THE MODERATOR: I'm here to introduce the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders, John Spytek, and the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Pete Carroll. I'm going to have some things to say afterwards but I'm going to let you get to these guys and learn about what the future of the Raiders holds for us.
PETE CARROLL: I'd also like to introduce the families of John, John's wife Kristen and Jack and Tom. Then of course Pete's wife Glena is also here. We want to welcome them to the Raider family.
Let's go.
JOHN SPYTEK: Thank you, Mark, for the introduction. I cannot express how grateful and excited I am to be here, to be given this opportunity, to be a part of an iconic cornerstone franchise like this.
Just a dream come true for me, with many dreams still out in the future to get accomplished. This isn't the final goal, but this was certainly one of my career goals, and just so grateful for the time, the belief in me and Coach Carroll to do our thing and make this organization proud.
I want to thank everybody for coming today, as well. The support is awesome. It means a lot to see so many people here, seeing some familiar faces, and I can't wait to get to know you all better and get to work hand in hand with all of you.
I want to thank the interview group, as well. It was a tremendous experience sitting in front of those people. Having them throw questions at me, having them challenge me. To have their belief as well along with Mark's is something that is just empowering. It gives me confidence. I feel that they made a great decision, so I couldn't be more excited to be here.
I want to thank the Glazer family, too, for having me the last nine years. It was an awesome opportunity to work for a great franchise there, an awesome ownership group that gave us all the resources to do our jobs well. Proud of what we accomplished there, and just grateful to have had the opportunity to work for them.
I want to thank some of my mentors that I would not be here without. The late Tom Heckert, who believed in me when I was a young scout, young cocky scout, 24 years old out of Michigan, thought I knew everything, but he took me under his wing and gave me opportunities.
To me that's what this league is about, finding young people that are hungry that love the game of football, giving them a chance to pursue their passion, their dreams.
Jason Licht, my boss the last nine years at Tampa, believing in me when I was a young scout, as well, in Philadelphia, giving me an amazing chance to help lead a franchise at a young age, at 35 years old. I worked every day to make him proud. We accomplished a lot together, and I'm just so grateful for him.
Then two of my other mentors from the dreaded Denver Broncos, I have to say it, though, Matt Russell and John Elway from my time there. They picked me up when I was kind of at a low in my professional career and gave me an opportunity to revitalize myself, reshape myself, and chase a passion again.
My family sitting in the front row here, I'm going to try not to get too choked up. My wife Kristen is my rock. She is the strongest person I know. She is an unbelievable mother to these two boys, Jack and Tommy down here, who I couldn't be more proud of. They're doing awesome right now. They're behaving. They look awesome in silver and black, and they cannot wait for me to shut up so they can go out and throw balls all over the practice field out there.
You're going to see my wife around a lot. She is going to be a big pillar in this community. We are going to be big pillars in this community. It's important to us to give back, and she is as tough as they come, too, so I promise you I'm ready for this job because she's harder on me at home than anybody else is when it comes to football.
My mom and my dad, I wish they could be here today. My dad is actually getting hip surgery right now, a hip replacement so he can get back on the golf course and pickleball. I love you both. I would not be here without your love and support. You showed me what it is to be a parent, to support children, and I think these two are doing so well right now because of the gifts that my mom and dad gave me and the support they gave me growing up.
A couple more people here, my high school coach, Bill Young, one of the winningest coaches in the history of the state of Wisconsin. I learned at a young age what winning looks like, what a great program looks like, what toughness looks like, how to compete. I've never forgot it. He's still coaching to this day. He's like 75 years old. He can't give it up, and wins state championships all the time. So Coach, I hope you're out there watching somewhere. I love you --
PETE CARROLL: Why are you looking at me?
JOHN SPYTEK: Just a guy that loves football, just like you.
A couple more, then I'll turn it over to this guy.
Lloyd Carr and the University of Michigan for giving me a chance to follow my first football dream, to play at the greatest university there is. I know a lot of people would disagree with that, but we have the most wins all time, and I will not apologize for that.
I learned about what team is about, what selflessness is about, what toughness is about, what competitive stamina is about, and that's going to be some of the pillars that we talk about and enforce here.
All the scouts that I've worked with throughout my career, I learned so much from you. This is not me sitting up here. I feel like this is us sitting up here. I tried to learn so much from every person that I was around, from the Eagles to the Browns to the Broncos to the Bucs and now here. I don't pretend to have all the answers. I met so many wonderful people along the way that I worked great with that helped me get to where I'm at.
Then the final people I want to thank are the players. To me this game has always been about the players. I have a love affair of watching this game. I have a love affair of watching players compete. They're the ones that lay it on the line every Sunday, Monday night. My respect for them is immense. I would not be here without the players on the teams I've been a part of, the Tristan Wirfs of the world, the Peyton Mannings of the world, the Demaryius Thomases of the world, I could go on and on, Joe Thomas. I've been around truly some of the great players of the last 20 years, and I've got to see what it looks like, what greatness looks like, what competitiveness looks like.
I see Maxx standing back there. He embodies all that stuff that we're talking about, and I just love watching players compete and perform, and I am so grateful to all the men that competed and lay it on the line so I can sit in a spot like this today.
The last thing I want to say before I turn it over to Coach is I just -- when I dreamt about having one of these jobs, I always wanted it to be with an iconic franchise like the Raiders. I'm not sure I ever got far enough in my dreams as a young kid in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, that I could be sitting up here with the Raiders, but here I am. There's just some teams where it means a little bit more. There's just some teams where the NFL is better when they're crushing it.
To have been given that responsibility is not something I take lightly, but I am extremely honored and humbled to be up here with an opportunity out in front of us, and I cannot be more excited to get started and to get started with Coach Carroll here.
I appreciate you all. I look forward to getting to know all your names, getting to know all of you better, talking with you, and build this thing the right way so the Raider Nation can be proud, the former players for the Raiders can be proud, and we can be where some of these teams are now, still playing. That's the goal.
Thank you all.
PETE CARROLL: This special day is unique, and for so many reasons -- I first want to say, I'm so fired up to be here with John because I know that first time around is really something, and so we're going to celebrate this in a fantastic way. We're going to partner in this thing. It's so important that our relationship is dynamic and extraordinary and true, so you'll see that come in time. Nice job, man. Congrats.
Being a kid that grew up in the Bay Area, my dad made me a Niners fan when he was going to Kezar Stadium back in the day, parking at Golden Gate Park, and then the Raiders came to town. When you're in the Bay Area, you can take sides and all, but the Raiders captured me a long time ago.
I'm just filled with gratitude to be part of this. There's so many elements that made this come together, that are so special and so unique, and as you heard John, start right with family and the support that we get.
My wife Glena is here. She's been through it all. We've been through every imaginable experience in this game, and she has stood so strong with me, and she's meant everything in the world. She's been involved with this process all the way throughout, and side by side, we're here. We're really excited about that.
We've got a big family, and because you mentioned the numbers, I've got grandkids and I love them and we've got a bunch of them and we've got a whole family to follow this venture that we take here.
This really begins with the Davis family. I grew up under Mark's dad watching this program come together, but I've seen in such short order just in this time that we've come together to get to this point Mark Davis put together an extraordinary group to make this happen and make this a unique opportunity in the league and a unique opportunity for the Raider Nation and for our fans that will follow us. It's one of a kind. He's assembled a group to support us that I know that John and I have just been knocked out by ownership that is one of a kind.
Egon Durban is part of this; Michael Milton is part of this; Tom Wagner is part of this. But when Mark figured out how valuable it would be to put Tom Brady in this mix and bring that kind of football background and history, Mark made a great move. It's our job to celebrate that for Mark and to make sure that this comes to life the way it can, with great possibilities and great future and the immediate future, as well.
My hat's off to you guys. I'm so fired up that we're doing this together. It's going to be unique, and they're going to be surprised what comes.
As far as for my opportunities, I've been all over the place. You guys know that, and have had great opportunities to start up programs that have faltered in the past, and when we went to USC it was after being fired a couple times, and I've been through that. I was a young coach and found out I didn't know anything after my experiences, but had an opportunity to find my philosophy and my approach following the New England days, and the next stop was USC.
That university was an extraordinary match for me at the time. They were struggling. We put something together and we did something historic there really based on a philosophy that came out of all of the years before, the 27 years it took me to get to that point in my coaching career.
To me, I look back at the days in Los Angeles, at SC, as really the building blocks of the philosophy that we were able to take to Seattle and to carry the mentality and the approach and the design of it and the culture that we established into the NFL to see if it would work. It was really just an experiment in my mind.
But in both situations, it just took us a couple years to get going. I know that rhythm, and I am expecting that rhythm. I'm anticipating that we're going to find that rhythm right here, right now, here in Vegas.
With the Raiders and this opportunity, I feel like I've been there before, and I'm going to bank on that. I'm going to follow my instincts and support with John and as we extend to ownership in a way that we're going to be proud of, and we're going to be fired up about who we are and what we stand for.
We have a great following in the Raider Nation and they've made an amazing statement globally. I'm so proud to be part of that and recognizing that we get to represent our following, and here in Las Vegas to do it in this setting right here where people can't wait to come see us, they can't wait to see what we're all about. Wherever our fans come from, we do want to fill up our stadium with our guys. I know that we have a good draw for people.
But it's real. This is a real challenge for us, and we're going to go arm in arm, John and I, and we're going to put this thing together in a way that's going to make you proud.
You're all wondering about timelines and all of that. It took us a few years to get to the very top of the last couple programs I was with. We're starting right now, going for it immediately. We don't have some time that we've got to make it five, six years down the road. That's not what we're thinking. We've got to start right now to go after it and build this team as quickly as we can.
As John saw Maxx back there, Maxx, send the message, man. We're coming after you. We're going to come find you guys and get this thing rolling as soon as possible, with the highest of expectations, with a mentality that will drive high performance in a way that hopefully everybody is going to hear us and they're going to know us.
I'm really proud to take on that challenge. Thrilled to be here. Thanks again to Mark and Tom, and guys, thank you here. Away we go. Let's go. Raiders Nation, let's go, baby.
(Applause.)
Q. Pete, how does your experience as a veteran coach match with John's vision as a first-time GM going forward?
PETE CARROLL: Oh, man, I think it's a perfect mesh opportunity for us to show you how important it is for this relationship to be at the tip of the spear for our program. His background, his mentality, his devotion to character and football and the game and having respect for what it takes to make this thing strong and right has just hit me right in my heart.
I'm thrilled about sharing the years and the experience with the energy and the juice that he brings. It's going to work out great.
Q. Is there any kind of history between you two guys going back, and what excites you about this partnership going forward, about having this pairing together?
JOHN SPYTEK: A little history in Super Bowl XLVIII, I was working for the Broncos and we got our faces caved in by the Legion of Boom. I told him when we first talked, I was still sore from that.
But I've been a big fan of his for a long time, the energy his teams play with, the commitment to run the ball, play great defense, support the quarterback. We're going to do all those things here. That all came through the first couple phone conversations we had. Two people that I think just have a love and respect and passion for the game, and although we've kind of grew up on different coasts, we see the game very similarly, and I'm super excited for that.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, I think our connection with the game of football and how much we love what this stands for and what it's all about has connected us, like, immediately. It's been seamless, and away we go.
We've got a lot of difficult decisions to make, and you'll see us come together on our thoughts and all, but with absolute conviction we're going to go take this together and take it on in really great fashion.
Q. Coach Carroll, you talked about building a culture at USC and then bringing that over to the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. When you talk about building a culture, whether it's your players or your staff, what are some non-negotiables that you must see that are mandatory to build that culture in your eyes?
PETE CARROLL: Well, the culture is the players, and you'll see that, but we'll show them the way. It all starts with competition. You're either competing or you're not. I'm going to make sure that that's really clear to these guys from the moment they get here.
We're going to go out and draft a class and there will be a few free agents maybe we'll be able to attract, and we'll need to see those guys and we'll need to see what they're all about. But the competition part of it is theirs to command.
If there's one thing that I want them to understand - and I'll start the message right now - if you want to be on a great team, you need to be a great teammate. Teaching what that's all about and instilling that in the makeup of our program is going to be crucial.
The central theme in the program is always going to be competition, and that's where it starts.
Q. You guys have both won Lombardis, won with different style of quarterbacks, but for you, what are non-negotiables that you're looking for in your leader, your quarterbacks?
JOHN SPYTEK: I'll go back to that. I had a chance to be around in my opinion the greatest player ever, and it was a love of the game and a competitive desire that just didn't allow him to quit. He was never out of a fight. He was willing to do things that the ordinary football player or person wasn't willing to do. We're going to turn over every stone to find that leader for this team, too.
There are just going to be certain requirements of the job, and it doesn't necessarily take the strongest arm or the best thrower. It's the guys that will push their teammates to a place that's uncomfortable, that will give almost anything to win. That's what the best ones do, and we're going to find one of those.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, I would add to that that it's our mission to build this football team up around the quarterback position. It isn't the only spot. We happen to have the greatest of all time to help us and to see clearly, and we're going to lean on Tom as much as we possibly can for his insights because nobody has the insights that he has. He's that unique.
But the quarterback position is one of the positions on the team, and we've got to make it all fit together well. I've had pretty good success with my quarterbacks in the past. You can go all the way back to college days and they've all turned out to be really extraordinary members of our club.
There's a way to embrace the challenge that the quarterback has from the rest of the football team, as well. We need to support our guy, and we need to do what we can to make that work.
It's really about making a great football team around the quarterback position. Coach Wallace taught me a long time ago that it's the hardest position in professional sports to play, so we need to make it as easy for them as possible. So we'll go about doing that by running the football, protecting them, taking care of the ball, playing great defense, and kicking the football when we want to kick it.
There's a lot that goes into this, but to think about how fortunate we are to have Tom Brady with us, it's just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Q. For Pete, you've accomplished everything that you could accomplish in this business. Why is it that you wanted to seek a new challenge, and what is it about this challenge that interested you?
PETE CARROLL: It's never been about accomplishments. It's never been about that. It is about the game and loving it and playing. I really have realized, again, in this year, when you get a year to take a step away from it, it's incredibly valuable.
My last time I stepped away from it was the year after New England. I stayed out a year, and the next thing happens, and I went to USC. To me personally, the rest was history.
It hasn't been about trying to win the championship games so that I can put that banner or that ring in my drawer. It's not about that. It's about competing. It's about being the best you can possibly be with what you have to work with and taking on the challenges of it and all that goes into making that happen for the players. It's the relationships with the players. It's building the mentality that everybody that comes to our program has a unique quality that makes them them, and I'm going to try to figure out what that is and find a way to bring that to the surface.
In doing so, you give everybody the chance to be as good as they can possibly be. That's what this is about to me.
It hasn't been about just the rings. It's been about much more than that.
Q. Pete, when you were with the Seahawks you also had the title of vice president of football operations and final say on roster decisions. Is that a role you envision having similarly here, or do you feel like you're going to defer --
PETE CARROLL: We're sharing everything. We're collaborating to the nth degree and we're going to do this. We're going to draw the best we possibly have out of each other to make every decision we can make as clear and as sound as possible, and we're going to be able to use our guys that are on top.
The success stories of our ownership group is just unmatchable. So we're going to lean on those guys to help us when we need them. They know, they're part of this competition, too.
But you're going to see us -- we're partners in this, and that's the way we did it before. You watch that, if you look at what happened over the 14 years, you wouldn't have known who was calling what. That's the way I want it to be, and I know John is on board with that.
Q. Pete, you kind of mentioned or alluded to some of the similarities coming into this job was at USC and Seattle. A season or two of rough times, but you were able to get the team's respectability right away there. What are some lessons from your last couple stops that you can put into here?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, the lessons that are really clear is that we have a philosophy and a way to do things, things we believe in, and the sooner we can get everybody understanding it and being on board with it, the sooner we'll move ahead and move forward.
I'm not talking about just the football team. I'm talking about the people that are in the organization. I'm talking about the people that support us. Everybody that has an inkling that they want to see what they're all about. We're teaching, and we're reaching out to them.
I think it takes everybody to make us as good as we can possibly be. It's that process that we'll go through that we've done before. It's an exciting, challenging kind of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity again. So we're going to take it on with a great energy about it.
Q. Coach Carroll, we've all seen the videos of you throwing the football, catching the football, having fun out there with the players. How important is it to keep that aspect but at the same time keeping the structure and having the discipline to be a winning team but the fun seems like it's an aspect that's important for you?
PETE CARROLL: To me it's always been about playing catch. I've loved the game since I was a little kid. If I get a chance to go out and throw the ball around, I'm doing it. That's how you're going to see us -- that's what I'll do first time out on the practice field as we get going. It's my love for the game that goes all the way back to the basics of it.
I don't do stuff like everybody else. Really that's not my goal, to try to match up how other people have run this thing. Like John mentioned, I've had extraordinary mentors through the process to get to where I am, but I'm not trying to do it like anybody else knows how to do it. I'm going to try to do it the way that comes right from the center of my heart and what I think is the most important aspects of it and how this thing works and the extent of that mentality to the people that are in our organization because we need to be on the same page.
So I need to do a really good job of teaching and a really good job of illustrating and being the image of what that looks like. There's no end to that to me. Like I said, you're either competing or you're not, and I'm always competing. That's how we'll get it done in every way possible.
To me, this game should be fun. If we're not having fun, I'm screwing it up, and we're going to have fun in this room right here with our team. They're going to grow in here. They're going to find out what we're all about, and they're going to understand what they're representing if I do a good job of teaching.
That's what I'm bringing to it. If you don't want to compete, you're in the wrong place. Our players will understand that early on.
When we went to Seattle, we went through a lot of transitions or transactions, and it was to find the right people. John and I are in total concert of the kinds of people that are going to build this program, that we're going to build this program around. There's a way to get to that, and we've been through this, and it's really exciting to have the opportunity to do it again.
Yes, okay, why would I want to do it again? It's because it's that chase and that pursuit of the passion that we want to find.
Q. Coach Carroll, you've mentioned Tom Brady's name multiple times in this presser --
PETE CARROLL: Have I done it too much?
Q. No, not in my opinion, no. What has his influence been like for you both to want to be a part of this franchise, and what was his involvement like in the hiring process for the both of you?
PETE CARROLL: He's been integrally involved, wherever I know that the process could allow him to be in. We've not seen him. He hasn't been here. He's got a big job. But he has been a really exciting part of it. Exciting to me because he's one of the great competitors that have ever lived.
For me, that's a chance to understand more deeply what that's all about and where that comes from.
But this is his opportunity to put his stamp on a franchise, and so we're excited to represent that, bringing him into it.
Mark has done an incredible job to figure out how to formulate this plan so that we can all fit together, and I'm so -- he's been involved, and he's going to be involved, and we're going to lean on him like crazy.
Q. John, how do you begin the process now of building this roster? What's your first steps, and where do you go from today?
JOHN SPYTEK: Well, my job for the past nine years has been to see the NFL in its totality every year, so yes, I'm familiar with it. We obviously played the Raiders this year in Tampa Bay.
My first order of business is going to begin with Coach here. We're going to talk more about the kind of player we want, what it looks like at every position, the kind of person we want. To me it's vitally important. You're going to hear, I think, both of us continue to talk about that. What does it mean to be a Raider? What are the qualities that we're going to stand for? What are qualities that everybody that comes into this building is going to stand for?
I take that very personally and very seriously as a responsibility of mine is the scouts are in charge of finding the right kind of people to bring into an organization. There's no greater responsibility, I don't think, than that. Our character will be our fate in a sense.
We're looking for, first, people that love football, that want to compete every day, or there just won't be a place for you here, and that's okay. We want it to be a hard team to make. We want it to be a hard job every day.
But for those that are willing to step up to that challenge and be a part of that, there will be a great reward at the end of that. We've both lived it. We know what it looks like.
I'm less concerned about roster construction right now and this position or this position. We've got some really good players in this building. Really good, and everybody knows that. They know who they are. Our job is going to be to find more of them, but it's going to start with the person.
Q. John, when I covered you as an intern at the Detroit Lions up in Bill Keenist's office with Matt and Sheldon, you came in and they called you "The Whiz Kid" --
JOHN SPYTEK: I didn't know that until you put that out there, what, a week ago, and all my friends found it and I was "The Whiz" apparently for the past 20 something years.
Q. Still laughing with them today. They talk about you're a phenomenal listener, and that's still what people say about you from Tampa Bay. How much of being a successful executive is really pinned on being a good listener?
JOHN SPYTEK: I think it's a great question. I would start by when I was in Detroit, I was in operations and all I wanted to do was get into scouting, but it was my foot in the door. I bothered everybody that had any kind of computer where I could watch tape on it forever, and then I would just go there and listen and try to understand what they were looking for in players, what made them tick, did they like speed, did they like quickness, did they like high-character guys, did they want to take risks.
To me, that's just kind of who I am as a person. I'm infinitely curious, I'm open-minded, and I think if people just slow down sometimes and listen to the people around them, it's amazing how much you can learn.
I tell my wife all the time, the nature of a scout is to always be watching and observing, so I'm always watching and observing. I just watched my young son here tie his shoes for the last 10 minutes. They're both tied now, so they look good. Good job, Tommy. (Laughter.)
It's such a great quality. People will tell you the truth in this business if you find the right people, and our job as scouts and where I've come up is to get to the root of who people are and decide whether or not we want to add them to our organization. That's ultimately what we're trying to do.
PETE CARROLL: Can I add to that answer? Being a great listener is a huge aspect of what I think is important, and a great competitor. Why are you listening? Because you want to learn. You want to know. You want to hear. I'm hoping that we're all sense that this is a relationship-based organization, and that means that we're going to build it around the people that are here.
You can't celebrate the people that are here if you don't listen to who they are and you don't watch and observe. So I'm hoping this will be an outstanding characteristic of our program because we don't have any time. We've got to get going. We have to work at doing that.
It's proactively listening and proactively understanding who you're dealing with so we can teach them really well because we know them.
I love that question, so thank you.
Q. Pete, you mentioned how time away from coaching can be valuable. Did you learn anything about yourself or the role as a head coach in this past year that you think can be beneficial as you get started here with this new opportunity?
PETE CARROLL: Hey, I wouldn't be competing if I wasn't learning. That's the whole point. You've got to stay curious and make sure that you're always on the next opportunity to be a little bit better. I had an incredible year. I got to watch JV football in high school, my grandson playing quarterback. Then he played on the varsity team, as well. I watched all those guys.
My son was coaching at the U up in Seattle. He's offensive coordinator there. Got to watch all of their games, watched everything I could watch in the league, watched my other son and all of my guys coaching, Danny Quinn and David Canales and guys around the league that have been with me.
It's been a year full of just input, and so as the last time I had a year that I stepped away from it and it was extraordinarily life-changing for me, this year I feel has been the same. The extraordinary opportunity to see things uniquely when you're not coaching ball, you don't get that observation opportunity. You just can't -- because you're so immersed in what you're doing. It was extremely valuable.
I can't wait for all of the things that I see that I want to do differently than what we've done in the past, and I think there are improvements, or I wouldn't be thinking that.
It's been an amazing journey to get to this moment right here, and so I'm really fired up about taking advantage of that year.
Q. Pete, you're set to make history as the oldest tenured coach in NFL history. I know you've mentioned you don't really do this for accomplishments, but you have accomplished everything. What makes you still want to coach at this age and also believe that you can still do it at a high level as an age no one has been able to do it in the NFL before?
PETE CARROLL: First off, I'm not real proud of wearing this No. 73 on my back, but that's not what fires me up. But it isn't about accomplishing things to say you were worthy. It's what you're going to do next that counts. What's the next thing up?
I laid low during this football season, and I'm teaching a class at USC that's been a thrill. I have not been one step away from what we're doing at any time and what we're up against here. I'm just so grateful that I've had -- I have been given the opportunity to do this again and to find it because to me it's the very next step that we get to take that fires me up. It's the very next challenge. It's coming backwards. It's overcoming or it's celebrating the success that you just had in making yourself come back to basics and continue to be uncommonly consistent that drives me.
The stuff that you guys have heard about Pete and having fun like you mentioned about throwing the ball around and all of that, yeah, that's part of it, but it's about the competing and proving that you have value and you have worth and you can add to it. I don't care how old you are. For anybody out there that's old and wants to know how you do it, you freaking battle every day, and you compete and you find your way to get better.
Everybody needs to be coached up, and that's what's been happening for me, and I would like to extend that thought to anybody that wants to hear it because we can get better and we can do more things that are of value, and we can love our families more and people around us, all that stuff. Obviously I'm freaking jacked up, so that shouldn't surprise you. (Laughter.)
Q. John, you mentioned a lot of different people that you came across along the way that helped you out. What was the biggest lesson you've learned that may help you with this position?
JOHN SPYTEK: It's about the people you surround yourself with. When you're dealing with an organization like this, it's everybody from -- it's literally the entire organization. I think people focus on the players all the time, and I've already told you guys how much I value and respect and honor the players. It's what they're all about.
But we'll only be as good as the people that we bring into this organization or keep in this organization. I think there's a lot of probably great people here that I just haven't met yet, and I can't wait to meet them.
I want to Cleveland in 2010 and they hadn't had a lot of success, and we found a scouting department that was just looking for a little bit of energy and excitement, and we provided that. Now, we didn't win enough games there, which is what this is about, but there's a lot of great people there, and they worked their asses off to find good players, and almost all those guys are still in the league right now because they're good people, they just needed an extra chance.
I just learned that a long time ago. Andy Reid, John Harbaugh, Mike Spags. The staff that I started with, Sean McDermott, we were good in Philly because we had a lot of great people there that loved football, and that's what we're going to try to do here. If you love football, there will be a place for you.
Q. You've been around a lot of great football minds, from a front office and coaching aspect within your career. When you see Pete Carroll from afar and what he's accomplished, what are some things in this role that you're looking to learn or gain from him in terms of insight or things that you feel like you can take away from him as a GM?
JOHN SPYTEK: Well, I can't wait to see what "compete for Pete" looks like every day. I think I've got a pretty good feel for it so far.
But just the energy and the passion that he presents with every day has been something that I've been drawn to over the past -- it feels like, we were talking on the way here, it feels like it's been 10 days, but I think it's only been three since we first started talking.
Just the way he leads a program. Everywhere he's been, he's won. I go back, I can remember vividly watching those USC teams. They were some of the most fun football teams I've ever watched, and I think I admired him a lot because yes, they were full of talent, and our job is to find a lot of talent here, but they were full of competitors and guys that love football.
I'm sorry if we're ad nauseam talking about love football, but that's to me what this is about. You've got to love this.
I can't wait to learn from him. He's a wealth of knowledge. He's crushing this press conference. He's got people excited. I've just been a fan for so long, and to get a chance to sit up here alongside him today and now work alongside him is an honor. I'm just fired up.
PETE CARROLL: Okay, come on. (Laughter.)
Q. What are your thoughts on putting together your staff?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, well, we're in the midst of getting started. Like John and I, we're just getting started at it. However, we have been talking to some people and we're trying to put this thing together.
I'm really looking for people that have been with me, that understand the philosophy to some extent. I want guys that have never been around me before so they have to learn what we're all about and we can watch the process of them learning what we're all about and what we expect, and then I'm hoping that we can maintain some of the terrific coaches that are on the staff, too, so we can have the benefit of the insights that they bring and the continuity that they can generate for us. So it's a combination of people that we're looking for.
But it's all going to fall back into the same thing. We want ball people. We want guys that love the game. Obviously if nothing else, we've hammered that home today, Johnny. We want to make sure that we do that.
Also, it's important to find people that can help us grow and challenge us, and those also -- I know in my history, I need people to keep me on track. As you can tell, I get pretty juiced up and I'm going to get going. I need people to keep me balanced. That's why Glena has been so important over the years, to keep me rolling.
So it'll be a combination to get that done. If we do it well, it's out there for us, and we've got a lot of people that are really interested. So we've got to do a great job of that.
Q. John, you've been a part of successful teams that have won Super Bowls and it's been a mix of home-grown talent as well as players that you got through free agency or trades. How do you straddle that balance between every GM wants to build through the draft but also taking some swings in free agency and trades?
JOHN SPYTEK: That's a great question. I don't think there's any perfect way to do it. For us in Tampa originally it was definitely draft and develop. I think at the start of the season 44 of the players that made the initial 53 were drafted or signed by us as undrafted free agents. I think all but two starters were.
But at the end of the day, we're going to look anywhere we can to find a good football player. I don't care if it's at Michigan, Ohio State. It pains me to say Ohio State, but I'm going to have to respect them.
But our job is to be so open minded where we will literally go anywhere in the country, anywhere in Canada to find a good football player. I always admired the way that they started in Seattle at the quarterback position in particular. They just kept taking shots and shots and shots. They traded, they drafted guys high, they found their way to Russell. What an unbelievable move that was. He was a little bit different. He was under six feet at a time when most quarterbacks were over six feet, so willing to think outside the box a little bit.
These are things that I've learned throughout my career. Yes, we want to draft and develop because it's the best way to build a solid foundation of a team and then to reward those players with second contracts because we know exactly what we're doing. But if the opportunity comes to sign a Tom Brady or a Baker Mayfield or trade for a Jason Pierre-Paul or Rob Gronkowski, just examples of my career, we will absolutely do that when the team is ready and the organization is ready for that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports