KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Addison is somebody we targeted very early in the process. Kevin has a phrase he likes to use a lot: It's natural to him. Where you watch a player where you can tell football just makes sense to him. Jordan is somebody that does that. Obviously a Biletnikoff winner as a true sophomore, separation sense in space, different things. It's natural to him.
An incredible, really good football player, quiet, hardworking, elevates those around him. He fits in our culture really well, so we're excited to add him, and really excited to see him tomorrow and get going on what we're trying to build.
With that, any questions?
Q. Any temptation to go defense or cornerback?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Or cornerback? We considered every position. Ultimately you've got to just go with your board, look at your evaluation, consider different scenarios. We considered a lot of different ones, but ultimately we're excited to be adding an impact player at a premium position, and that's what we went with.
Q. Kevin talked quite a bit about trying to counteract the fact the team spent so much of their attention on Justin. How much does this help kind of give you a counterpunch there?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: It certainly does. It's somebody who can separate the way he does on the other side, that brings a certain match-up issue to other teams. But I also don't want to leave out the current guys we've got on this team. K.J. Osborn can also separate and obviously T.J. and a lot of different guys on our team.
But he does add to that room. We're really excited what he can bring, and I can't wait for Kevin to get in the lab with all these guys.
Q. How much personal interaction did you have with him and what stood out to you?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Yeah, he comes in on top 30, and obviously I got to sit and talk with him. I love getting to know guys. I don't really view that as I'm judging them any type of way. I just want to know how they tick and what it's going to be like to share a hallway with them.
You can tell there's a quiet confidence, and maybe he was a little louder today after he got the pick, but very confident person as you would be if you were him. Very natural at what he does, hardworking. Just a great -- we spent some great time together, asked a lot of question, what he wants to be, how he wants to help the team, what it's like. Just really enjoyed the time with him, and obviously you base it on the film and things like that, but it validated all the things our scouts found out about him and how he interacts with teammates and how he interacts with people. Again, really excited to add him.
Q. Was Jordan the pick all along? When those wide receivers started to go, that little run, starting at 20, did you start to get a little nervous?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: I hope nobody would call me nervous, but you are considering different options, right. There's a lot of talented players in the first round, in the draft at large. We considered a lot of them, and Jordan was somebody we're really happy we ended up with. I'll just leave it at that.
Q. What are your expectations for this offense next year, having all the pieces that you have and having added some?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Just to continually show up and work. I don't want to put a certain rank or anything like that because that's not my job or anybody's job. I just -- like I tell our players when Jordan came, he asked me about what's it like here, and I told him, and I mean this genuinely, this isn't hokey, but we wake up every day, put a smile on our face and try to be the best version of ourselves. If you ask me that question about the offense, the defense, the special teams, the running back, the receiver, I'd give you the same answer.
Q. There was the NFL Network camera on you guys for a while, and I don't know if it was timed up live or if it was earlier, but it looked like you guys were working through some stuff until pretty close to the end there. Did you have some trade options or -- obviously you liked Jordan, but were there some options?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: It's a deadline league, man. The shot clock us coming down, they make you question your plan.
But me and Kevin, we put a lot of work into this process, and I gave him a ton of credit, but I put a pretty big load on him, strategically knowing what players could be available to us at certain times, so in the moment it wasn't a panic. We knew exactly what we'd be willing to do to do different things, and we were very confident with the player we got. We were just waiting to see if anything came up to entice us, and it didn't, and we ended up with, again an impactful player, premium position.
Q. I think the team below you traded pretty quickly after that.
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Yep, and ultimately you're always playing those scenarios out in your head and what could have happened. I am that times a million because ultimately your job is to try and win on the margins and cobble together all those small wins and add up to something great.
But I think what you first and foremost realize in this league, you've got to win with impactful players. That's where it starts, and if you can get one, you should take one, and you should only risk not getting one if you get something meaningful back.
Q. Are you comfortable with just four picks the rest of the draft?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: You know, maybe it's just me speaking my own reality, but I think I'll be about just being efficient with the picks. Again, there's some maneuverability on the board, there's always things you can do. But we're going to do -- like I said, we're going to wake up every day and be the best version of ourselves. We're going to make this draft the best version of ourselves with the opportunity we're afforded.
Q. Akayleb Evans tweeted that practice was going to be crazy now. How fun is it to see some of the young defenders getting excited about bringing in somebody at that position who can make them better?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: That's the vibe we want. Akayleb, by the way, has put in a great off-season. We see him out there every day working. He's excited to be back.
What's great about our practice environment, when you talk about someone like Justin Jefferson, when you get to see defenders go against him, you can make some pretty decent conclusions about how good they are because that is the best guy on the planet.
So you add another guy like Jordan on the other side who's a pretty good player, you can start evaluating your team pretty well because hey, you can make some decent conclusions.
I'll say that from my perspective is a great thing, but just yeah, to your point, competition is always great, depth is always great, and I'm excited for the environment we've created.
Q. Did you guys think at all before you made the pick at 23 about moving up in the first round to get a quarterback or anything else?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: We considered a lot. I promise Kevin and I did -- man, a ton of work on all these options, all these scenarios. Ultimately we felt like the opportunities there didn't make sense for us, and we're ultimately just really happy that we ended up with the player we ended up with, and we think that's the best course forward.
Q. Historically starting quarterbacks come from that top 15, 20 -- not all of them, but most of them. Knowing your situation here, how do you view the next couple days in terms of that position?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Yeah, yeah. Look, ultimately the highest probability are those, and you've got to bet on your ability if you take it outside of those to identify, develop, and then also there's plenty of other avenues.
Again, I think we know that's the most important position. We have an incredibly good one right now, and we'll see what happens after that.
Q. How would you characterize or describe what it's like to be in this role? This is your second time doing this, but how do you describe it?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Keep getting -- that's the way I live, keep getting better, keep growing. I know last year I think there were certain things that just happened for the first time, like wow, and this year, you say no and there's a little different voice behind it, a little weight behind it because how much more prepared you are, how much more experience you have.
But other than that, I lean on the people in that room. A lot of people stood up and clapped. That's what we joke about in that room. I want a roomful of people standing and clapping, and we put together a great process to make sure that happens.
Q. I know you said your mind is always wondering about what to do next for this team. How long do you think you guys will be here tonight trying to formulate a plan for the rest of this weekend?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: You know, I've been told I've got to go home. The home sauna has been turned on. I've got to go 30 minutes, get a little relaxation in, get up, do it again tomorrow, but at some point at 4:00 a.m. I'm sure the mind will start turning on again and I'll be looking at the ceiling, but that's fun. For somebody like never -- I'll tell you that in jest, but it's fun. I think a lot of people enjoy that part of the job.
Q. Was it helpful to see tape of Jordan in two different offenses, two different programs in college, and what are the different ways he was used?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Yeah, that's a great question. I first -- probably one of the first times I saw him was when he played against Booth. The first time I was watching Booth, and obviously I knew he was a Biletnikoff winner and all that.
It's great when you talk about college players, a lot of the hard part is kind of watching them versus a certain conference and trying to adjust for hey, how good is that player that's playing against him, but to your point because he's played in two different conferences, played in bowl games and all those different things, you got to evaluate him with different quarterbacks, again, usage wise.
One of the reasons we love him so much is the inside-outside flex. He can win on the outside, he can win on the inside, and really -- again, like I said, there's a couple players in this draft that you just feel like at birth were supposed to do the thing that they're going to get paid to do in the NFL, and he's one of them.
Q. How does he win maybe being a little bit smaller than some of the other prospects?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Yeah, I think understanding how to set guys up, how to displace defenders. I think he's really sudden in and out of cuts, so we always talk about kind of a guy getting the first blade of grass on movement, and he's one of those guys that typically gets the first blade of grass.
We have a really defined process when we talk about receivers. Kevin, that's almost not work for him; we gave him a load of receivers. He loves doing it. We both come to the same conclusion: This guy is consistently open, he can make plays with the ball in his hand.
Again, we love guys that show up and work. He fits into that room with Keenan, who obviously we think is the best in the league, and he's going to make him one of the better players in this league.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports