Dave Caldwell: (opening statement) “I think first and foremost to thank everybody involved, starting off with our personnel staff, our coaching staff, our IT staff, Mike Webb, Mike Perkins, Jason Dean, Mike Potts. Those guys did a hell of a job with Coach Marrone and myself. Our analytics department. Tony Khan and obviously our ownership, Shad Khan, for all the support. Our medical staff. Our trainers. Player development staff. Security staff. I think collectively everybody did a hell of a job. I think I’m very fortunate and proud to be part of the organization with all of them.”
Doug Marrone: (opening statement) “Obviously ditto what Dave just said, so I don’t have to say that, but it was pretty amazing. Now that it’s over and you sit back and start thinking about just really how big of a process this was and how long it was and to really go through it without a glitch, it’s pretty amazing. It’s something that I know I’ll look back on and say, ‘Wow, how’d they pull that off?’ A lot of people involved. A lot of people dedicated to it. I got a funny story, though, if you don’t mind me saying. So we had some security outside the house, we had the Jacksonville police department outside in case someone tried to run in and take over the draft room. And we got a couple calls going, ‘Hey, is everything all right over there? Is everything good between you and your wife? Because I see a cop car outside’ I was like, ‘Everything’s fine. The draft is going on. We’re good.’”
DC: (on the importance of seeing OL Ben Bartch do as well as he did at the Senior Bowl) “It was important and that was one of the key things when we went to the Senior Bowl, and obviously Coach Marrone with his offensive line background. Generally don’t love, as you guys like to point out, the smaller level comp[etition] players, but we got to a point in time in that fourth round where this is a kid with his makeup, his toughness, his competitiveness, his intelligence, where you saw him at the Senior Bowl and you saw him competing against some of the top players in the country and some guys that went in the first round. And he held his own. He did a hell of a job. So when that happens with these small-school guys – and a couple years back there was a player, an interior offensive lineman, that Tampa took and he’s played well and he’s done a really nice job for Tampa. We kind of feel like this player has a very, very high ceiling and can come in and compete at multiple spots for us along the offensive line.”
DM: (on the importance of seeing OL Ben Bartch do as well as he did at Senior Bowl) “I like it. I agree with what Dave said. The only thing I look for is, is it kind of too big when they’re at the Combine or they’re in one of these bowl games? It wasn’t for him. So I think that’s important, especially at a time when you can’t really go work people out. We didn’t have those opportunities. You look on film, I have some standards that I look at personally when we look at it, depending on what conference they’re in or who they’re going against. We took a chance a couple years ago when I first got in New Orleans on Jahri Evans, from Bloomsburg. I’m not comparing those two players, but the things I looked for in Jahri when we were looking for that we looked for in Ben. We’re excited to have him, and he can play multiple positions and I’m looking forward to him competing.”
DC: (on if he felt they hit on everything on the defensive side of the ball) “We felt good about filling some needs; there’s always a point where you wish you could do more. You’re never going to come out of a draft completely satisfied. But this is about as satisfied as we’ve been. There were some picks here and there where we’re one or two picks away. We feel good about the players we got and filled some needs: secondary, linebacker – we’re going into the season with some really good depth at those positions. Obviously, defensive line, like I said from the beginning, we really want to set up the front seven for success.”
DM: (on Shaq Quarterman) “I like him. You put on the tape and watch him and he’s going around making plays. He’s a guy that really loves football. I started watching him and I started thinking about some players that I have been involved with on other teams that we drafted from the University of Miami. You dig a little deeper, you see a guy that had great leadership. I believe he was a defensive player of the year. He’s got everything you’re looking for. I’m sure he’s going to have a great opportunity to compete. He’s ready. He said, ‘Coach, I’m just telling you now when my cleats are on the grass, I will do whatever you want me to do. I’m going to play.’ Those are the kind of things you feel good about. Now they’ve got to go out and earn it. It doesn’t really matter where you’re picked, everyone now when they come in, everyone has an opportunity and they have to earn the trust of their teammates, coaches and do a good job in the community and go out there and play and perform.”
DM: (on if he felt they hit on his needs and became a better football team) “That was the goal. Obviously, you want to get yourself in a position where you create competition, and guys can raise up. Guys that have potential. Every year when you’re looking at the draft, you’re acquiring players. Now they’ve got to go out there and win and earn it. Do I feel we have competition? And players can potentially be good players and a good foundation of the organization? Absolutely. So I feel like we have done a very good job of putting that in place and now they have to go out and perform like we think they can or could perform. Now a lot of it comes on us as coaches. Obviously, there are qualities that we love in a lot of these players. They’ve all been discussed of their roles and how we as coaches just have to do a good job of developing these players and getting them in a position where they can help us win football games.”
DC: (on what he liked about Jake Luton) “We liked his size, we liked his release, his arm strength. Bigger body. And we really liked the way he threw the ball at the NFLPA game, at the all-star game he was at. We felt like he has got some upside. He is 6’6”, 200-and 40 some odd pounds, and moves well in the pocket. We just felt like with those traits and what he could offer that he could come in and compete for a spot on this roster.”
DM: (on Ben Bartch’s smoothies) “Well, I can tell you this: I never had that problem of gaining weight. I am going to tell you a great story here. Probably one of the worst and best times of my life I was with the Miami Dolphins and we were in training camp and I was one of four or five guys that had gotten food poisoning. And back then, you weren’t allowed to be over 275 pounds for Coach (Don) Shula. Things changed later on, but when we were there, everyone had to be 275. I mean, it was brutal. I drank shakes that were like Slimfast, that would be meal replacements. So I went from like 275 to like 258. And I will never forget this. As I’m leaving the hospital, the doctor says, ‘listen, we have to put the weight back on you, we have to get you hydrated,’ blah blah blah. ‘You know, hey, drink some milkshakes.’ And as soon as he said drink some milkshakes, that is all I heard. I went from like 258 within I bet you 12 hours to 275. I must have had about five milkshakes. So, I’m trying not to drink a lot of calories. I promise you, I made a promise to my wife, starting Monday I’m going to start working on not being that guy. … I would drink it but it’s probably too many calories in that shake for me.”
DC: (on if patience was still the plan heading into day three) “It was. We didn’t acquire picks to get less players, we acquired picks to get more players, and like I said there were so many players that we liked that at the end of it, we were like, ‘I wish I had a couple more picks in the seventh round’. Where normally you’re like searching for names and we felt like there was still guys and still really good value out there. So hopefully some of those guys as free agents here.”
DC: (on Josiah Scott) “Easy. Excellent toughness, physical, plays bigger than his size. Feel like that he’s a natural fit inside, but also feel like he can also take some reps outside. So his makeup, his leadership skills, his football intelligence. Really was one of the players where – to be quite frank – because he came out early that I wasn’t real familiar with early on in the process, like last summer. But as they started watching, watch the tape, you fall in love with him relatively easily.”
DM: (on Josiah Scott) “Yeah, same. He’s just an ultimate competitor, really tough, plays a lot bigger, I mean I think that was a key thing when you watch it. Obviously, people will say ‘hey listen, this guy who goes inside.’ Inside because they’re looking at, you know, his height, but this guy shows the physicality to be able to play on the outside and do a good job, and then obviously the toughness you know equals special teams. So I think like I told him when I spoke to him on the phone, I said, ‘I like taking you guys from Michigan State, they’re tough guys you know’, I said, ‘but the only problem is your position coach is a Ohio State guy.’ I’m fired up to see that.”
DC: (on what they look for in a late-round quarterback) “Well, I think the big thing for that is, you’re taking somebody in the sixth round and his football intelligence, and intelligence and being able to learn. To come in and be a backup and to compete for a roster spot, first and foremost to be able to have command of the offense. And then obviously the physical traits in terms of, ‘are they a fit in our offense?’ And there’s multiple conversations we’ve had of, ‘do you take somebody that different to your starter?’ Do you take somebody that’s similar to your starter?’ And at the end of the day we just kind of, this year, decided to pick the guy that throws the best ball, good accuracy, and has got size, and can withstand – take some hits in the pocket.”
DM: (on Tyler Davis being a Mets fan and his thoughts on the tight end room) “You always feel good about where you are from a standpoint of the players that you have, but you always want to create more competition and see if someone could beat somebody out. So I think when you have the ability and you look at someone and they have all the traits that you’re looking for, outside of being a Met fan, you’re pretty excited. But like I said, he’s from the South Shore. Guys that are from Long Island know the North Shore is the Gold Coast. The South Shore are the guys that are working. Now that conversation was interesting. I said, ‘You know, I’m from Throgs Neck in The Bronx.’ So usually people that live in Long Island, they’ve got to go over either the Throgs Neck Bridge or the Whitestone Bridge.’ So he’s like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome. You know that us guys from New York, we’re some mean son of a guns.’ And you can put in all the other words there. So I was like, ‘Alright! Pretty cool. We’ll see. We’ll get a chance to see how mean you are when we get those pads on.’ But yeah, obviously, here’s a guy that has a great skill set. He was a quarterback coming out of high school and was at Connecticut and transferred to Georgia Tech. And I’ve got a kid that I coached when I was at Georgia Tech, went back and he’s a line coach there and loves him. A couple of other people: Corey Edsall, Randy Edsall’s son, was at Connecticut when he was there; we texted, [and he] really loved the kid. So I’m excited. He has a great opportunity in front of him. He has the ability to do it, and we’ll see if he’s good enough.”
DC: (on the running back position) “We felt like we could, and there comes a point in time, too. … I think maybe it’s misunderstood of how we feel about the other guys we have in our room besides Leonard and Roc(quell Armstead) and Devine (Ozigbo). And those are two guys that as you look down, you start to get into the fourth, fifth round, and you’re like, ‘Do we like these guys better than Rock and Devine?’ And the answer is really no. So we felt like we had some guys that can make the team at other positions and come in and help right away and knowing that we have those two guys that we really like.”
DC: (on if there are areas on the roster that still need to be addressed) “It’s funny because when we drafted K’Lavon, I made a comment to a friend of mine and I’m like, ‘I sleep much better at night knowing that we have some pass-rush studs. But there’s always work to do and we’re always looking, whether it’s in free agency. Our scouts will be working on deals in college free agency. There are players that will get released tomorrow because they signed free agents. We’re always looking to upgrade. You’re never satisfied, and if we were satisfied, you guys should be really upset with us.”
DM: (on what kind of team that he’s built) “Young, smart, tough. Guys that love football. Everything that we’ve talked about, not a lot of stuff going on that’s going to distract them, a bunch of guys that are excited for their opportunity, appreciative, understand that there’s this great opportunity that they have and they need to take advantage of it. Like I said before, it’s a young team. A lot of young guys are going to be coming into our locker room and we have a pretty good foundation of young guys right now that are looking to take over and take these guys under their wing. These guys will be a great part of it. I’m excited about it, I really am. These guys want to go to work. They want to play. And then all the stuff that’s going on on the outside shouldn’t affect them at all.”
DC: (on if they had more guys off their board than usual since they couldn’t do physicals) “No, what it did do is it kind of prohibited us from taking … once we got into the sixth, seventh round, we felt OK with taking some players that may not have been at the combine. You’re still taking a risk there, which historically we have not done. Every player we’ve ever drafted we’ve either brought in for a physical or they’re at the combine from a medical standpoint. This year, it was tough. For instance, last year, Quincy Williams wasn’t at the combine and we were able to bring him in for a visit. In this climate, I probably would not have taken him as high as I did. He probably would have been more of a sixth-, seventh-round type of guy. We just lowered some guys that weren’t at the combine just because of the risk of not having the medical on them.”
DC: (on Chris Claybrooks’ potential in the return game) “I hope so because that’s why we drafted him. That’s his number one job is to come in here and be our kick returner first and foremost, hopefully earn a spot as a corner, then work on some of the punt returns skills. That’s his forte. Field position is a thing we thought about a lot in the offseason, Coach Marrone a big advocate of special teams and gaining field position and having a guy back there. He has the skills to do it and we feel really good about it.”
DC: (on if Daniel Thomas has the eye, intellect and talent to challenge for a starting job) “At some point. I think it’s important for these guys to learn the scheme, learn the defense and obviously it’s going to be hard for these guys to challenge right away because they’re probably likely not going to have OTA’s so they will have to come into training camp and go from there. They will be a little bit behind, but we like his skillset, we think he’s a guy that has starter traits to the rest of it is really up to him.”
DM: (on Collin Johnson) “We’re looking at him and looking at the numbers and looking at what he did in 2018, obviously had a great year, got a little hampered going into his last year there. It’s different than what we have; he’s a guy that’s 6-6, 222 pounds, he can run real well, just a different element. Now when you look across the board we have different types and it’s always good to have that and obviously we are looking for him to come in here and perform. He has an opportunity to win a job, has an opportunity to be a good playmaker when you look at his catch radius and where he’s at. I was excited that we were able to get him as late as we did.”
DC: (on if they’ve had a conversation with Leonard Fournette’s agent about coming back next season) “No.”
DM: (On if taking 12 high character players can have an immediate effect on the culture he’s trying to build) “I look at it this way. I think people are going to look at these guys and look at their character. I really take a step back and think to myself, ‘why are we knocking people of good character?’ Why would you knock, or anyone, knock a guy because of his morals or how he presents himself or anything of that nature? You know, that’s one of the issues and problems that go on. I think people say, ‘Well, look at these guys. You got the high character guys, but you didn’t get the talent.’ I disagree totally with that. I’m excited about a bunch of young guys that have done things the right way for the most part, not to say they haven’t made any mistakes, but done everything they could to do things the right way, that’s something we should be celebrating. That’s something we should be proud of. I always felt to myself that, especially during my first job as a head coach when I was in college, I realized that my job was to win games and bring people in and I had all this power of taking guys and not taking guys, but there was something that I kept reminding myself, that I had the responsibility of one, who I bring into this locker room, two, who I bring to this university, and three, who I bring to this community. And I feel the same way. I feel like who I’m bringing into the locker room, who’s going to represent us with our fans, and who’s going to do a great job in this community, so I’m really not comfortable trying to defend that question. I said it before. These guys are talented. These guys can play. They also happen to be a bunch of great guys. We should be celebrating that. I look at some young guys that have done really well: DJ Chark Jr., Josh Allen, Gardner [Minshew II] is in there, Jawaan Taylor is in there. We brought in guys last year that are like that, and I think when you bring in more guys that are like that, I think it’s going to help. You still have to earn the respect in the locker room. It’s not something that just because you’ve done all this stuff or wherever you have been you can go in there and people are going to do that. They are strong-minded men that we feel are influenced in the proper way and we want to keep it going that way.”
DC: (On how high quarterback was on the priority list going into the draft and if he’s planning to add a veteran going into camp) “It was something we felt like we needed to address either through the draft or through bringing a veteran in or possibly both. We addressed it through the draft tonight. We’ll look at all our situations not at just quarterback, but at every position. Like we said earlier, we’ll just see where we can upgrade. If it makes sense, we’d do it, but we don’t feel like we need to do it at this time.”
DM: (On if he’s adjusting his expectations for rookie performance this fall due to lack of a traditional offseason program) “No. I think the way we have designed their program when they start, I think I feel good about them having the knowledge and knowing what to do. I believe that because of the players that we have drafted and their character, they are going to do everything that they can to see that they come in in shape. I think our team knows that. It doesn’t just affect these players. I think it affects everyone. We’ve got to do a good job there. We’ve go to get them when they come in and see what happens as we go, but I’m excited because of the way these guys have trained, the way they are right now, all the things that we’ve heard. They’re going to do it. To say that, as a coach you always want to be around them. You want to be there for them. You want to catch them up to your drills and things like that. We’re going to put things out on the cloud, the drills that we do, to try to do the best that we can in this environment right now to get them caught up on the speed where we don’t feel like it’s going to take them a while to catch up. The one thing about training camp is you think you have a lot of time, but you really don’t. It goes a whole lot faster than you really expect, but I still think you’ll be able to say practice one, practice two, practice three and you start charting the increase and how much better they are getting and you do that with all your players and see who can become the most consistent. I’m actually excited about seeing how these guys are when they come back in here because the one thing it will show is their commitment and organizational skills about what’s going on, improvisation, you don’t have everything available to you, you have to keep yourself safe in this environment. I think there’ll be some challenges and we’ll see who is up to it.”
DM: (on if this is QB Gardner Minshew II’s team) “Right now, if we rolled that ball out there, he’d be the first guy behind the center. Yes, absolutely.”
