DAVE GETTLEMAN: So we were busy. I'm learning to make right turns in NASCAR. So we traded back to 50. We got a third round pick in 22 and picked up Azeez Ojulari who we are really thrilled to get. He's an edge pass rusher. He's instinctive. He's very bright. He plays hard, and he's got pass rush ability and he's also a solid run player. We're really thankful to get him. In the third round we swapped spots with Denver and wanted to move up. Obviously we're working on defense and we picked Aaron Robinson who is a nickel, who has got the ability to play nickel and outside the perimeter, and he's an excellent tackler, ball hawk. He's got all the stuff. So we're really pleased to get these two kids into our program.
Q. Did you ever think you would get addicted to trading back?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: Let me tell you something, you never know. You never know. You know, listen, it's all about if the opportunity is right. It's about your board. It's about value meeting need. It's all those things. And like I told you guys last week, I've tried in the past and it just hasn't worked. We thought we got just really good value here. And you know, again, it's one of those deals where, you know, so you take, for example, we move from 42 back to 50, so that's eight slots and we had five guys there that we would take at 50. The odds are, eight slots, it's five guys, there's going to be -- one of those five is going to be there for you. We've just been able to do that.
And then, you know, with the value we had on Aaron, I just didn't want to sit and wait. You know, we just felt -- he's a press corner and really fits what we want to do and who we want to be on defense. You know, it's just having the opportunity and you know, it's how your board lines up.
Q. With getting 22 pick -- was that a priority?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a priority. It was important to us.
Q. Was wondering, what was going through your said when you saw Azeez keep falling?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: Here's what I'm going to say to you. You have to have confidence in your ability to evaluate players. So you just turn around and people are missing it for whatever reason and it didn't scare us, that's for darn sure. We're thrilled to get him.
You know, it's kind of the same thing when people cut a player. You know, the instinct is to say what's wrong. My attitude is, you know, maybe they made a mistake. So it's one of those deals where you know, the fact that Azeez was dropping did not impact us at all in terms of our opinion of his playing ability and what he could do for us.
Q. You guys have invested some real resources in the secondary since last year, the draft picks you brought in, Brad Barry, obviously this year with Adoree' and now Aaron Robinson. How does Aaron fit in there and how close are you to being a finished product on the back end?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: You know, where Aaron fits in is he gives us more perimeter muscle, so to speak, and he's also got that flexibility to play the nickel and play the star. We think he's a great fit, obviously, because we traded up, hello, stating the obvious, Captain Obvious. We think he's a great fit for our defense and our back end and we feel like, you know, you can never have too many assets back there because you know, players come and go. You have injuries. You know, again, people will say it's a passing league and it is to a degree. And the other thing that we really liked about Aaron is you do the studies, you do the analytics -- I do do it, people -- and the people defenses have the best tackling secondaries, and Aaron Robinson is a really good tackling corner.
Q. Was Azeez going to be the pick at 42 if you couldn't trade it and was Robinson one of the five guys that you thought would be there at 50 when you did get there?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: Yes.
Q. Yes to both?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: (Laughs).
Q. That's a good, short answer and now I can ask a follow-up. You said getting picks for next year was important to us. Why is that? This seems like a team that's poised to make a jump in 2021, why is it so important to get those picks in the future?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: Well, as we said -- I think I said this at the pre-draft presser, you know, this draft right now, in terms of unknowns, you have more unknowns that you can shake a stick at. You have kids that didn't play this year. You have a lot of incomplete medical information. It's really kind of an odd draft class. It's an odd year. The NCAA allowed all those players to get another year and a ton of them did. One of the SEC schools, they had 13 kids decide to go back and play next year, 13 kids that could have been in this draft. That was pretty heavy throughout the Power Five conferences. We really have a feeling that next year's draft is going to be really strong and it just gives you options.
Q. You didn't take an offensive lineman in the first two days. Is that because -- obviously the board in need and you think maybe there's guys in the fourth or fifth round you can get, but does it also indicate you like a lot of the guys on your team and you don't have to force anything?
DAVE GETTLEMAN: No, actually we were looking at offensive linemen in the last -- for the last two picks, and the value didn't meet the pick, plain and simple. We had one guy we had our eye on, two guys specifically we had our eyes on and they got taken before they got to us. So no, you always want to add -- you know, you always want competition. Whether you draft a position or not has nothing to do with how happy you are with that position. It has everything to do with the draft value at the time you're picking.
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