JOE SCHOEN: All right, glad y'all didn't go home. Obviously we traded back for Jaxson. Fired up to get him. We went through an extensive quarterback process. It started as far back as last May in terms of evaluating the quarterbacks, and Dabes and I have been through this quite a few times, and at the end of the day we're fired up to have Jaxson Dart as part of the organization and look forward to working with him.
Q. What stood out about him to you and to you?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I think he's got a lot of qualities you look for in a good quarterback. He's tough, makes good decisions with the football, pushes the ball down the field, has athletic ability, played in a really tough conference, started there at USC as a young guy. But did a really good job throughout this process of our meetings, board work, workouts and the tape that we liked.
Look forward to working with him. Glad he's here, and we'll get started as soon as we can.
Q. Joe, you talked about early on this process started, but you were working on quarterbacks right up through last week. When did Jaxson become the guy that you guys all wanted?
JOE SCHOEN: We were still meeting on Monday this week, so again, just the whole process. Once you finally have all the information -- and it took us a little bit longer to get all the information because of the scheduling and the calendar this year. Once we had all the information, we circled back up in a meeting and we went through it, and even on the plane ride back from our last private workout, we were meeting with the offensive staff, already going through everything.
So it started there and then we circled back up again on Monday, and that's where we shut the door and we went through everything and started to set how we had the quarterbacks.
Q. When did you start looking to move back up to make this? Tell us how that came about and how you decided --
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, it was early to mid 20s. Maybe in the 22, 23 range we started to look to move up. A lot of teams just decided to stay and pick, so again, you try to do deals, you try to move up, and if teams want to stay and pick, there's just not much you can do there. We kept chipping away, and a lot of good relationships with general managers around the league, so easy conversations. The teams that weren't going to move back were up front and pretty straightforward right off the bat, so that allowed us to get ahead of the next team and start working through potential trades.
Q. Were you worried about Pittsburgh at all?
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, we didn't start until -- they were 21, I believe, so we started after Pittsburgh. Again, we went through all these scenarios before the day started, what we were going to do at 3 and then at what point we thought it would make sense where it was important for us to hold on to pick 65. I'm glad we were able to hold on to that.
I think the pick in the fourth round there at the top is a good pick, too, so try to keep a couple of those picks. So we gave up 99, which was the comp pick, and we were able to pick 65. Still gives us some ammo to draft tomorrow more players tomorrow.
Q. When you (indiscernible) up high and then you say you want to get one, there's a lot of moving parts that go into this. You have to be confident that these quarterbacks are going to drop. What was your confidence after you take Carter, okay, now we've got to see what happens?
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, that's the hard part. There's 31 other teams, and sometimes we assume everybody sees things the way we do. That's not always the case, so again, you take the information you have, you try to gather as much as you can throughout the day, and sometimes you get a feel for what teams are doing and sometimes you have no idea.
Hats off to my staff. They do a great job of making these calls around the league, and the pro scouting staff puts together needs, so we have kind of top priorities that the teams need, so you go off that. Hey, do we need to move up here, no, not really, they're probably going to go this position or whatever it may be. Very professional in the room, very detailed. It was a collaborative effort amongst the group to be able to execute the way we did.
Q. Joe, did you feel a pressure or an urgency knowing that there were other teams that had yet to pick a quarterback but the feeling in the league was that they were looking for quarterbacks and who might be trying to come up ahead of you guys? What was that process like and how much did you research it and try to feel through it?
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, and you do all of those things, and you're not in their buildings, so you don't really know.
So to the best of our ability, we try to project what teams may or may not do. So yeah, there were a few we were a little worried they may go quarterback or somebody behind us could easily come up and take somebody. But we practiced some restraint there at a certain part in the 20s, and again, it paid off, and we were able to get Jaxson for what we did.
Q. Joe, you've actually put years of work into finding this quarterback. You talked a lot about your process in doing that. How gratified are you to finally pull the trigger on a quarterback and really what was it finally that put Jaxson over the top to make him the guy?
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, it's been exhausting, to be honest with you. We've been, whether it's here or all and then you go on the road in the fall or up the way up to Easter weekend we're still on the road. Credit to the coaches, my staff, the film they watch, the area scouts putting us in the correct direction on the quarterbacks to go see.
Yeah, love the staff, love the coaching staff, the collaboration, the way we all work together. It's a very detailed process, and we couldn't do it without the coaches, because I don't know our offense inside and out like they do or what they're going to ask these kids to do, so they do a great job. The coaching staff's ability to, again, Easter weekend be away from their families and go do this stuff.
Credit to them. I'm glad we were able to get a guy that we're convicted on and we like. So yeah, it's gratifying. I'll probably on the ride home be able to decompress, but it was pretty stressful out there the last 15, 20 minutes trying to get this done. I'll probably reflect on it later in the day, but I'm fired up about the two players that we were able to get tonight.
Q. You're such a quarterback guy. You love evaluating quarterbacks. When were you sold on Jaxson and what's your scouting report?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'd say, look, we've had conversations all the way up to this morning, actually, about a variety of things. I like the way he plays. I like his competitive fire. I like his accuracy. I like his ability, again, to push the ball down the field. His athletic ability to run with the football.
I know the system that they ran down there at Ole Miss is similar to the one we had at Alabama, so there's some carryover on some of these things.
But I think this guy has gotten better every year he's played. He's a leader. He was smart. He has the attributes that we were looking for. Excited to have him. Look forward to getting him in the room. He's got a lot to learn. It'll be a process here with him. But he's a guy we look forward to working with.
Q. Joe, how would you describe his personality, his temperament, et cetera?
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, outgoing. He's an outgoing kid from our meetings with him. He's personable. We've had multiple dinners with him. We met with him at the Senior Bowl. On the field he's fiery. You see him, like we're going to probably have to teach him how to slide. You watch him, he's trying to run people over, in the Senior Bowl, too. It's like, dude, you're in an all-star game, you probably shouldn't trying to be run that linebacker over, and he did that in the game.
He's tough. He's competitive. You see the leadership, seeing him in games, seeing him live. He's not afraid to get on guys.
You guys will get to meet him tomorrow, and I'm sure you'll enjoy visiting with him.
Q. What kind of feedback did you get from Eli?
JOE SCHOEN: He broke all those records, but Eli likes him. Big fan. Archie, as well. Yeah, so the family, they obviously -- Ole Miss through and through and follow him and watch a lot of their games, so they were definitely fans of Jaxson.
Q. What games did you see and what stood out in those games?
JOE SCHOEN: The Egg Bowl. I went to the Egg Bowl this year. We went from Dallas, we stayed over after the Dallas game on Thanksgiving, went to the Egg Bowl and then the Iron Bowl. Again, we had been studying him, and to me, the accuracy -- a lot of stuff that Daboll talked about, accuracy, anticipation, there's athleticism, he's not a statue in the pocket. Again, the ability to throw the deep ball, intermediate throws, short throws, a lot of RPO stuff.
But again, he's in a really good spot where he can come in and he can sit behind a couple of veteran quarterbacks and learn and doesn't have to be thrown out there right away. I think from a developmental standpoint it's an ability to throw, a perfect situation for a young quarterback.
Q. In an ideal world would you like him to sit (indiscernible) you said you're fine with him sort of learning --
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'd say all that will play out. Russ will be our starter, and that's how it'll be once we get started here in the spring. Look, the process of developing a quarterback is just that. So we're going to do everything we can to develop him and bring him along. We have some good quarterbacks in the room relative to play time, experience, some medals on the wall, if you will. They've done a great job here these first four days. It's really early, phase one, but the two of those guys that we've added have added a lot of value already to the room in terms of leadership and communication. It's been four days, so there's a long way to go with both of those guys. But again, I want to make this about Jaxson, his night.
Young player, I think he's got a good skill set, and look forward to developing it with him.
Q. What do you think that Russ and Jameis can show Jaxson?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, that's a fair question. They're learning our offense right now, so they need to worry about Russ and Jameis. They've great teammates. They've been great teammates these first four days to be around them, as are some of the other guys that Joe and the staff brought in. Very happy with the additions that we've made in terms of people but leadership, too. Holland has been fantastic. But those guys got a lot to learn. Four days in, we're developing a system around them, and we'll add some of the things that Jaxson does well when he's out there participating.
But they need to focus on doing their job the best that they can do. Their leadership has been very good with all the rooms the first four days.
Q. Obviously you had a choice of high-profile quarterbacks when you were on the clock. Did you consider Shedeur at all?
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, again, we went through an extensive process and we moved up for Jaxson. Again, we're fired up to have him. But at the end of the day when we went through the process and we ranked them, this is how we had them ranked, and Jaxson we felt the value matched up with where we saw the player.
Q. You talked about taking a swing when you were at the combine. How important is it from where you guys are to take a swing on what you hope will be your future quarterback?
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, I guess we took three since that comment I made --
Q. Well, I don't think Russell will be here in 10 years, Jaxson might be.
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, but they're swings. Again, we traded up for him. We're ecstatic to have him. He's got a lot of makings of a good quarterback, and there's a long way to go. There's a developmental process that he's going to have to go through. Again, these offenses are not easy to learn, and the execution has to be at a high level.
Again, we took three swings since the combine and added three new quarterbacks to the room, and I'm excited about the makeup of the room, too.
Q. Joe, you said you were meeting up until Monday about what you guys were going to do at quarterback. How challenging were the deliberations about -- you do all this work on Shedeur, do all this work on Jaxson. How did that go? Take us behind the scenes on how you came to the decision.
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I would say it's very similar to how they've always gone. There's a lot of good communication with I'd say a select number of people that have studied the players, that have been on all the trips, that have been in all the meetings, and everybody has opinions. They're good opinions to have.
Again, I can't emphasize, Dennis, Tim, Brandon, Joe, Kafka, Shea, Chad Hall, that group that have worked on this. Everybody had thoughts and opinions and rankings, and then once you sit down and you sit down with the eight or nine people that are talking about it, you generally come up with a consensus of here's this guy, here's this guy, here's this guy. It's a good process. Like Joe said, it's a lot of work. It is a lot of work. You watch a lot of tape. You have a lot of visits. But it's fun. It's fun to get to meet these guys.
Q. Joe, you've talked about needing the right personality to be a quarterback here in this market. What is it about Jaxson's personality or his makeup makes you think that he can do this job in this setting the way you laid it out?
JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, we try to gauge that as well as we can, and that's a difficult question that none of us really know until you get here and understand what the New York market is and what it's like playing in that market.
Again, his resilience, his tough, he's competitive, takes hits, gets back up, he's running people over. Just the makeup of the kid and the way he's wired, he's going to keep getting up and competing, and that's one of the things that we really liked about him.
BRIAN DABOLL: I'd say there's a process, too, when he gets here in terms of developing this player. I don't expect him to know everything right off the bat. It's a hard position to play, a hard position to coach. But he has the traits that we look for and covet in a guy to be able to learn and grow.
So his expectations coming in is just to improve every day, soak it up like a sponge, learn from the coaches, learn from the veteran quarterbacks in the room, try to improve every day he can in terms of his understanding of the system. And then once we get on the field, the physical part of it, that's what we're looking for from him right now is to grow each and every day with a positive mindset, and I think he has the tools physically and mentally to do that.
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