GM RUSTON WEBSTER
(opening statement)
We have wound up the draft portion of this year, but we are still working on free agency. Our scouts and our coaches are scurrying right now. It looks like something on Wall Street when that starts to happen. It’s kind of an intense and fun time. I feel good about where we are. Our draft picks today are guys that our scouts, myself, our coaches had convictions on. We feel strongly about them and I think all of them will come in and compete for jobs and we plan on them all making it. We will see what happens. It’s a good group, different kinds of players. Some are a little more upside type of guys and some are a little more solid and are what they are and are the type of guys that we like to have on our team. I think if you look at all of them in terms of a background and all of that they are pretty solid guys. We feel fortunate to have them.
(on if it was important to get back in the seventh round or was
You know what, it was Scott Solomon. When we were picking
(on if would have been surprised to hear that he waited until the seventh round to take a defensive end)
Yeah, I think it’s kind of the way it fell a little bit. We really like him and we had him higher than the seventh round, so for us that’s a good thing. It just fell that way. To me, the defensive ends were not to the level of the safeties, but just like the safeties, in my mind it wasn’t necessarily as deep as the other positions. I felt that DT was deep and linebackers were deep, but not so much with defensive ends I feel like. It’s not surprising when you are picking 20th and you have to wait a little bit.
(on the long-term health of Markelle Martin)
I don’t think that he is going to be affected long term. Our medical staff felt strongly about him and we didn’t have any issues that way. We brought him in just recently and everything went extremely well.
(on if Markelle Martin would have been a second or third round pick if not for the knee injury)
Markelle was a guy who we felt like his knee was going to be good enough to be ready to go. I think Markelle had a chance to be a higher pick had he not had the injury. He couldn’t really work out but he was in meetings so it was tough for teams to get down there and see him. We were able to get Brett (Maxie) and Brett was real motivated to go see him. Also, I think his junior year was a little better than his senior year and that affected him.
HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on any similar attributes among the picks)
I think it’s speed. I think we got a lot faster. I think Jerry (Gray) talked about it with (Zach) Brown. We know
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on what they like about Scott Solomon)
He’s relentless. It’s one of those things that those guys that are relentless pass rushers who never stop usually end up winning because of it. I remember, and this is a very good player but Patrick Kearney, he was that way. He came every down, every down, so by the third quarter he ends up with two sacks. I think that’s kind of what he is. He’s all out, all the time and that wears on an offensive tackle, so I think he can give us something there.
(on how his first draft as Titans General Manager went)
It feels good that it’s in the books. Nerve wracking at times, but it was really enjoyable—Munch (Mike Munchak) was great and our scouts. I thought everything ran pretty smoothly in the room.
(on drafting five-of-seven guys on the defensive side of the ball and if they feel like they addressed their needs)
Yeah, defensively especially—I think we hit pretty much everything. We had some key needs and were able to hit most of those.
(on how he felt about the centers in the 2012 Draft and if they tried to draft one)
How do I feel they came off the board? Well, there were some centers there at times that we probably had chances to pick, but there were players there that we just felt we needed a little more. In the case of Taylor Thompson probably a guy that we feel like can really end up being a fine player for us. There are some decent undrafted options that we’re working on and we’ll see what happens.
(on Taylor Thompson’s potential as a tight end)
The funny thing is that we kind of liked him as a defensive end too. I think the thing with tight ends now is it’s like fullbacks—they’re going away. Even teams that have tight ends, they split them out, they do different things with them, so when you line up a draft board you don’t have a lot of tight ends on the draft board just like you have even less fullbacks. The position because of the nature of the college offense just isn’t the same. To me, Taylor is less of a risk than taking a college basketball player and trying him at tight end. He’s been in the trenches, he’s been a two-gap defensive end where he’s had to battle and hold the point and do all those type of things. It’s going to take a certain degree of toughness to do all of that. From that standpoint it gives you comfort that he can do it.
HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on if
Yeah, that’s something that you saw last year. When you look at the board and you’re talking about defensive ends we have two starting defensive ends; we have a first-round draft choice from two years ago in
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on the AFC South drafting six wide receivers and only two cornerbacks [at the time of the press conference])
It tells you that this is a very wide-open league and the focus is on scoring points—probably more than ever. It’s becoming more of a wide receiver-quarterback league every day.
(on if it’s unusual to get an entire draft class of four-year college players)
It is unusual, because it isn’t an easy thing to do. Like I said, I like those kind of guys because you get experience and you get maturity, and it takes some maturity to come to this league and handle money, handle your time and become the kind of player you need to be and reach your potential. I think it’s unusual that we have so many, for sure.
(on if the 2012 offensive guard prospects weren’t as NFL ready after the top two or three)
Yeah, I thought it was average. There were some guys in the middle rounds that we liked that just went that were good players. They probably weren’t at the top of everybody’s list, but as mid-round players we liked them.
GM RUSTON WEBSTER
(on what position still needs help)
What I would really like to do is get all of these guys in here with the free agents and see what we have, and then probably regroup from there. I will get with Lake (Dawson) and the pro guys and Munch (Mike Munchak) and we will see what direction we need to do. We understand that we have to keep building the roster and adding players.
HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on what position still needs help)
What’s nice this year, is that we have an opportunity with offseason programs starting with practices in May and June, you can really get a good feel for what you have and what you don’t have. You are not surprised in training camp, as maybe we were by someone last year when we didn’t have this opportunity. It gives you a chance to bring guys in and sign some free agents and sometimes you get some surprises there when you kind of see how they are and how they fit together. You start doing practices in May and June and then all of the sudden you start to see what more your needs are. Maybe you get some surprises and maybe you get some guys that aren’t what you thought they are going to be. You have to go out and see who frees up and you never know who may free up from other teams. This year we signed (Steve) Hutchinson and (Kamerion) Wimbley, and no one thought that they would be free. All of the sudden we got two great players on our team because of that. That’s the fun part, and the good part is that we have some time to bring the roster in and bring these guys together and let the coaches start working with them and see what we do have and what we don’t have. If there are a couple of things that we need to improve upon, then we have opportunities to do that even before we get to camp.
(on how many undrafted free agents there will be)
They moved the roster limit to 90, so we will probably sign somewhere between 10-14 guys.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on if there is a limit on signing bonus money)
There is a limit on signing bonus money. Last year, it was a certain number and it’s gone up just a little bit.
HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on the plan for the rookies going forward)
For the past years we’ve brought them in I think the week after the draft. We are going to wait until May 10, which is the second weekend. The reason behind that is we can bring them in that Thursday and keep them here. They will have rookie orientation for the guys we do sign so maybe 20 guys will have that orientation with just one-on-one time with the coaches and get their equipment and those type of things, get their physicals. That will be Friday or Saturday and we’ll have Sunday off. Then Monday they will start in with the players. It will be part of the normal program. That was one of the reasons why I mentioned earlier that we decided to start our off-season program a week later so those guys will have an extra week with us. Rather than one less week, we will have one more week in phase two. Phase two will be starting soon with the offseason program. Phase two means that the coaches will be going on the field with the players plus meeting time. The rookies will just jump right into the program and that will be part of the last seven weeks of the nine-week program. We will finish up towards the end of June.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on why they drafted Coty Sensabaugh)
He has good height. He has speed. He’s got some cover skills, natural cover skills. I think those are probably the three things. He’s a guy that came on this year and really was one of those players that you go in early and take a look at and he grows on you as time goes because he is really getting his playing time, really getting into the swing of things. His speed jumped out at us.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on what stands out about this draft class)
I think one thing I like is in terms of athletic ability we have a great group. I really like the combination of linebackers we have. There is a lot of speed and athletic ability in that group. I also like offensively we added to the athletic ability and speed with Kendall (Wright) and Taylor (Thompson). I feel good about that. I feel good that it is a solid group of guys that are going to come in and compete and work hard to handle their business and take care of things.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on what Scott Solomon is best known for)
Effort and relentless effort. Relentless effort and instincts.
HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on if Solomon is a Vanden Bosch type player)
I think just talking to Rock (Tracy Rocker), I’m very excited about the attitude and work ethic these guys are bringing into the room. We bring in guys that would mix nicely with
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on how soon to expect Markelle Martin to be 100 percent)
We hope when he comes in for the minicamp he will be able to do some things. Of course, he tells me he feels great and I’m ready to go. We’ll see when he gets here. I think what we found medically was that by the time the June camps roll around he will be good.
HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on how soon expect Markelle Martin to be 100 percent)
The good thing there is we don’t have offense versus defense until June. We can’t do OTA’s until after Memorial Day weekend and then he should be able to do all things. In the meantime, he shouldn’t be limited because it’s more time with your coaches and more time in individual drills.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on if there was anyone that the team just missed as a draft pick)
There were some guys. I think, without naming names, that’s the thing about picking 20, you get into that do I trade up and go get this guy that I really want or do I wait knowing we have a good pool of players there and keep the pick in the next round or whatever. That’s the dilemma. I think by the time we drafted Taylor Thompson I was tired of some of that happening and we moved up.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on if the fifth round was bad for missing guys)
A couple of guys went in the fifth round. We had our group and some guys went and we felt like the best thing to do was to go up and just get it over with.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on the defense getting younger)
I look at offense and defense a little different. Defensively, I think youth is good. You have to be able to run, hit and move and as guys get older and start losing a step, even though they have that great savvy and all that, it does affect your defense. I think offensively, it’s not as big a deal. Especially O-line and quarterback and those type of positions. Defensively, I think at all positions, it’s such an athletically demanding side of the ball that I think it’s important to be young. Do you want to mix in some veterans who can give you leadership and all that, yes you do. But you also have to be able to run and change directions and do all those kinds of things and move quickly. The reactions are important. So for me, I like being young on defense.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on how he wants veterans to react to bringing in competition from younger guys)
I think for me it’s hard when we bring guys in as you know. It affects other people. I’ve got a great deal of respect for people that play this game. To some degree, it bothers me. I also would expect the kind of guys that we have on our team to step up and compete and try to make this as good a team as we can be.
GENERAL MANAGER RUSTON WEBSTER
(on if having a lot of guys at certain position will increase competition and make the team better)
I do.