Redskins Draft Briefing notes

Coach Gibbs: Jacket no tie.

Still in the process of listening to other teams, what we're going to do. Reason for doing this is beccause the fans want it and it gives us an opportunity to talk to fans.

Process: Very difficult. Fourteen hour days struggling with lists. Big thanks to Vinny and his scouts. Everyone is included in decision. Defensively Gregg Williams and scouts and position Coach and me are involved. Every player in the country involved, middle stuff, personals, film, plus and minuses. Three game films gives us a feel for them, sometimes more. Scout with closest contact to player gives us all the info on that player, injury background, history, what their coaches think, etc. Then we discuss player, Vinny goes around the room and asks for feelings on him. Sometimes those discussions are heated. Vinny provides 20 questions: character, athletic ability, etc. Final Redskins grade is assigned and put on the board. Positions are separated and then we put all the players ranked at their respective positions.

Positional coaches then take all current players on the Redskins and swap them with the graded players to see where they stand relative to our current roster.

Also grade positions relative to each other. After we separate players by position, we combine all the positions; example, might have two Defensive Ends at the top.

We travel all over the country to get our grades. We have an opportunity to speak to an enormous amount of players, lots of work involved. We physical til their brains fall out [ED. interesting word choice]. We assign a physical grade to the players based on that, it is a very physical process. Medical grade and wonderlic grade both involved.

We brought in almost every first round player available, and thanks to Dan for providing the resources for that.

The three of us participate in a process together, speaking at length about many players. We've talked about moving up and moving back.

The big gap in draft picks from 1 to 5 definitely influences us. We would like a full draft next year. We wish we had one this year. But really for us we've been aggressive in the past, in free agency. Not afraid to trade for players we want. We've made decisions with what's best for the team in mind. Comical statements about the Redskins hating the draft... we love the draft. We also like Free Agency. I think we'll find out that we did some things late in the year in free agency that will make us a good team.

I know we finished 5-11, which is a tough deal. But we are together on decisions, and we've made decisions for the best of the Football teams. Hopefully get some wins next year.

We're going to look at our 5th round and down and be real careful about who we pick. Tendency is to be lazy about it and focus on the early rounders, we want to get those stars in the later rounds, as it happens. We told our scouts to look for people who might fall to those later rounds but might be a hidden star player. We plan to be aggressive with undrafted free agents as Dan lets us to that.

Trading is very hard to do and we do not anticipate being able to do that.

Face to face conversations with players are great. Gives the player a chance to change their impression with the Coaches. Guy could impress a coach and get a chance to get a good look. Get to see what a guy will add to the team outside of film and athleticism. Mentioned laughing at a breakfast with a player, and what that can bring to a team.

Drug rumors are taken seriously only when they are substantiated by a failed drug test.

We do have a different philosophy from other teams, since all 32 teams have different philosophy. We fall into the "aggresive" category. Dan is aggressive in free agency and allows us to get things done.

Many factors are taken into account from Wonderlic to scores. It's like hiring a person, a resume is just part of it, answers to questions are part of it. Character is an issue. There are so many things going into the equation that it makes the decision difficult. Will money change the person, for example. There is no one thing that makes a decision, it's a function of putting all those little things together. One of the hardest things to do.

Advantage of taking players already in the league is that you're less likely to miss something in evaluation. They do cost more though. Nothing in this process is perfect or predetermined.

At the #6 pick you are looking long term. Can this player play for us for the next 10 years. If we pick a guy at a position where there's already talent, he doesn't have to produce next year. We think many years down the road. Hard to say that any player would step in at any position and start. We're looking for a guy who can play in the long long haul, as he is going to take a chunk of our cap. Sometimes that means taking a player where you're crowded.

Sixth pick might be someone who will take some time to get into a starting role and become a dominant player, given our roster.

Last year was a good example of getting two young tackles late in the draft. Montgomery and Golston were always in the weight room, and they made huge strides because of hard work. We think they both have a big future. We've had great attendence and workouts despite allowing players to go home for it. Anthony and Kedric will make an impact for us.

We're very comfortable with our receivers, though we never rule out adding another player with the 6th pick. If we move back, we're looking more towards needs. At the #6 pick though, you take the guy who you think will make the biggest impact down the road.

Vinny Cerrato: Sans jacket.

Evolving process, definition of a "true Redskin" has changed through the years. We eliminate a bunch of guys off the board.

What you do not want to do at #6 is take a need who maybe isn't worthy. With so few picks we definitely want to take a guy at #6 who is Pro Bowl worthy, an impact player. Taking a "need" at #6 that should go 15th is not smart. We'll be looking at the best player available.

Trading down: depends on how bad someone wants him. We start with the chart (because everyone does) and we will try and get chart value for the pick.

Trading down depends on what happens in the top 5. If someone falls that other teams are interested in there's a real shot at movement.

Rookie minicamps allow people to come in and practice. If the guys who come in play better than the ones we draft, we'll keep them. Last year we got four practice squad guys. There are ways to find players outside of the draft. Provides a pool of players, especially to replace injured guys.

Philosophy is the same here as it was in San Fransisco. The ultimate goal has always been to win and you take players that help you do that. Identify what you want and go get it.

Statistically the most valuable picks are 2nd round picks. Must look at the draft overall, depth at certain positions.

Was Chris Cooley worth the move? He's a heckuva ball player and by trading a 2nd rounder for a 3rd rounder we felt good about that move. Would we do that again? Yea.

Kedric may not be the best athlete in the world, but what impressed us were intangibles, like his toughness. We're looking for a profile of a player and he fit it.

Dan Snyder: Jacket and gold tie.

We were ahead of the draft board curve, the Joe Gibbs standard is pretty high.

We'll see this year that Rocky McIntosh was well worth trading up for last year.

I do not think George Allen's looseness with 1st round picks has influenced my own position. We're simply trying to get better. We have the #6 pick in the draft today, we're looking at all our strategies, forward and backwards.

CJ real impressive. Had dinner with 20-25 first round picks, covered as much ground as possible. Cannot see as many as we'd like, but do our best.

All players must meet the requirement of being a Redskin. From my perspective, I'm looking at the #6 pick and we want a dominating player. We're not sure if we'll get phone calls or not at #6.

Take on GM? Everyone disappointed for fans given the rough season. Many things took place, though we're making some progress. Hope to improve on 5-11.

We've improved this free agency. London Fletcher is an impressive MLB. Welcome back Fred Smoot who fits us very well. David Macklin really has a great deal of depth. Very excited with this offseason.