Q&A with General Manager Joe Schoen and Head Coach Brian Daboll

[MightyGiants]

JOE SCHOEN: We're excited to get Malik. He's a guy who's been on our radar for quite some time, explosive playmaker, can play multiple spots. Can separate and has run-after-the-catch, very good hands, very productive in a difficult conference, so before getting here tomorrow and then getting into the building a couple of weeks from now. Getting him in with the rest of the players in our culture and developing him and competing for his play time. With that we'll open up for questions.

Q: What made you — obviously you had the choice, Malik over Odunze?

JOE SCHOEN: We had a lot of meetings throughout the season and at the end of the day we just thought Malik's toughness, separation, speed — not that Rome doesn't have all those things; Rome is a very good player, too — just when it came down to it, what we were looking for, Malik checked a lot of those boxes — his person, his toughness, competes, his production, the versatility.

Q: Joe, there were quarterbacks on the board. First of all, how aggressive were you trying to trade up to get a quarterback?

JOE SCHOEN: I think I said last week we were going to have conversations in front of us. We actually had conversations behind us. There was an opportunity for us to move out of the pick. So we had conversations. We had different plans in place. And we're excited to have Malik Nabers here, so we're real happy with the way it worked out.

Q: There was a lot reporting that you were talking with the Patriots, specifically for the third pick. How serious did those talks get? Was there just a walk-away point where their ask was too high?

JOE SCHOEN: We had a lot of conversations with a lot of teams. I'm not going to get into specifics. We had a really good player at six that was a position that I think was a need that we needed to upgrade. I'm fired up about the kid.

Q: Have you gotten any texts from Daniel Jones about the pick?

JOE SCHOEN: He's fired up. I texted him Malik's number. That's one of the first things I did. And he's fired up about it. He knew before it was announced on ESPN and NFL Network.

Q: Brian, what does it mean for you to have that sort of, for lack of a better term, a number one type receiver?

BRIAN DABOLL: Look, I'm excited about Malik. He's a heck of a player. He's a fun guy to evaluate. Like Joe talked about, he's got quickness, explosive, good run after the catch. He's got a great mindset in terms of the competitive style he plays with. Played well in big games. Get him in the program, get him with the receivers and into the offense, and really looking forward to working with him.

Q: Joe, do you view the quarterback position as a high priority, your next pick is 47, or do you remain comfortable coming out of this draft without one?

JOE SCHOEN: I'm comfortable with where we're at.

Q: Do you believe you can find like a franchise quarterback at that point in the draft?

JOE SCHOEN: I'm excited about Malik. Whatever, I don't know what's going on out there right now, but I know a couple of quarterbacks just went. We'll look at all positions across the board. I said last week that we have multiple needs across the board and the team, and we'll continue to try to fill those throughout the draft.

Again, there could still be movement. We could get more picks. We could trade up. We've done that in the past. Again, we just got an electric wide receiver that's 20 years old, will be 21 end of July. My guys said he is the fourth youngest player we had on our entire board among the 450 players we have in certain ranges, but a young player that is electric and we're really fired up about acquiring him.

Q: Is there a point where he kind of stood out and popped to you throughout the process? Maybe it wasn't even this year.

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, LSU, the amount of players they had, and our staff was able to see him play live several times. I've seen him two years in a row. I happened to be at the first game of the year versus Florida State, two years in a row. He's been on our radar.

He's a really good player. And we were at the pro day, we had him in on a 30 visit and went to dinner with him a couple different times. Getting around the kid, he's a great kid. He's super competitive. He's driven. And I'm excited about having him.

Q: How far did you guys — what does this do for Daniel? He's never really had a top tier receiver?

BRIAN DABOLL: We've got to get him in. He was obviously ultra productive at LSU. Made a ton of plays. I would say deep, intermediate, short. Be good to get him in here and get him acclimated to what we do. I know he's excited about it. We're excited to have him.

Q: Was he the top receiver on your board?

JOE SCHOEN: He was in the mix with multiple guys. We had a lot of guys that we liked that would fit in with the way we had them stacked. At the time we took him, he was the top receiver on our board.

Q: There was obviously an arrest at some point with him with a gun. The charges eventually dropped. But I'm assuming that wasn't a problem with you. And how did you guys go about looking into that?

JOE SCHOEN: We've got an extensive process in terms of background on these guys. And from watching it, we bring up the film, watched what happened. (Head of security) Jerry Meade does a phenomenal job for us. We have other resources that we reach out to and use, whether it's boots on the ground on the campus, in the cities, wherever it may be. We're very comfortable with the players we turn the card in on.

Q: Brian, at the combine, Malik talked about the meeting and just how much fun it was. You guys were joking around and doing this. Take me in the room there. Was it fun? Was he —

BRIAN DABOLL: I enjoyed those meetings. I love his personality. He's a very, very competitive young man. So it was good to sit down and kind of introduce ourselves and get him to introduce himself to us. He came here — he's a competitive guy. And I'm looking forward to working with him.

Q: How did you weigh McCarthy there versus Malik?

JOE SCHOEN: Malik was our guy. He was the guy we targeted. And we took him. There were other players on the board and we took him.

Q: How many times did you see him play in person last year?

JOE SCHOEN: Last year one time, saw LSU play.

Q: Joe, can you speak about Malik's toughness? I know he had the shoulder injury early in the season last year, but I don't believe he missed any games. Can you just talk about that?

JOE SCHOEN: That's legit, talking to the trainers and the medical staff, this guy didn't miss. Whatever it is, he's going to fight through it. He's tough, doesn't miss games, doesn't miss practice. If he can play, he's going to play. That's the way this kid is wired.

You'll see it, when you guys get around and see the way he practices and the way he plays on game day and see his highlights and you see some of the stuff he can do, whether it's with the ball in his hand, without the ball in his hand. When guys are wired like that, at his age, that's ingrained in him by then. That's who he is. Looking forward to bringing some of that toughness and explosiveness to the roster.

Q: How did you see him develop from when you first saw him?

JOE SCHOEN: He's been productive. He's had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. He scored more touchdowns this year than he did the year before. But I think Jayden (Daniels) really elevated his game this year but he had scored in the past. But you saw a lot of the traits last year, he's a young kid.

When you evaluated him last year, you were evaluating a 19-year-old. This year, a 20-year-old kid. You see what some of these receivers are getting right now, APY. And you get a guy at his age where we got him in the draft and you're going to have cost control for five years. We're fired up about that.

Q: What stood out when you saw Malik in person?

JOE SCHOEN: I think at that position, the toughness. Some of the competitiveness, some of the best ones I've been around, they have that. It's going to be 20-some receivers taken between today and tomorrow and Saturday. What separates all the guys that are six-foot that are 200 pounds and run a 4.45, there's a bunch of them out there. To me it always goes back to grit, toughness, tenacity. You can't coach that. You can't teach that. I think this kid best illustrates it.

Q: This could be a very different night for Daniel. What did he say when you called him?

JOE SCHOEN: I shot him a text.

Q: When did you realize this was going to be the likely outcome, like at what pick? And did you know at that point or did you think that the Chargers, I know you kind of heard it a little bit, that they were going to take an offensive tackle there?

JOE SCHOEN: But you look at their roster, too, Mike Williams is gone and Keenan Allen is gone.

Q: I'm asking you, how confident were you that they were?

JOE SCHOEN: Again, that was part of the contingency plan. You have six names, and if all six go, you go to bed at night, whoever six was, and you're happy with it. When there's other contingency plans, when teams start calling, you can move back or you move up. So we had multiple plans against the whirlwind and Dabs rode it with me, we could do this, you're over-preparing for everything in all different situations. And we didn't know what the Chargers were going to do until we heard they took an offensive tackle. We were fired up.

Q: Other than the fact they're both from LSU, does this guy remind you at all of a young Odell?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'm not going to compare him to anybody. I think he's a fantastic player. He's got a lot of good attributes. Starting with his personality and demeanor, his competitive stamina. He's got some dog to him. Excited to work with him, he's his own person. He's got a lot to learn coming in. I started out my career working with the receivers and there's a lot to learn, but I know he will, and he's ready to jump on the opportunity.

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