Q. In terms of the nine draft picks, I know you spoke with Ky after a couple of those draft picks, too. Was there one of the nine in particular that you were directly involved with scouting, maybe identified early in the process, that that's a guy that you came away from the draft saying, All right, we got our guy?
ETHAN WAUGH: No, I guess not necessarily, I would like to think I was kind of involved in most of 'em, at least in the film review process. Obviously our area scouts are out on the road doing the boots on the ground digging through and finding guys. But I think Brian Thomas is obviously a guy that stood out right away, whether it's on tape, whether it's at the combine with how well he performed, that's certainly somebody that stands out and you're like, Wow, this is a guy you would love to have on your team.
Q. With how offenses are becoming more versatile, how important was it to get a guy like Jeremy to do multiple things?
ETHAN WAUGH: I think it's extremely important. I think if you look at really kind of the numbers of corners and nickels drafted in recent years it's kind of, it's on the rise. Really everything that we do we kind of have to see how it affects the run game, but really more so how it affects the passing game, because that's how you score points in this league, how you win in league is by throwing the football or defending the pass. So a guy who can go inside out gives us more flexibility, as offenses move their slots and big guys around, having that flexibility is key.
Q. How much has the evaluation process helped by having guys like Matt House and other college guys who maybe know some of these guys in recruiting, just having those connections?
ETHAN WAUGH: It's tremendous. Coach House and really all of the coaches and all of the scouts with the work they do, the better connection that you have at a school or with a certain position coach or coach, you can get the, maybe not the company line, you get the real truth. I think the closer we can get to that the better. The hardest thing for us, I mean, I think everyone can see talent and speed and some of those things, but finding out what's at the core of a guy, how he practices, how he handles himself in the meetings, those kind of things are really key to what makes a good professional.
Q. From a scouting perspective how do you value players that play multiple sports maybe in high school? Like Ryan played basketball, for example. How much value do you place on that and what does it mean to the future NFL players?
ETHAN WAUGH: Well, I think it's, we look at it quite a bit. One of the starting points we work at is like high school track times, high school basketball. Hey, when you talk to Brian and who offered him in playing basketball, that should show you what kind of athlete he is. So that is important. So we try and follow-up how it translates to the NFL, I think that's different in terms of the sport, but I think the big thing is it I said kids that like to go out and compete and play sports and have fun and be with teammates and be with teammates of different, kind of different takes, right. Track's different than football. So I think that's all part of building a well-rounded person and player.
Q. How excited were you watching Brian Thomas run? You were kind of close down there and you came back and you were like, Wow. Can you kind of run us through that?
ETHAN WAUGH: Sure. I can start with how the you guys see how the combine is set up and each team has a suite that they can watch from. Our suite was the exact diagonal corner from the start of the 40. So I couldn't even see really what was happening, so I kind of went down and sat by the starting line. Just feeling, you know, when you're that close you can feel them get out of the blocks, and you see a guy that's 6'-3" he's over 200 pounds and really exploding out with not just speed but power, and you can feel that when you're that close, and maybe you can't further away. But that was really kind of my quick, one second review of him in that instance.
Q. Have you felt that or experienced any other player you scouted before or watched a 40 before whether at a pro day or there?
ETHAN WAUGH: Yeah, sure, I can think of a couple off the top of my head. One of the first guys very early in my scouting career was Vernon Davis, who was right at a 4.40, but a heavier guy, obviously a tight end. But it's not just speed but it was power with him and, quite frankly, you could feel the same with Evan Engram when he was coming out. When you watch all of the tight ends run and then you watch him run there's a different feeling to it. So you can, I think you can get a good feel of a guy's pure power and speed at that point.
Q. What's your thought on the edge rush position behind Josh Allen and Travon Walker right now?
ETHAN WAUGH: I think we've got some guys that are in the hunt, that are in the mix to make us better. I think we added Travon, Trevis Gipson. We had some guys there. We have some guys that were on the practice squad previously, DJ Coleman types. You Yasir Abdullah is playing the Sam spot, which is really kind of an edge rusher too at times. What we want to do is see those guys fight it out and develop, because I think you do really need to come up with four edge rushers if you want to play at a Super Bowl level, and finding guys that can affect the quarterback in waves is really key to what we're trying to do.
Q. Was there part of Maason Smith's evaluation that stood out to you, whether it was something he did on film or at the combine or in a private workout, however it went?
ETHAN WAUGH: Yeah, sure. I think there are a couple of things. The first one being is tape as a freshman, as a 18-year-old freshman in the SEC and how his physical traits really exploded off there. The sophomore year obviously he had the injury, then he was kind of working back to health. So if you look at the very beginning of his tape, the very end of his college tape, and then the health and the performance at the private workout we held with him, I think you can see the progression of how he's kind of getting back to himself and getting back healthy. I think the sky's the limit.
Q. Did you see a world in which Matt House would get three of the LSU contingent?
ETHAN WAUGH: No, we didn't foresee that, it just kind of happened that way, which is great. But that's a place where they don't take many players that aren't high-level players. So I think we've we would love to have as many LSU Tigers as we can.
Q. What convinced you guys that Myles Cole can go from numbers guy to productive player?
ETHAN WAUGH: I think what -- one, he has numbers, right. I think when it boils down it's a height, weight, speed league. I think as you get later in the draft obviously not everyone is perfect, everyone has a flaw. But what we see is a guy, I think if you guys have -- we'll see him out there shortly -- but he's a great looking kid. He's got exceptional length, he can run, and he has improved at football at each step of the way. So, hopefully he can spend some time here, refine his game and help us out.
Q. Is that a challenge for coaches to get the most out of this guy?
ETHAN WAUGH: Absolutely. I think all of those kind of those -- it's a challenge with every player, but the later guys where it's like, hey, this guy has the raw DNA to do this, and now if you're a coach and you can turn him into it, I think that's a feather in your cap.
Q. Overall, how much better do you guys feel about the roster now than you did when you started in January?
ETHAN WAUGH: I feel a lot better. I feel like we added players through free agency that fit us in terms of their just kind of their makeup. Obviously their ability as well, but also their makeup in terms of coming from winning programs that have played in big games and big games late in the season and having those guys here will help the rest of our team grow in that capacity. Then as you get in the -- what we were fortunate enough in free agency, through that, we didn't pigeon hole ourselves in the draft in terms of having to take a specific position, so it was, we were able to take the best player or the player that we thought could help our team the most. Rather than we have to have X position. So I think that's really good and we feel good about the team. We feel that there is, that there will be competition at many almost every spot. Glaring holes, that's probably in the eye of the beholder, but I think we have pretty good depth at most spots.
Q. Along the lines that you were mentioning about not getting pigeon holed in the draft, I think a lot of people probably were surprised that you waited until the third round to take a cornerback. How much did signing Ronald Darby provide flexibility in that regard?
ETHAN WAUGH: Well, it plays a lot of flexibility. He's a starting NFL corner, and he's a starting NFL corner from a good program. He has he can still run, he's still a talented guy and he's a pro in every aspect. So that, having him means that we don't have to take a corner that has to start day one. It's certainly somebody that we can throw in the mix and make a competition and whoever wins, wins. But I don't think it's one of those where you're completely devoid of depth there.
Q. So with both of the top two cornerbacks on the board at least at 17 and you still had another one on the board at 23, do you feel that you might have gone in that direction if the Darby thing hadn't worked out?
ETHAN WAUGH: I guess I don't know if I would tie it specifically together, but, yeah, I think we look at our depth chart and we see we have a guy there that can compete at an NFL level, so let's pick the person that we think can help us the most as a team, so that was the decision.
Q. What stood out to you about Jarrian when he had his pro day here?
ETHAN WAUGH: Energy. Personality. I think you'll see that when you guys get a chance to talk with him, if you haven't yet. But he's infectious, he enjoyed being here, he enjoyed talking football, he enjoyed learning football, he enjoyed spending time with the coaches. I think when our coaches spent time with him, asking a player to play inside and outside is more mentally tasking than playing one spot. I think they felt really good about him in that role, so he really impressed us while he was here.
Q. In round five you take De'Antre Prince at corner. What did you like about him?
ETHAN WAUGH: Very similar athletic profile. He's got length and he's got speed. So I think we took -- in this draft I think we added four guys that are sub 4.4, two corners that can run. Again, it's a height, weight, speed league. If you're not the starting corner right away, you have a chance to make a big contribution on special teams if you can really run. He can do that. He'll tackle. He's a competitive kid out there. I think he'll do good things.
Q. I asked Doug about this, evaluating the wide receiver room. You guys brought in five undrafted free agent rookies at the wide receiver position. If you could explain the point of emphasis for bringing in five guys. Obviously you want camp bodies, but specifically that position, and also the recruitment or the courtship of local guy, David White?
ETHAN WAUGH: Sure. So you're exactly right. When we go into the draft we want to come out with enough receivers on our 90-man roster to practice. So we have, obviously have your Christian Kirks and your Gabe Davis's that are in the mix to be starters, the young guys we really need are really look more so as developmental or have enough speed, skill to help really press the defense and improve them. So we needed numbers. It's also, it's kind of difficult sometimes to fill that many spots with capable players. But David White's a guy that we kind of, one of our scouts, Holden McAbee, who is a young scout for us, really identified early in the fall and has kind of followed him through the process and maintained great communication with him and his camp and was able to get him drafted. He also came out here to the local day and did a great job. He's a guy that we have high hopes for. We'll see how he adjusts to the NFL game.
Q. What is it about him that you guys said, he's a guy you want here?
ETHAN WAUGH: Size, speed, and athleticism. He's a long kid, he's got a higher level body maybe than what he played at the level of football that he played at. So I think there's room to grow there. He's got good ball skills. He can really, route tree-wise, he's pretty good. I think it's a pretty good find.
Q. What you do you see as the ceiling for a guy like that? Were you surprised that a guy like Steven Jones was not drafted, and was he like one of these potential hidden gems that could probably do something?
ETHAN WAUGH: Exactly. I think I was a little bit surprised. I thought he would be a, certainly a late caliber draft pick for someone, and he was for us. We would have considered taking him late, just kind of how the board shakes out is how it does. Yeah, he's a talented guy, and a talented big man that you can get in college free agency, that's a huge get, because there just aren't enough big men around the league right now.
Q. Do you remember the first conversation last year about protecting car Trevor better. At what the point did you guys decide that's going to be an off-season priority, maybe top priorities, to go and maybe upgrade the offensive line, upgrade receivers, and really build around a franchise guy?
ETHAN WAUGH: Right. Well, I think really I think that's, from the second I got here, that's kind of the goal. We feel like we have a great quarterback in Trevor. And as the season progresses, at the end of the day, hey, where can we get better, where do we need to shore up. Obviously protecting him is key in keeping him upright and giving him the time to make his plays with his arm, make the receivers, allow them to make plays. So I think it's kind of like an ongoing process, I guess. But I think, again, you have to score points to win in this league and the more we can shore up the offense the better.
Q. Was it alarming, from a GM standpoint, to see him hit as often as he was and injured as often as he was?
ETHAN WAUGH: Don't want to see him injured (laughing). At all. Don't want to see anybody injured, obviously. But like, yeah, that is concerning. I think we've got to keep him upright and have to protect him, keep the bodies off of him, get the ball out of his hands, I think we're pretty good at that. But it's part of the maturation of him as a player, part of the maturation of us an as team is to play clean football and I think we're heading that direction.
Q. Foster starts at right tackle? Swing tackle?
ETHAN WAUGH: He'll be, he'll start at both. He'll take reps at both. Obviously we don't have a full complement of guys here today, so I imagine he'll take slides at both sides and we'll see how it goes.
Q. What's the challenge with the new kickoff rules from a personnel standpoint and what are you looking for?
ETHAN WAUGH: First of all, just trying to guess what people are going to do. So, that's kind of what we -- we spent a lot of team with the special teams coaches, you know what do we think is going to happen, what are the schemes that you guys are looking at using, what do you think we're going to see and just trying to figure that out. I think the big thing is that you're going to need a second returner and in our eyes a second returner with speed, so that way they can't just kick the ball away from us. So if we put two guys out there that can run, that's going to make us pretty dangerous. Then we'll see what the kickoff team's answer to that is. But I think it's all a little bit gray. I think everybody in the league's going to be watching that Hall of Fame game and see what teams do. The pre-season will show a lot of how different teams look at it and how they plan to exploit it.
Q. Beyond like power and maybe accuracy numbers, what's important to you in evaluating a kicker and what stood out about Cam?
ETHAN WAUGH: In Cam? Reliability. Obviously, accuracy, and obviously the ability to, not just kick off, but kick off with some of the different kicks that may be required with the new rules. So the other thing about him is, about Cam, I think when you guys meet him you'll see him he's a really young guy, but he is, it's not too big for him. He's a confident kid. I think you'll find that when you speak with him. A guy that can -- inevitably you're going to miss a kick at some point in your NFL career, and do you have the resilience to bounce back from that and go out and hit the next one. I think that's the biggest thing we feel like we found that in Cam.
Q. Going back to the offensive line, how do you feel overall about what you guys have done to sort of address that position group?
ETHAN WAUGH: I feel pretty good about it. I think when you look out there, obviously we added Mitch Morris who's been a high-level starter in this league. We kind of redid, we added Ezra a year ago, or during the season, and I think he's to the point now where he's fully healthy, which wasn't maybe necessarily the case early. Brandon Scherff has been a good player here. I think we have kind of a unique tackle situation where you have Anton who as a rookie played very well. I think he played every snap if not almost every snap. Then with Cam and Walker Little you have some versatility there. So I think a lot of teams in the league don't have two tackles they feel great about. We feel like we're pretty good at that position right now, and we'll let it sort itself out as to who is on the field.
Q. A Cam question. Apparently Heath, that was his guy when he went and visited with all three kickers. If you could take us behind the curtain of when Heath came back -- I've said to local people, I wish I was a fly on the wall for that dinner conversation between those two. If you could give us your perspective of Heath comes back from Arkansas visiting with Cam.
ETHAN WAUGH: Yeah, so Heath every year kind of goes on his little junket around the country and works out all the kickers. And he really enjoyed that opportunity with him, and he was obviously everyone -- when you -- you want questions answered. Hey, he's a young guy, how is he going to handle this. And he handled it greatly. Heath was really excited when he came back and certainly a guy that we wanted and felt like he can do the job.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports