MARK DAVIS: How's everybody doing today? As you all know, 2021 was quite a season for the Raiders, ups and downs. But in October we got shook to the core when our head coach resigned five games into the season.
At that time we had to make a quick decision on who was going to lead the Raider team that Jon and Mike Mayock had built for this season. After careful consideration, we chose Rich Bisaccia, the special teams coach, number one, because we felt there would be less distraction than taking say Gus Bradley from defense or maybe Tom Cable from offensive line.
Despite the fact we didn't get where we wanted to get to this year, and that's the Super Bowl this week, I'm so proud and they should be so proud of the job they did. With all the chaos, and I will call it chaos going around the team, not only with the things that were going on off the field but on the field, as well, COVID and everything else, they truly went the Raider way. I'm really so grateful to Rich Bisaccia and the rest of the coaching staff for what they did.
When Jon resigned, we immediately went into another aspect, and that was to start checking into who we thought might be coaching candidates and potentially GM candidates if that were going to be the case, if we can go that way.
We put together quite a list, and when the season ended, we decided we wouldn't start our process of interviewing until the playoffs were over for us, so once we finished our final game, we put together a committee which consisted of Dan Ventrelle, Tom Delaney, myself and a fellow by the name of Ken Herock, who was also the ringleader of this.
We had about 12 people that we brought in. We initially started the first person we interviewed was Rich Bisaccia. It was a five-hour interview. It was fantastic. Rich was great. Then we went into doing general managers.
We went through that process with Ken actually asking the questions, us listening, and then near the end of each interview, we would interject our questions, as well.
We think that the process was well done. It was extensive, exhaustive, and today I'd like to introduce the new general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders, from John Carroll University, and that's Dave Ziegler. If Dave would come up, I'd appreciate it.
What I'd like to do right now is just have Dave let you know a little bit about himself, and we'll go from there.
DAVE ZIEGLER: Well, first, I want to thank everyone for being here today and taking time out of your day, those in the room and those watching outside of the room. First I want to thank Mark and the committee that was involved in the hiring process. It was a very thorough process, a detailed process, and I know they interviewed a lot of quality candidates.
It's really an honor for them to select me as the next general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders and to represent Raider Nation.
Mark's passion for the Raiders, his commitment to my beliefs and what's important to me to make this organization a championship-caliber organization and his commitment to winning and his energy made this job highly desirable for me and my family.
The stadium, the facilities, the weight room, the training room, the locker room, I could go on and on. It really is -- it harkens back to a phrase made famous by the late Al Davis: There really is a commitment to excellence when you walk into this building and when you walk into this stadium.
The phrase "commitment to excellence" resonates with many of my core beliefs and a lot of the foundational pieces that will be important to building a championship culture here. We'll be an organization that lives in the details. No task will be too small. Every task will be measured with the same standard of excellence.
We will hire excellent people that are driven by team and that are loyal to our cause. We will strive to have high-end communication at all levels of the organization which takes effort and takes time to build.
We'll be demanding but never demeaning. We'll invest in the growth of our employees and have them reach their goals.
The fabric of our culture will be to evaluate and evolve consistently and constantly our processes and our people to make sure that we are always operating at a championship level.
Being committed to the standard of excellence is going to occur from the top down, and it's what it will take to build this organization into an organization that consistently competes for championships.
I would be remiss not to thank some people that helped me get here. As Mark mentioned, I attended John Carroll University, and I'll get to that, but first, I wouldn't be sitting here today if it wasn't for my wife Carissa and my kids, Asher, Georgina and Camden. Carissa is the true GM of my family. If you know me and you know us, you know that she handles everything. She's extremely talented in her own right, and just a blessing to have in my life and is really, again, a major part of me being here today.
My mom and dad, my brother and sister who are probably trying to watch online somewhere, their love and support has always been constant and has always driven me to succeed, and also my extended family, who taught me the value of a strong work ethic and doing the right thing.
My in-laws Ron and Anita also have been very supportive as we've bounced around from Denver and moved multiple times over the last 10 years. They've always been by our side and have always been supportive of our vision.
Quickly, my family in Tallmadge, Ohio, which is where I was born and raised. I have a large support system in Tallmadge. That's where you learn -- that's where I learned to compete every day. It's a small town. It's a sports-crazed town, and it was football, basketball, baseball, that's what you did, that's what your identity was about, and that's where I really learned to compete.
Two coaches I have to recognize quickly: My head high school coach Jeff Ferguson and Randy Scava, who were two people that pushed me beyond limits that I thought I could push myself both physically many times, mentally and emotionally, and they were big parts of who I am today.
The John Carroll community which runs deep in the NFL and runs deep in many coaching circles from college to high school, the high standards and the commitment to serving others is something that I learned there and is something that I take with me every day when I come into work.
I must thank the Patriot organization, Robert, Jonathan Kraft for their first-class treatment of me and my family. Of course Bill Belichick, who has been a great teacher to me in all things football. And Nick Caserio, who I've known for a very long time, who brought me to New England, who taught me many of the ins and outs of the scouting system that I believe in today.
In closing, it is an honor to represent Raider Nation and this historic franchise, and it will be one focus from here going forward, and simply put, it will be to just win, baby.
Thank you.
MARK DAVIS: Before we get into questions, there's somebody else I'd like to introduce and that's the next coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, from John Carroll University, Mr. Josh McDaniels.
JOSH McDANIELS: Thank you to everybody for being here today, and for those of us that are not here and joining us online, I appreciate you being here.
I'd like to begin by thanking Mr. Davis, Dan Ventrelle, the entire Raiders organization. It's been an incredible experience for me the last three or four days here, getting to know the people in the organization. It's been a thorough process. They've been very candid.
I understand the vision that they have in mind. That's been clear from the beginning, what they're looking for. Seeing the stadium, the facility, and again, every person that I've met thus far, you can tell where this organization is headed, and I'm excited to be a part of it.
I'm also excited to partner with Dave Ziegler, who is not only a friend of mine, but we go back a long way. I have a great deal of respect for him, his ability to do the job that he's been hired to do here, evaluate, lead our personnel and scouting department. He's a hard worker, tireless in his effort to do anything that he can to help the football team win, and I'm excited to join in our vision together.
I would also like to thank the New England Patriots' organization, Robert, Jonathan Kraft, Coach Belichick. 18 years I was very fortunate to learn and grow in a world-class organization, a first-class environment. Learned so many things from them. I feel fortunate that me and my family were able to go through that experience, and now here I am today.
My family, starting with Laura, my wife, she's my biggest supporter. She's the rock and head coach of our crew back home. My four kids, Jack, Maddie, Livie, Nina, who are excited to join Raider Nation, they're obviously my biggest support system, and they've helped me chase my dreams and goals professionally, and it would be impossible without their support.
My mom and dad, that's why I'm in this profession today. My father was a head football coach, high school football coach. He's a legend in Ohio. He doesn't like me to say that, but I would be remiss if I didn't talk about that. I've been going to practices since I was four or five years old. My mother -- I tell her all the time, she's the best mother of a player when I was growing up that I could ask for. She knew what a three technique was, she knew what punt protection was. We got an earful from her.
But their support has been incredible in my life, and certainly in my career.
I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the assistant coaches that I've worked with, the players that I've had the privilege to coach. I know that any advancement, personal advancement in this profession is only as the result of the collective efforts of everybody else, and certainly they're the big reason why I'm sitting here today, and I thank them.
The last 10 to 12 years I've really had an opportunity to grow as a person, as a coach, as a man, and try to figure out after my experiences in Denver and St. Louis who I am, how I wanted to be defined in my career, what I wanted to represent, and how I would lead the next time if I got another opportunity to be a head coach. It's crystallized for me. I'm clear in the vision that I have for this role, for this job, for this team, and I'm going to be myself.
I think that's really important for me and our organization as we go forward.
I'm the son of a football coach, and I don't apologize for that. I knew I wanted to do this since I was four or five years old, and I love everything about this game. I love the practices. I love the weight room. I love the film study. I love the winning and losing, even though nobody wants to lose. That's how you get better in this game. And all the challenges that are presented in terms of trying to reach your ultimate goal in this profession. All of those things are part of the process.
If you didn't love part of that process, it would be a problem. I love to work hard. I'm going to be committed to the cause, which has been made very clear to me. I know it's clear to Dave. I value character, hard work, loyalty. Those are really important things to me, and I also think that it's really important as I've grown and understand now how important it is to evolve, to innovate, to do new things, to try to figure out new ways for us to continue to try to be the best.
A wise man once told me that when you're young, you try to accumulate and advance, and when you get older, you figure out that it's a lot more about serving and impacting others, and I think I've gone through both phases. I learned a lot through my experiences, and now I'm excited to have that opportunity to consistently impact other people.
I'm competitive. In everything that I do and I'm involved in, I want to compete to try to be the best we can be. I think our team will show that day in and day out. I think that's the best way for us to reach our potential is to compete in every aspect of our organization.
The mission here, Mr. Davis has made it very clear to me. We're committed to doing whatever it takes to win on and off the field. It's very important for us to be a pillar in the community, to do the right thing, to represent this organization, Raider Nation, the city of Las Vegas with class and integrity, and we'll do that. We're going to build a culture that is sustained by high character people that work hard to meet that championship standard in every area.
We want a tough, smart football team that's explosive - that's important - that can adapt in today's NFL. I think that's really important. You can't beat every team the same way, and we're going to need to be adaptable.
The organization itself has, like I said, made such an impression on me in such a short time, and we're going to represent that organization the right way. There will be one rope, and from Mr. Davis on down, we're going to pull it in the same direction. We have one goal, and if we're all pulling in the same direction, we can accomplish a lot of great things.
There will be a million moments that contribute to the success of this organization, and this will be the first one.
To our players and fans, we're committed to our pursuit of excellence. Whatever we have to do to achieve our goals, we're going to put our head down, we're going to work hard, we're going to put great people in this building in every area. We're going to do what it takes for us to achieve that vision.
In closing, I feel blessed to the people that have impacted me along the way, starting with my mom and dad, my family have played such an important role in me being here today. I've been patient. I've been selective, maybe to a fault sometimes. People wanted me to do things a little earlier than maybe I did them, but it was going to take a special place for me to really leave where I was, and I found that here in Las Vegas.
I thank Mr. Davis again for having the faith in me to lead this team as the head coach, and I know that the greatness of the Raiders is in its future, and I can't wait to get started.
MARK DAVIS: Before we get to questions, I want to say one thing. When I met Josh on Saturday, we met in the hallway as we were passing. It was before the interview process was going to start. I said, hey, I introduced myself and everything, and he looked me in the eye and he said, there's one thing: It was a fumble. So Raider Nation, if you're worried, he's already come over to the dark side.
JOSH McDANIELS: True story.
Q. Josh and Dave, you mentioned that you were patient, and there have been reports that over the years there have been overtures made for you to be a head coach elsewhere. What was it about this organization that made you say, okay, this is the one that I want to leave New England for?
JOSH McDANIELS: Well, I mean, when you go through this process, like I said, I was very impressed with how exhaustive they were just in their evaluation of me and my fit and how I would fit into their vision, and then you come out and you spend time with them, you meet the people, you see that everything is done in a first-class manner. Their commitment to winning is easy, to feel, to see, and to me walking through this building and having a sense of the history and tradition of this organization and how much that impacts the day-to-day here, it really hit me.
This is one of those iconic places, and it's a historic organization that has unbelievable history and tradition. It's in every hallway.
Just getting to know them, feeling their commitment and understanding that that really married up with what my vision would be for another opportunity, it was easy to make the choice.
Q. When it comes to personnel and roster construction, what's sort of the vision for how the decision-making process will happen between whether it's McDaniels or Ziegler?
DAVE ZIEGLER: Well, I mean, at the end of the day as the general manager and as the one leading the charge on the scouting side and personnel and college and pro, that direction will come from me in terms of the construction of the roster. Obviously Josh and I are tied in many ways in our vision of how to build a team and our vision of what we want in terms of the players that we bring into the building is very connected.
But at the end of the day when it's time to make decisions on personnel, while we're work together, those final decisions will be made by me.
Q. Mark, you talked about the process. Can you talk about when you came down to the decision of the two men you're sitting by. What stood out that made this decision for you?
MARK DAVIS: Well, I'd been watching Josh for many years for certain reasons other than maybe good ones at times. The success of the Patriots and watching them over the years, I've seen them do it with Tom Brady, of course, the greatest of all time, but I also saw the development of Tom Brady, the greatest of all time. Then I saw it with Matt Cassel. I saw him be able to win with him and make Matt Cassel the hottest free agent commodity on the market. Then I saw him do it this year with a rookie quarterback.
I've just always seen the Patriots as a team that not only adapts from week to week or half to half, but maybe even series to series. I just believe in Josh's ability to assess a situation and make the changes in real time, and that's always been something that's impressed me.
On the side of Dave, with their personnel and everything, it's a lot of no-names that they do it with, and every now and then we'll bring in a big name free agent but he fits a spot, and that kind of reminded me of the old Raiders in that way, that we used to be able to do that. I teased him because they took a player from us, a guy by the name of Randy Moss, and I said, you got Randy Moss and you couldn't even win with him. The funny part is they won 18 games but they lost one.
I really, just again, in watching it and being around this sport for a long time and watching the excellence that was brought to the field by the Patriot organization and knowing that Josh was a huge part of that, and talking to people that are also part of the Patriot organization that I know in my network of people, I got the feeling that this was the right guy.
Q. Josh, most coaches when they take over a team, it's in disaster mode. You get a double-digit fifth seed in the AFC West but you also get a top-5 quarterback. How appealing was it for you to come to an organization with a quarterback like Derek Carr?
JOSH McDANIELS: Yeah, Derek has won a lot of games in this league and we've competed against each other a number of times, and I have a lot of respect for him. He certainly did a good job this year leading their offense. I spoke with him yesterday. We had a great conversation. Looking forward to actually getting to meet him and get to know him as a person, as a human being, and then getting to work in terms of developing our offense this year into what it's going to be.
But there's no question that we have the capacity and capability of winning with Derek here. We all know that. I look forward to the challenge of trying to grow not only Derek but everybody on the roster to try to reach our potential. I never feel like a player is a finished product, and our job as coaches is to try to continue to identify places where we might be able to get better and work hard to try to improve, and I know he's completely on board with that.
Again, we had a great conversation, and I look forward to our relationship.
Q. Can I ask both of you, Dave and Josh, what are maybe a couple of the key principles? You mentioned you're tied in many ways, maybe a couple of the key principles that you bring from New England to Las Vegas with yourselves?
DAVE ZIEGLER: Well, I would say some of the things that I hit on earlier during my introduction are really some of the key principles. In terms of -- I would say more like foundationally within the organization, in terms of the attention to detail, in terms of a high standard in everything that we do, and also I'd say communication and collaboration and roster building together.
I think those are some key elements that are really important to our process. When it comes to players specifically, we always talk about it and it really is important and it's simple, but smart, tough, dependable, and players that love football.
Obviously there's a lot of different elements that you can also heap on top of that, but at the very core those are the things we're going to look at, those are things that are really important to us, and those are foundational pieces for us when we look at this organization and building it how we want it to look.
JOSH McDANIELS: I mean, Dave said it perfectly, and it's hard to have a tough, smart football team that's explosive, that plays well under pressure unless you're committed in every avenue of those are the type of people we're going to bring in and put on the team. So it requires discipline to do that, and that's our vision for how we feel best about trying to win. You're going to have to -- there's a lot of commitment across the board in our organization to being able to field a team that represents those qualities and those characteristics.
DAVE ZIEGLER: I would just add before we move on that when you're building a team, it's not just about acquiring talent. It's about acquiring talent and putting talent in the right spots, but it's also about building a roster from top to bottom that is competitive, that competes every day, that has depth, and those are also key elements that I think we've learned through our time in the league that really allows you to sustain and win during a long NFL season, and having the right people in the right spots in the right roles, and we're very role specific in how we look at things, are a couple other key elements to what we believe in and how we're going to build it.
Q. Coach McDaniels, you talked about how much you've evolved over time. If you could put a point on an aspect of your life just on or off the field as a coach from your time in Denver, what would you say is probably the biggest thing that you've evolved personally. And also for you, Dave, how convenient is it to be able to work with a head coach as a general manager, someone that you are so familiar with, building a team?
JOSH McDANIELS: Yeah. When I went to Denver, I knew a little bit of football. I didn't really know people and how important that aspect of this process and maintaining the culture and building the team was. I failed, and I didn't succeed at it.
Looking at that experience has been one of the best things in my life in terms of my overall growth as a person, as a coach. What do I need to do different, how do I need to handle my role, if I have another opportunity, and do better at it. I feel like that's really an area that I've tried to grow in with our staff in New England.
Our offensive staff, working together, collaborating, supporting one another, impacting them, serving them, helping them grow as coaches, as players with our guys that we're coaching, I would say that's the biggest area for me, and I know how important it is as a head coach to be able to do that.
Q. In what ways did Bill Belichick shape you guys? What was the biggest impact he had in you guys' development to get to this point today?
JOSH McDANIELS: That's a long list. Look, as I mentioned, I'm blessed and fortunate to have the experiences that I have. I started in personnel back in 2001 when Laura made quite a bit more money than I was making, and just he made you develop in every area as a professional in this environment.
He gave us the opportunity to see the scouting side, gave us the opportunity to see -- I had the opportunity to work on defense, then to flip me over to the offensive side and had me coach the quarterback.
I saw the game in a lot of different perspectives, and I was able to -- what I felt like was, that's a really well-rounded approach as you're growing up in this game to have some understanding of what is the grading system, what does it mean, how do they attack us on offense when you're on defense, and then flipping it over to the offensive side and understanding that and then tying it all together with situational football and game management, which is obviously a critical component to winning every game in the NFL. You lose a lot more games than you win in this league, and if you can do some of those things really well, obviously that's going to impact your opportunity to win.
There's so many that I couldn't name them all, but he gave me an opportunity to be well-rounded coming out of the organization, and I'm very grateful for that.
DAVE ZIEGLER: I'd say for me, and I could have a laundry list of things, but I would say the one thing that sticks out to me that Bill taught me is Bill is a forward thinker. It's not just about a decision in the moment, it's about how a decision can -- one decision can impact four different things, one decision can impact what we're going to do in 2022, in 2023, and just to have really an understanding of how decisions can impact different parts of the organization and can impact your team.
I think the other thing that -- it doesn't get talked about much, and it goes along with the forward thinking piece is Bill is really dedicated to evaluating every single thing that we do at every point of the year and looking at it critically and then evolving and trying to figure out how are we going to get these things better, even if the end result was a Super Bowl or a great trade or a great player acquisition or whatever it may be. Every decision that we do here in all of our processes, as I mentioned, just to evaluate those things critically, what well went, what didn't go well and how we can improve it.
I think that's critical to not staying stagnant and to always kind of making sure you're moving forward with the best ideas and the best processes.
Q. Dave, it was mentioned this was a team that went 10-7 last year and made the playoffs. When you assess the roster, how close do you feel like it is to contending with some of the teams we saw this past weekend, and are there any particular points of emphasis as you get ready for your first draft and free agency with the Raiders?
DAVE ZIEGLER: Yeah, I think obviously the team did a good job. They got into the playoffs. There's a lot of talented players on this team. I think Josh and I have talked about it, there's still a lot of -- I've evaluated the team to a degree, to the detail that I would normally do, I'm not there yet. So I think to be fair to the team and to the guys on the team, I think there's still a self-scout and an evaluation period that I have to go through with our staff here, with Josh, to really understand how all the pieces and the parts fit together.
I think once we go through that process and once we have that understanding, we'll have a much better idea of what our plan of attack is going to be going forward. Not that I'm going to announce that to the world, but we'll have that plan and we'll have a concrete idea of what that is. I think that's still going to take some time.
Q. Dave, obviously you have a scouting background, but you've worked a variety of jobs between your time with the Broncos and the Patriots. What do you think you've learned from wearing all those different hats, and how do you think that can help you now that you're stepping into this GM role?
DAVE ZIEGLER: Yeah, well, it's been a great experience in terms of just being well-rounded and I would say even beyond football. Me and Mark talked about it, I was a high school teacher at one time and I was a high school guidance counselor at one time, and I would say all those experiences in terms of how to deal with different people, how to relate to different people, how to communicate at a high level, how to show empathy, how to problem solve, like I learned a lot of those lessons outside of football that have been really valuable to me.
Inside of football, starting with my time in Denver as a pro scout, as a college scout, as a scouting assistant, picking people up from the airport, to putting cards on the board, and my time in New England, again, on the college side and the pro side, and this year I would say this past year really being much more hands-on on a lot of aspects of the organization, being involved more on some of the contractual things that are involved in the organization, the salary cap and those types of things.
I just think the most exposure you have in any line of work, the more knowledge you have, and the more knowledge that you have, the better that you can perform your job.
All of those experiences have allowed me just I would say to feel confident in my ability to run the scouting department, and I'll still have things to learn and I'll learn things from the people that are here in this organization and ideas that they have and processes that they have that maybe are better than some of the ideas that I have myself.
That's how I would answer those questions. I think it's been a unique ride for me to get to this point, but I think it all kind of came together to allow me to have some of the success that I've had.
Q. Dave, along the lines of evaluation and assessing the roster, Derek Carr has said that he would like to retire as a Raider, wants to be here a long time. He's got one year left on his contract. Is that a box you feel needs to get checked off ASAP or does it go into next year? What are your thought processes on that?
DAVE ZIEGLER: I think -- I know Josh talked to Derek. I had a great conversation with Derek myself yesterday. I think the one thing that we all understand is there's going to be a process of us learning Derek, Derek learning us, and fitting all those pieces together. I think that's going to be step one is building the relationship, understanding what Derek does well. Derek understanding what Josh and the offensive staff is trying to build, and I think as that collaboration goes, then you kind of see how everything fits together.
I think until you see how everything -- you have to see how everything fits together and kind of work from that point. We're just really excited to have Derek here and to get to know him and get to know his strengths and get to work with him in our system.
Q. Mark, how important was it for you to find a duo who had previously worked together, had experience of how each other operate at the beginning of this search?
MARK DAVIS: Yeah, that's a good question. When I first came in, the first hire I did was Reggie McKenzie as the general manager of the Raiders. It was important to me because we really hadn't had a general manager since my father had been running the team.
I gave Reggie the ability to bring in his own head coach, which was the ability to have some type of working relationship. That didn't work out so well at that time. I think it was because they were too young guys that were working together but they really didn't have the experience to run a football team.
Then we come to the next iteration was Jon and Mike Mayock. They built the roster that's here today, but it was a rocky road.
I felt in this time, we were going to do it a little bit differently and try to find a teammate. Therefore in every interview that we did with a head coach, we asked him who he would think of as a general manager or general managers, and on the other side of the coin we asked that to every general manager, as well, who would you think of as a head coach. It was such an expanding, learning process hearing about all those things, but we felt that it was really important for them to have synergy. I couldn't have found a better pair of people working together from John Carroll University than these two gentlemen.
Q. For both Dave and Josh, how important was it for you guys to find a place where you could work together, kind of put your stamp on a franchise and put that vision into place how you guys have seen this over the years?
JOSH McDANIELS: I think it's an important aspect of the team-building process. It's not something that has to be a long-term relationship. We've seen that work in the NFL where it hasn't been. But I just -- to me it was important for me to have that as somebody -- have that person be somebody that I was familiar with, that understands me as a person, as a coach, and just fortunate that this opportunity is presented to us. We don't have to teach one another the language, the scouting system, the things we're looking for in a player, the qualities and traits that we covet. Those are kind of -- we already understand those.
I think, albeit not necessarily a prerequisite, I think it's a huge plus for us and for our organization that we have that opportunity to kind of hit the ground running.
DAVE ZIEGLER: Yeah, I think that I would say the unique thing for -- is it important? Like Josh said, I don't think it's a prerequisite, but there are some advantages to it. I know Josh and I's relationship goes back a long time, and our relationship has always been built on honesty and respect, and the ability to be each other's biggest teammate and the ability to be each other's critic, too, and to always come back to a place of respect and always come back to a place where we're on the same page.
I think that's been the real beauty of our relationship as we've developed and as we've kind of advanced in our respective positions in the league.
Q. Josh, for you, is it your anticipation that you'll run a 4-3, a 3-4 on defense? What is it you're comfortable with as the head coach?
JOSH McDANIELS: You know, most of it today is actually built out of the nickel anyway. We talk a lot about 4-3, 3-4. 85 percent of the game is now sub defense, so your decision making process might be a little different than it was 15 years ago when you were playing a lot more base defense.
This team was built in the 4-3 mold. We'll make those considerations and determine how we want to go forward here as we kind of build the staff and move along with the team, but I think right now it's built in that mode.
But like I said, most of these games you're playing a four-man line and nickel defense anyway, so that's almost become your base. So the vision for us is going to need to be -- there's five starting defensive backs now, and there's two linebackers and so on and so forth.
We'll do the due diligence as we hire our staff and then evaluate our team and decide what's best as we move forward.
Q. In the decade plus since you've been running things, you've overseen a deconstruction, then the reconstruction. How would you describe what this is right now, just totally going outside of the box, and like you mentioned earlier, finding the synergy but going outside the box, as well?
MARK DAVIS: Well, I think Jon and Mike had built a foundation to build upon, and I think that's what we're doing now, and I think moving forward that's what these two are going to be building upon that foundation. We've got some great players in this organization right now. I believe there's a great culture in this organization right now, which is what they will find. They haven't seen that as much yet because they haven't seen all the players together, but that's something that Rich had built over the last six months is a fantastic culture in this building.
I think that now we're just moving to the next level. It's not a rebuild. It's not a reload. It's just taking this to the next level and getting to that Super Bowl and winning some championships.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports