke his mind. There are countless things that you learn from those guys that come back. He has given us speeches and he's told us things that he's seen when he was -- while he was in Philly, and like you said, all the guys with LSU.
I remember Jalen came back, and I want to say this was my sophomore year and we were good, we were a (indiscernible) team, but Jalen basically pointed out things that we didn't even think about how we carried ourself and how all that stuff has something to do with on the field.
He talked about us parking in handicap and parking where we're not supposed to be and how really and truly all those things carry on to the field. You know, things like that is what stuck out to me when Jalen came back.
Of course he taught us technique, things he learned in the NFL, but it was little things like that that can separate you not only as a guy on the field, but as a person off the field.
Q. I saw like you came out of high school as a wide receiver and you played at LSU as a freshman there. What led to the transformation to defense, and how were you about doing that? Was that something you wanted to do or did the coaches bring that up?
JACOBY STEVENS: So in high school I played just about everything, receiver, running back. For me, like I said now, I'm going to do everything I can to be on the field and stay on the field.
It carried over to college. Coach O and a Austin Thomas, they asked me because I came in as a safety, so they asked me to move over to receiver because of depth, and it was something -- it was a short conversation. I want to say maybe a five, ten minute conversation because Coach O, I guess he wanted to make sure I was okay with it.
After he asked me, I was like, Sure, anything to do to get on the field. We had some depth issues later in the season at safety that year, my freshman year. He came and asked me again and I did it again.
So a lot of guys, I say a lot of guys are quick to say that they're a team first guy and they put the team first and they're willing to do whatever it takes. I say that and I actually have proof in the pudding. I say it and I have proof that I am a team first guy.
I'm willing to put myself second to the organization, and I think that's how every guy is and that's how every championship program is.
Q. That's the perfect segue. When we spoke to the Eagles brass about the decision to draft Devonta and Landon Dickerson - and we haven't talked to them about you yet - but they talked about culture. Devonta would be the kind of guy who played gunner if needed, and even thinking about playing corner when Alabama was down guys. How important is culture to what you bring? How important is the off-the-field part of your character in terms of what you're going to bring to the franchise?
JACOBY STEVENS: Culture is everything. If you don't have a belief system, core values, we're just a bunch of guys out there playing for ourselves, and that's never good. I don't care how much talent you have on there, that's never good. So establishing a culture and a core belief within the team is a really big deal.
For me, like I said, that's at the highest value. It was always about -- you know, of course being drafted to the Philadelphia Eagles is always a big deal. You get the jersey, you get your name on the back, but people have to realize you're not only representing your family, but you're representing a multi million dollar organization. You're representing a city, sometimes in some cases a whole entire state.
So guys have to realize that it's bigger than them. What you do off the field when the cameras aren't around is important. Literally my high school secretary is here to celebrate getting drafted with me just because it's how I carried myself, how you treat people and in return people treat you with respect if you give it.
So I'm big on carrying myself in the highest manner, because I'm not only doing that for me, but I'm doing it for the last name on my back, and I'm also doing it for the organization that chose for me to represent them.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports