Q&A with Todd Haley - 4/26
 

Q&A with Todd Haley - 4/26
Apr 26, 2009, 12:17:18 PM


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Alex Magee 3rd Round, Donald Washington 4th Round

Q: What are your thoughts on both these picks?

TODD HALEY: “Very excited about both of them. Alex (Magee) is a guy that is another versatile defensive lineman, was an inside tackle who was asked to change positions and move out to an end last year. He did it unselfishly and, at the same time, added to his versatility. He’s a big, long-armed guy and we like that type of build playing the end. It gives us another guy that has a chance to come in and compete right away on first, second and third down because of his inside experience.

“Donald Washington is another potentially four-down player because we think he should be a very good special teamer, but a guy that has a chance to come in and compete to play in that nickel or sub position early on and compete at corner.”

Q: When you came here did you look at it and say I don’t have anybody who can play this end position in the ¾ defense?

HALEY: “Yeah, I think somewhat in that they’ve been playing a different scheme and when you think about changing over into a little more of an odd front, so to speak, you need certain types of players. To get two big defensive linemen who have a chance to compete right away, that’s a big deal.”

Q: Three picks and three defensive guys. Is that by design or just the way the board fell?

HALEY: “Our philosophy is to take a combination of best available player plus need and if you’ve been around here a little bit they’ve had a little trouble stopping people. I don’t think in this league you have much of a chance to win if you can’t slow the other offense down. It’s just the way it worked out, more than by design.”

Q: Do you see foresee Glenn Dorsey playing in the middle?

HALEY: “Things can change but not inside out of the gate. I would still see Glenn as outside right now. But that will all sort of shake itself out as we go forward. But again, I think this is all about competition and the more competition you have at each position the better. Right now our defensive line got a lot more competitive.”

Q: Do you need someone to play over the center?

twitterHALEY: “We’re transitioning in that direction; that’s our idea. There are a couple of guys already here that, I think, can play over the center, if we go in that direction. Ron Edwards has had some experience in there. He’s a big, strong guy who’s had some experience. Tank Tyler is another guy who has had some experience inside playing over the nose. So, there are some guys here that will compete in addition to the guys we’ve added.”

Q: Can Donald Washington make an impact right away?

HALEY: “Donald is someone we’re excited about. We didn’t think we’d have a chance when we made our third round pick. We actually were talking about trying to move up to get him and just couldn’t find the right fit. So, the fact that he was still there when we picked in the fourth was exciting.

“He’s a very good athlete, I mean very good. I think he’s under the radar just a little bit because he didn’t start full-time last year. But really that was really their situation at Ohio State. He’s had inside experience, playing inside over the slot which is easy to talk about but takes unique guys. They have to have the skills and they have to have the intelligence to play in there because it takes someone who understands what’s going on. He’s played it; he’s shown he’s a confident player inside over the slot and has the physical ability.

“The other thing we’re excited about is all three of these guys have come from pretty big, competitive programs. Tyson’s got a national championship under his belt; Ohio State is right there at the end every year obviously. We’re excited about that aspect.”

Q: Donald said that there may be some things out there associated with his name that may red flag him. Was that something that bothered you at all or was it something you’re comfortable with?

HALEY: “We really feel like we did our homework on Donald. We have very good relationships with the Ohio State staff from the head coach on down to the position coaches and coordinators. We did a lot of work with them. We have a close relationship with Donald’s agent and we had Donald in here for a day and a half and spent a lot of time with him. So, we feel good about where we’re at with Donald.”

Lots of good D-Line info in there.

ok, so they're NOT going to have Dorsey play traditional NT. He'll be DE. Edwards and Tyler are your initial NT's.



Good.

i like that they have very specific ideas about how these guys fit the system....they drafting with a specific context for these players...

THANK GOD! A SIGN HALEY KNOWS WHAT HES DOING!

Interesting. So we were thinking about trading up to the second round for Washington, and still got him in the fourth. We come out with possibly our top 2 3-4 DE prospects and a CB we had rated very highly. I would say Pioli is pretty happy with what the board has given him so far.

WHAT THEY ARE IDIOTS ROFL

i took that as they thought about trading back into the third round, could be wrong though. i took it as they thought AFTER they took their third round pick he wouldnt be there

Wow, straight answers.

Scott's probably never going to let him do a PC by himself ever again.

yeah, you're right.

thanks good to know my reading comprehension skills arent quite as bad as mecca makes them out to be:D

That's something I mentioned in another thread earlier, something that's stood out to me. They're drafting productive players from major programs, something people complained about for years when Carl was drafting people from Whereinthehell State College and Cattle Farm in the 2nd round.

So Dorsey won't be playing at nose. Just like I have said all along.

Sheesh.

Good interview.

So have I. Do I get a cookie or something? Gold star? Pat on the back? Pocket lint?