BigRock
03-24-2008, 11:01 PM
Here's a recap of Herm's presser I saw. There's a few interesting tidbits, I guess.
- Opened talking about his youth camp, which will be back another year. They’re holding an OTA session in St. Joes. They’re going to start doing something similar to the Royals caravan where players and coaches will go around to different cities and such.
- Gun is coaching the linebackers now, which was something they decided to do shortly after the season ended.
- Didn’t do much in free agency, just like they said. Signed a few guys, missed out on a few others. Mentions wanting to sign some of our own players that are already under contract and get them locked up.
- Herm’s going to LSU tomorrow for the pro day. Their "#1 scout" D-Bowe is going with him and is going to give Herm a tour of the campus.
Responding to questions:
- Gun is still the coordinator. He wanted to be more involved with the defense, wanted to coach the linebackers. So he is. He’ll stay in the booth on gameday. Herm thinks it’ll be good for the team and the players.
- A guy sounding an awful lot like Adam Teicher asked if having Gun coach the linebackers is aimed at any specific player or players. Herm said no, but Teicher put that theme in his story anyway.
Herm elaborated on the "no", saying the linebackers are a big part of what they want to do defensively, the defense is built around them, wants them to be more fundamentally sound. Talked about missed tackles last year.
- Talked about free agents. They have an A list, a B list, and a C list. You want to stay with the As and avoid the Cs, cause you’re grasping when you get to the Cs. He thinks the A and B list guys are gone, but the C list guys will still be there after the draft.
Someone misunderstood Herm’s earlier remark about signing our own guys and thought he meant bringing back our free agents like Sapp and Parker and Wilson, but that’s not what he meant.
- Dodged some draft questions. He thinks they’ll have 3-4 guys that they’ll feel good about taking at #5. He’s not going to reach and pull some guy up who they have rated at the bottom of the first round somewhere.
Rhonda asked if he’d draft by need or by who’s there at the time, and Herm says it’d be great if whoever’s there fills a need. Rhonda says it doesn’t always work out that way. Herm: "Well, we got a lot of positions to fill."
Someone tried to get into how far Herm would be willing to reach. And Herm said the same thing about probably having 3-4 guys they’ll like, and that if you pick a guy among 3-4 players who are separated in their rating by fractions and decimals, he doesn’t consider that reaching on anybody. I guess that’s as far as he’d be willing to reach, but he didn’t state that for sure.
- Through about pick 15 to the third round, he thinks there will be a lot of good linemen, corners, running backs, and receivers to take. It’s easy to talk about trading down, but it’s hard to do. They’ll listen to different offers and scenarios and do what’s best for the team at the end.
The team needs to add players. Assuming they stand pat with their picks and draft 10 guys, they still need to add 20 before training camp. He’s excited about it.
- It could turn out that none of the 3-4 guys they like are there at #5. The guy sitting there could still be a great player, but the wrong position. Herm more or less said he’d take that guy anyway ‘cause he wants to add good players.
- In free agency, they want to stick to guys 26-27 or younger with an upside. Older guys weren’t even on their list.
- Herm says they started calling agents at midnight the day free agency started. He thinks some deals got done before midnight, which is against the rules. They followed the rules. He was asked about Tampa cheating with Faine and said you’d have to ask Tampa.
- He doesn’t think adding Demarrio Williams is an indictment of Donnie or Harris, it’s more a replacement of Keyaron Fox for the moment. But he’s coming in to compete for a spot and to add depth. Gotta get DJ to the Pro Bowl level he’s capable of. Described Harris as playing good early, not so good in the middle, and then he had 18 tackles in the final game. That’s what they want to see out of him.
- Drafted young defensive players when he got there, now they need more on offense. Feels good about the defensive line, needs to fix the offensive line. Need corners. #2 receiver spot is up for grabs. Need a returner.
- Rudy is running and will be fine for camp. If they played today, he’d be the starting center.
- Brodie is the starter.
- Matt Ryan’s a good player. Doesn’t know if he could be a franchise QB, won’t say either way. He finds a way to win, which is important. Threw a lot of picks, which is a concern. Herm doesn’t think more of him now than he did before. He liked him before, still likes him.
- LJ’s foot is good. He’s running or jogging or doing something. Herm says they won’t rush him.
- Herm doesn’t care how old the kicker is. You’d like a young one to have for a long time, but you need someone who can make the kicks.
- There will be some good quarterbacks in the 2nd-4th rounds. He wouldn’t be opposed to going into the season with Brodie, Thigpen, and a rookie if another team was interested in Huard.
- Wants a left tackle who’s athletic, who can block speed rushers. One who can go up against the best defensive ends. On third and long, don’t want to worry about turning your protection to him. He thinks Jake Long can be a left tackle.
- Jared Allen’s in a "good place" right now. He made the Pro Bowl, he’s getting a raise. Herm talked to him about a week ago, but they don’t talk contract stuff. They talk more than people imagine. They played in a golf tournament together.
- The final questions were about the St. Joe’s thing. Herm thinks it’s good to take things to the fans and the kids since many can’t afford to come to a game. It’s not a tryout to see about moving training camp there.
FIN
- Opened talking about his youth camp, which will be back another year. They’re holding an OTA session in St. Joes. They’re going to start doing something similar to the Royals caravan where players and coaches will go around to different cities and such.
- Gun is coaching the linebackers now, which was something they decided to do shortly after the season ended.
- Didn’t do much in free agency, just like they said. Signed a few guys, missed out on a few others. Mentions wanting to sign some of our own players that are already under contract and get them locked up.
- Herm’s going to LSU tomorrow for the pro day. Their "#1 scout" D-Bowe is going with him and is going to give Herm a tour of the campus.
Responding to questions:
- Gun is still the coordinator. He wanted to be more involved with the defense, wanted to coach the linebackers. So he is. He’ll stay in the booth on gameday. Herm thinks it’ll be good for the team and the players.
- A guy sounding an awful lot like Adam Teicher asked if having Gun coach the linebackers is aimed at any specific player or players. Herm said no, but Teicher put that theme in his story anyway.
Herm elaborated on the "no", saying the linebackers are a big part of what they want to do defensively, the defense is built around them, wants them to be more fundamentally sound. Talked about missed tackles last year.
- Talked about free agents. They have an A list, a B list, and a C list. You want to stay with the As and avoid the Cs, cause you’re grasping when you get to the Cs. He thinks the A and B list guys are gone, but the C list guys will still be there after the draft.
Someone misunderstood Herm’s earlier remark about signing our own guys and thought he meant bringing back our free agents like Sapp and Parker and Wilson, but that’s not what he meant.
- Dodged some draft questions. He thinks they’ll have 3-4 guys that they’ll feel good about taking at #5. He’s not going to reach and pull some guy up who they have rated at the bottom of the first round somewhere.
Rhonda asked if he’d draft by need or by who’s there at the time, and Herm says it’d be great if whoever’s there fills a need. Rhonda says it doesn’t always work out that way. Herm: "Well, we got a lot of positions to fill."
Someone tried to get into how far Herm would be willing to reach. And Herm said the same thing about probably having 3-4 guys they’ll like, and that if you pick a guy among 3-4 players who are separated in their rating by fractions and decimals, he doesn’t consider that reaching on anybody. I guess that’s as far as he’d be willing to reach, but he didn’t state that for sure.
- Through about pick 15 to the third round, he thinks there will be a lot of good linemen, corners, running backs, and receivers to take. It’s easy to talk about trading down, but it’s hard to do. They’ll listen to different offers and scenarios and do what’s best for the team at the end.
The team needs to add players. Assuming they stand pat with their picks and draft 10 guys, they still need to add 20 before training camp. He’s excited about it.
- It could turn out that none of the 3-4 guys they like are there at #5. The guy sitting there could still be a great player, but the wrong position. Herm more or less said he’d take that guy anyway ‘cause he wants to add good players.
- In free agency, they want to stick to guys 26-27 or younger with an upside. Older guys weren’t even on their list.
- Herm says they started calling agents at midnight the day free agency started. He thinks some deals got done before midnight, which is against the rules. They followed the rules. He was asked about Tampa cheating with Faine and said you’d have to ask Tampa.
- He doesn’t think adding Demarrio Williams is an indictment of Donnie or Harris, it’s more a replacement of Keyaron Fox for the moment. But he’s coming in to compete for a spot and to add depth. Gotta get DJ to the Pro Bowl level he’s capable of. Described Harris as playing good early, not so good in the middle, and then he had 18 tackles in the final game. That’s what they want to see out of him.
- Drafted young defensive players when he got there, now they need more on offense. Feels good about the defensive line, needs to fix the offensive line. Need corners. #2 receiver spot is up for grabs. Need a returner.
- Rudy is running and will be fine for camp. If they played today, he’d be the starting center.
- Brodie is the starter.
- Matt Ryan’s a good player. Doesn’t know if he could be a franchise QB, won’t say either way. He finds a way to win, which is important. Threw a lot of picks, which is a concern. Herm doesn’t think more of him now than he did before. He liked him before, still likes him.
- LJ’s foot is good. He’s running or jogging or doing something. Herm says they won’t rush him.
- Herm doesn’t care how old the kicker is. You’d like a young one to have for a long time, but you need someone who can make the kicks.
- There will be some good quarterbacks in the 2nd-4th rounds. He wouldn’t be opposed to going into the season with Brodie, Thigpen, and a rookie if another team was interested in Huard.
- Wants a left tackle who’s athletic, who can block speed rushers. One who can go up against the best defensive ends. On third and long, don’t want to worry about turning your protection to him. He thinks Jake Long can be a left tackle.
- Jared Allen’s in a "good place" right now. He made the Pro Bowl, he’s getting a raise. Herm talked to him about a week ago, but they don’t talk contract stuff. They talk more than people imagine. They played in a golf tournament together.
- The final questions were about the St. Joe’s thing. Herm thinks it’s good to take things to the fans and the kids since many can’t afford to come to a game. It’s not a tryout to see about moving training camp there.
FIN