The Philadelphia Eagles made the following moves last night:
·
Selected LB Mychal Kendricks (2nd
round - 46th overall)· Traded the 51st pick to the Green Bay Packers for the 59th and the 123rd picks
· Selected DE Vinny Curry (2nd round – 59th overall)
· Selected QB Nick Foles (3rd round – 88th overall)
The Eagles now have five remaining selections in the 2012
NFL Draft:
Round Overall Notes
4 123 from
Green Bay
5 153 own
selection
6 194 from
Denver
6 200 from
New England
7 229 from
Atlanta
LB Mychal
Kendricks Conference Call
4-27-12
On whether he had any sense that the Eagles were
interested in him:
“No, I knew they were interested a little bit, but I
didn’t know they were going to pick me up.”
On how he knew they were interested in him a little bit:
“I just know that they were talking about it and they
brought me in for a formal meeting and that was it pretty much. That’s
it, I knew that they wanted to have a meeting with me at the [NFL] Combine and
from there, that was pretty much it.”
On whether the team explained to him on where he might
project at the linebacker position:
“No, not at all.”
On whether he feels like he has the tools to play either
weakside or strongside:
“Yeah, I can play anywhere I need to play. I feel like
I’m versatile and I’m going to do what I need to do. It
doesn’t matter where I play, I’m up for the job.”
On what position he played as a senior at California:
“I played inside linebacker. In my last year I played
inside linebacker.”
On what his game is like and what he brings to the
Eagles:
“I have a lot of energy and I don’t take plays
off. I’m strong on the attack and I’m a great tackler, too.”
On whether he has followed the Eagles:
“I know that your cheesesteaks are pretty good.”
On whether he is familiar with the team’s defensive
schemes:
“Not yet.”
On how he knows that the cheesesteaks are good:
“I have a friend from Philly.”
On how his shoulder is and whether he had surgery on it:
“Yeah, I had labrum surgery.”
On whether he would be able to attend offseason camps:
“Yeah, for sure, I’m fine. Everything’s
fine. I’m one hundred percent and ready to go.”
On dealing with the criticism of him not being tall
enough:
“I just play big, that’s all I do. I just play
big and shut them up that way. It’s never been an issue for me, so I
don’t know why it would be an issue for anyone else.”
On whether he patterns his game after anyone in the NFL:
“I did before, but now I’m an Eagle. I’m
ready to play.”
On whether he knows anyone on the team:
“I know [linebacker Casey] Matthews.”
On whether he knows fellow Cal alums CB Nnamdi Asomugha
or WR DeSean Jackson:
“I know Nnamdi and I know DeSean, but I don’t
know them [personally]. It’s going to be good playing next to them.
I’m so juiced. I’m juiced, man, I’m excited. It’s going
to be fun, oh my gosh.”
DE Vinny Curry Conference
Call
4-27-12
On where he grew up in New Jersey and on being an Eagles
fan:
“I’m from Neptune, New Jersey, and I’ve
always been an Eagles fan ever since I started watching football.”
On how he became a fan of the team despite not living in
Eagles country:
“You know, it’s central Jersey.”
On whether he expected to be drafted a little earlier:
“Oh yeah, I was expecting to go in the first, but you
know, things happen and God has a plan for all of us. This is where God wanted
me to be at and this is where I wanted to be. Only thing that I have to do is
get ready to suit up for camp and prove my case.”
On what he thought happened as a result of dropping to
the second round:
“I have no idea. It’s just the way the cookie
crumbled. It’s the draft nature, you never can predict the draft.”
On making a dramatic improvement on his 40-yard dash time
from the NFL Combine to his Pro Day:
“If you watched the Combine I kind of tripped over
myself towards the back end of the 40.”
On how he describes his game:
“I’m just a natural pass rusher. The first thing
to my game is get off, and I just pride myself on everything I do. I really
hustle to the ball.”
On working his way into the defensive end rotation and on
learning the system:
“Oh, yes sir, I plan to do that right away. Trust me
when I say right away.”
On whether not being selected in the first round puts a
chip on his shoulder:
“Oh yeah, most definitely, most definitely, most
definitely. You know, right after that, [defensive line] coach [Jim]
Washburn hand-picked me and I can promise you that I won’t let him
down.”
On whether he knows anyone on the team personally:
“No sir, I don’t.”
On whether he watched the NFL Draft last night:
“I’ve been watching it all day.”
Eagles QB Nick
Foles Conference Call
4.27.12
On whether he knew he was on the Eagles radar:
“I met with them at the Senior Bowl and I met with
them at the Combine. They came and worked me out in Austin [Texas]. I could
definitely sense a lot of interest, and when I met with the coaches, I felt
really comfortable and knew that was a place that if I had an opportunity to
play, I’d be really happy. Throughout the draft, that was a team that
every time they came up to pick the last couple of rounds, I knew it was a
possibility. The power actually went out in my house five, ten minutes before
the actual pick and then my actual phone rang and it was a Pennsylvania number.
I was pumped.”
On his pre-draft meetings with the Eagles:
“I did get a sense that they were interested, and I met
with pretty much every single coach on the offensive staff. I met with [head]
Coach [Andy] Reid, and he was the greatest as far as meeting with him and
he’s a guy you can just sit down and talk to. He’s just such a
successful coach and such a great person throughout his career. With meeting
with the other coaches, everyone just wants to find out everything about you
with transferring and everything throughout college. They found out what I was
about and I loved the organization.”
On his mentality as to where he fits in with three
quarterbacks already on the roster:
“It’s get in there early, leave late, work my
butt off like I’ve done my whole career, and learn. I know it’s
such a great opportunity to learn from such a great staff. I know that Mike
Vick is the starter there and he’s a guy that’s a heck of a player
and an amazing athlete. He’s a guy to learn from. As far as the other
quarterbacks with [Mike] Kafka and [Trent] Edwards, I’ve gotten to know
Trent throughout the years and have a lot of respect for those quarterbacks,
all three of them. It will be a great opportunity to go in there and learn and
work my butt off like I’ve always done and just continue to progress as a
player.”
On whether he has been told what role he will play:
“It’s way too early for that. I just got drafted
and became a part of the Eagles. I have to go in there and learn a whole
offense, earn my stripes, work my butt off, and prove to them that I’m a
winner and what kind of player I am. That’s going to take a lot of work.
I’m going to go in there and work my butt off and just be the best
quarterback I can be and the best teammate possible.”
On scouting reports that say he is slow footed:
“I’m an athlete. I’m a basketball player,
too, and I feel that I can play against anyone in basketball. Football-wise,
watch film – I’ll break tackles, throw on the run, show
escapability. I’m not a Mike Vick by any means but I’m able to
extend plays on my foot and throw from awkward angle. I’m not a track
athlete if that’s what you’re asking me. You’re not going to
put me on the track and I’m going to blow by you in a 100-yard sprint or
even a 40. I have functional speed where I can move around and make plays with
my feet and extend plays with my feet. I think that’s important to get
the ball into the playmakers hands like the running backs and the wide
receivers and help the o-line out by moving around and working their pocket.
I’m going to continue to do that and work on that every single day and
get better at that as long as I play this game.”
On how being a basketball player translates into
quarterbacking:
“I think just the ability to move around and extend
plays with my feet. In basketball, and even in basketball passing, I’d be
able to grab a rebound, go full court, and gun it. Then, you’re moving
around finding seams. When you’re scrambling around, you find the running
back and throwing from different angles. In basketball, you’re moving
around running, jumping, shooting, doing all sorts of things. Just the
functional movement of playing a sport. When you’re playing football as a
quarterback, you’re dropping back and passing but sometimes the pocket
breaks down and you have to make a play. That’s why I look at being an
all-around athlete comes in handy in just moving around and moving the chains
and making plays.”
On the process of staying positive playing in front of an
inexperienced offensive line:
“We had a young o-line and I knew that going in. My
junior year we had all seniors and it was a group I was with for two seasons
and they were a great line. We were rebuilding the line the next season and we
had a couple of redshirt freshman and some sophomores and two juniors on the
line. Between five guys, there was one guy who was in our bowl game the
previous season in our center Kyle Quinn. I knew it was going to be a re-doing
year and that came during the workouts in the summer. We did different things
to excel them right along. They did a good job and we started the season with
3-4 games against top 10 opponents and those were those o-linemen’s first
time being in a college game, so it took for them to learn the speed of it and
it was different for them. Sure, I was hit a few times but when you look at the
film, those guys worked their butt off and they picked me up off the ground.
Every game they excelled and by the end of the season, they were doing a really
solid job. I couldn’t have been more proud, and they did a really solid
job. They hated when I got hit and they really did grow throughout the year,
and they’re going to be a heck of a line next season.”
On how much he has seen from WR DeSean Jackson and RB
LeSean McCoy:
“Just watch ESPN. I’ve watched those guys all
the time on the highlight reel. I know they are some explosive players and the
Eagles have such a great tradition. [LB] Britt Hager who played for the Eagles
several seasons ago is a great family friend of mine. I grew up with his son so
I know all about the Eagles tradition. Then with [TE] Brent Celek, I roomed
with his brother at Michigan State so we would always turn on the Eagles while
we were in college there. It’s really a blessing to be with the
Eagles.”
On whether he played Britt Hager’s team in high
school:
“We didn’t play Odessa while I was at Westlake
but we played Abilene in West Texas. I haven’t seen the movie but I read
the book and it’s pretty much all Texas high school football. It’s
intense and it’s crazy man.”
Head Coach Andy
Reid Press Conferences
4.27.12
Opening Remarks:
“In the second round,
we’ve been a little but busy. Mychal Kendricks is an outside linebacker
from Cal. We took him with our first pick in the second round and we’ll
play him at SAM linebacker initially here. He’s played all three [LB positions].
The things you see with him are great athletic ability and speed. He was the
Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. He gives you a good opportunity to cover
the tight ends. He’s just a little below six foot in height and he has
good mass to him when you see him. We’ll bring him in tomorrow and give
you guys a chance to meet him and let him get introduced to Philadelphia.
We’re very excited about him. You think of being the Defensive Player of
the Year in the Pac-10 and you bring a little bit of heat with that, so we
welcome him aboard to help strengthen our defense along with [DE] Vinny Curry.
Vinny Curry is a rush defensive end from Marshall. I mentioned this the last
time I was up here but really he was just the best player on the board at that
time. There was no way that we could pass him up just sitting there. He
wasn’t an immediate need or anything like that. It’s not a worry
with any of the guys that we have like [DE] Brandon [Graham] coming off of a
knee or anything like that. That’s not what this is all about. It’s
just a heck of a young football player who might be the biggest Eagles fan
ever. He grew up in Jersey here. I think when you meet him, you’ll see he
grew up an Eagles fan and he’s dreamed of playing here. He and [defensive
line coach] Jim Washburn developed a relationship over this whole draft process
and have stayed in close communication with each other throughout this thing.
Again, he has one speed and that’s 100 miles per hour. That’s how
he plays. Along with all of his vivacious personality, he’s quite a
colorful guy and really loves to play the game.”
On selecting three defensive
players to open the draft:
“A lot of it is best player
available the way it fell. It wasn’t something where we came in with a
plan that just says, ‘Hey, we’re going to go strictly just
defense.’ It’s welcomed, and I thought we were playing very good
defense at the end of the year. We had these fellas into it and into the mix.
It creates great competition and certainly increases our athleticism. Certainly
these three guys are great athletes.”
On whether they traded down
because there were guys they liked toward the bottom of the second round:
“We did. We had a handful
of guys sitting there that we liked. Vinny was one of them.”
On a possible logjam at
defensive end:
“You’re going to
carry four to five defensive ends during the season, and that’s a very
good problem to have. A very good problem to have. I don’t mind that one
bit and I love that competition there. I’m excited to see how Vinny fits
in there and works.”
On why Kendricks fits at SAM:
“He’s played all the
positions. The one thing that really interests me there is we’re getting
a phenomenal pass rusher on that side. We’re getting someone who can
really cover the tight end, and his pass cover skills are a strong part of his
game. When you see the way he’s built, you’re understand. He plays
a very physical game. You’ve heard the term when someone is very heavy
handed, so when he locks onto you, he’s pretty strong with that.”
On whether SAM is evolving
more into a speed position than a size position:
“You need a combination. In
this day and age, you’ve seen where the safeties evolved in this league
to where if you can’t cover and run, you’re going to have an issue
and you’re going to get exploited. That’s the case with your
outside linebackers in a 4-3. You’d like them to have the ability to run
and be athletic and make plays.”
On Kendricks handling tight
ends that are larger than him:
“He’s had success
with that. In the Pac-10, they throw the ball once or twice out there. You get
a little bit of a pinch there with him covering some guys. We’ll see how
he does. That’s been one of his strengths so we’ll see how that
transfers over. I’m thinking it will. You’re also getting a team
captain and a tenacious football player. I know they’re showing some of
those clips but that’s kind of what he is and that’s what you get.
He’s one of those guys who love to play the game.”
On what makes speed a valuable
commodity for an outside linebacker to have:
“You want to try to, from
an offensive standpoint, find a weakness in the defense. Then, you want to
exploit those weaknesses. From a coaching standpoint, I’m trying to
eliminate any of those weaknesses the best I can from a defensive standpoint. I
think that these players, and in particular you’re asking about
Kendricks, he’s the type of player that doesn’t present you with a
lot of weaknesses as long as it carries over. He is coming from the college
level and I’m expecting it to carry over obviously or I wouldn’t
have taken him, but as [general manager] Howie [Roseman] and I looked at this
thing, we just thought that he had great speed, cover ability, toughness, and
all of those things you’re looking for from those linebackers.”
On whether speed is more
valuable because of teams copying New England’s tight end system:
“That’s a unique
situation with a unique quarterback. How much of that happens, I can’t
tell you that. I don’t know if that’s going to be a trend or not.
Tight ends in this league have been catching balls a lot over the years.”
On whether there are steps
that have to be taken when a player like Curry drops:
“I think we know a lot
about him. He’s a local kid, and things like this happen during the
draft. When you get into the second and third rounds and whatever flavor that
team wants, and so he got passed up. I don’t think it’s anything
against his play ability, character or anything like that. He’s not a
problem. He was a very productive player at Marshall against good caliber players.
You see it happen every year, though.”
On whether he projected Curry
to be a late first-round pick:
“Yeah, late first, high
second. I think that’s where most people probably had him just from
talking around. I think most people had him in that area.”
On whether there are any
issues with Kendricks being suspended two games in college:
“No, I think we’re
alright there.”
Opening statement after third round:
“Alright, so in the third round we took Nick Foles,
quarterback from Arizona. Nick is obviously a good passer from the records he
set at Arizona – all the school records. [He] broke all of [Saints QB]
Drew Brees’ records in high school, so he has a bunch of accolades to go
along with being a good football player. He was also a heck of a basketball
player. He was recruited by Georgetown, Texas and Baylor, so you’re
getting a big man, but also a good athlete. Not necessarily a runner.
That’s not his deal, but he’s got good feet, pocket presence and
he’s smart. We had an opportunity to work him out and then we also
brought him up here on one of our top 30 visits and grilled him pretty hard
there. We felt very comfortable with him. Again, this is a young quarterback to
bring in to the fold here and let him compete. We’ll just see how he does.”
On how many quarterbacks he worked out:
“Well, the guys that really worked them out were my
quarterback coaches.”
On how many quarterbacks the team worked out:
“We probably worked out five.”
On what set Foles apart from the other quarterbacks:
“Well, listen, I like the way he throws the football,
and then he’s also a smart guy which helps. So, it’s a different
offense. He’ll have to learn this offense, but that’s okay.
He’s smart enough to do that. It was unanimous with our coaches. They all
liked him. We’ll see how it works. I’m curious to get him in here
and let him throw the football around a little bit.”
On whether a third-round quarterback is a shot in the
dark or whether he could be a franchise quarterback:
“Well, I think you have to see. I think you just have
to let him develop and then you go from there. I love that we had enough
confidence in him to draft him in the third [round]. Now the rest is just
seeing how he fits in and develops in our offense. Again, that’s a risk
there. I feel like you’re getting a big arm and a smart kid who loves to
play the game and has had a lot of success.”
On whether drafting a quarterback was a priority
considering that QB Michael Vick will turn 32 years old:
“I have a lot of confidence in [QB] Mike Kafka. I have
a lot of confidence that Mike [Vick] is going to continue to play. I guess
he’s a young 32 you’d say. He missed a couple years there playing.
This isn’t to replace Mike. That’s not what I wanted to do with
this pick. I wanted to get another quarterback. We all know that is a pretty
important position. If you see one out there you like, you snag him up, bring
him on board and let him compete.”
On whether drafting a quarterback inside the fourth round
means that he could be a full-time starter:
“Listen, we didn’t pick him in the first, we
picked him in the third. But there are plenty of things that I liked about him.
He’ll never tell you this, but the kid is a team captain and he came into
the season fairly highly ranked amongst the quarterbacks in the country. He
played behind an all-freshmen offensive line, so he’s not going to stand
up here and tell you that. I’m going to tell you that that’s not an
easy thing to do. He never complained about it, he rallied those kids around
him; he took some pretty big hits knowing that those kids are going to be good
players down the road, but they were learning at that time. His percentage
under pressure was as good or better than anybody in the country. The
receivers, obviously [Arizona WR Juron] Criner was a heck of a player for him
and he was his go-to guy. After that, there weren’t a lot of people
around him. There were young guys that he helped develop for the future of
Arizona there. That’s reality. Those are things that as a coach and as a
scout, there are things [general manager] Howie [Roseman] and I had to look at
and evaluate. Coming out of it we still felt like he did a heck of a
job.”
On whether Foles has enough mobility to be a full-time
starter in the NFL:
“Listen, you say that and then you see some of the
bigger quarterbacks in the league – I think [Broncos QB] Peyton Manning
is pretty good, I think [Patriots QB] Tom Brady is pretty good and [Steelers
QB] Big Ben [Roethlisberger] is pretty good, so he’ll fit in somewhere in
between there as far as mobility. I’m not going to put him in that
category yet, he hasn’t thrown a ball in the NFL. We have to get him in
here and let him work a little bit.”
On why Foles transferred from Michigan State:
“You know, it wasn’t a fit. They were going to
the spread [offense] and they were going to run a little more option with the
quarterback. That’s what they wanted to do. I’m not sure
that’s really his style or play.”
On whether Foles is more of a drop-back quarterback:
“More of a drop-back guy. Although if you look at his
completion percentage on movement throws, it’s pretty good. He’s a
tall drink of water, so when he comes in here – this is not a little guy.
When you look at him you’re not going to go, ‘Running
quarterback.’ That’s not what you’re going to say.”
On whether there’s an obligation to call Vick when
deciding on drafting a quarterback high:
“Listen, I have a good enough relationship with him,
but yeah. I had [offensive coordinator] Marty [Mornhinweg] call him because I
was in the mix of everything going on. There’s not enough time, so I made
sure that Marty talked to him.”
On the process of teaching and grooming young
quarterbacks:
“Well, number one, you have to have talent. But then
the player has to have talent. Then you go through the evaluation process, try
to find guys that you think would fit in to this offense, you know, what we
would like to do. And then there is a maturation process that takes place.
That’s fun, that’s the teaching part of it. If a quarterback gets
an opportunity to play like [Cardinals QB] Kevin [Kolb] did, he got an
opportunity to play. He was able to play well for us and you see how it works
out. Michael was kind of the unknown there and Michael played well, that was a
good thing. Even with Michael – which I think it is the same with most
quarterbacks – they keep learning until the day they retire. It’s
just one of those deals. Even with Michael you saw that maturation process take
place in this offense and that’s satisfying. That’s why we do it,
we’re really teachers. That’s the satisfying part. And with these
quarterbacks very few of them come from the west coast offense. You saw the kid
that went before him [Wisconsin QB Russell] Wilson. He had played in the west
coast offense at North Carolina State. There are very few of those that have
that opportunity to do that. Most of the teams now are either in the spread
option or the spread offense where they go four wide. This kid had a little bit
of each. They did use a little bit of tight end at times. He was under center
at times, but most of the time it was four wides. They weren’t running
the option with him, but they were throwing the football.”
On whether the team had any interest in Wilson:
“Well, I did. I liked Wilson, yeah, I sure did.
He’s a heck of a player too. We had our eye on those two players and I
wish that kid all the best. He’s got a great personality. Not a lot of
guys have his size, but he gives you the confidence he’s going to be able
to do it.”
On whether they had their eye on Arizona State QB Brock
Osweiler:
“I really honed in on the two here, yeah.”
On what he learns from a guy who takes a lot of hits:
“He kept getting up, that was the key. There were a
few of those hits where you just kind of went, ‘Ooo.’ You can tell
that those linemen care about him. They went back there and helped him up. They
were learning, they got better as the season went on which was a plus for him.
He took some pretty big hits and I think you can tell he was a tough guy. He
had an opportunity to go down with [ESPN analyst] Jon Gruden. I think you guys
know I’m friends with Jon. He has them down there for about eight hours
and works with them in the classroom and out. He had the highest regards for
the kid. So I was able to cross check with him and my guys that worked him out.”
On his confidence on the draft so far:
“There’s a foundation there that you’re
able to do that from and that was re-signing your own players which I thought
was important. Then we made the trade for [LB] DeMeco [Ryans]. We really went
in and not saying that, listen, we have to have this. I think it works out
better when you go about it that way.”
On whether QB Trent Edwards will compete with Kafka for
the back-up role:
“They’re all competing. I don’t know Trent
as well, but I know Mike Kafka and I like what I’m seeing from Mike. I
like what I’m seeing from Michael Vick, so I keep going back and saying
that really, those two, this is their first offseason working with us and
we’ll be able to get out there Monday and actually work with the players
on the field. Right now that’s not taking place.”
On the importance of Foles being able to play under
pressure:
“That’s a big thing. That’s a vital
position right there. You just take some hits that are unbelievable. Even
though the rules are changing for safety purposes, for the quarterback, and in
a lot of cases they still take some big whacks. There are a couple things that
you see, now, there are a lot of guys that can take the hit, but then their
production after the hit isn’t very good. There are guys that can’t
take the hit at all. They’re going to stay down. And then the guys that
you really want to find, they get hit, they bounce themselves back up and then
they’re throwing strikes afterwards. There’s no flinch involved.
You’ve got to have an iron will to do that. He was able to do that at the
college level.”
On how confident he feels with Kafka and Foles despite
inexperience and only 19 combined NFL passes:
“As long as they were 19 good career passes,
that’s all I care about. Listen, they’ve got to start somewhere and
we just have to see. That’s why we brought Trent here so we can see how
this whole thing works. We’ll make sure we have the best three
guys.”
On whether he envisioned being this far into the draft
without taking a cornerback:
“Not necessarily. I didn’t have my odds set on
having to draft a corner. I’m trusting that [CB Curtis] Marsh continues
to improve and he’s been up here every day working. We liked what we saw
last year and hopefully we continue to see improvement this year.”
On how important it was to get back a fourth round pick:
“[General manager] Howie [Roseman] did a nice job with
that. We really wanted to get that back in place if possible and try to make
ourselves whole. Howie worked it and was able to take that place.”
On the potential impact of the three defensive draft
picks:
“You’ve to continue to bring an influx of young
players in. That’s just this day and age in the National Football League.
They are guys who think we can contribute early. Do I think we needed that?
Yeah I do. It’ll help with competition level. Not that we don’t
have good players at those positions, but you can’t have enough. That
competition brings out the best in everybody.”
On whether he sees Marsh as the third cornerback right
now:
“Possibly. We’re going to experiment with that
just a bit, and we still have [CB] Joselio [Hanson], too. We’re okay
there but we’ll see how he works and how he does.”
On whether CB Brandon Hughes can play the slot:
“He has played inside a little bit, yeah.”
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