Q&A Carl and DV

**DaKCMan AP** · 04-23-2005, 03:07 PM

DRAFT: CARL PETERSON & DICK VERMEIL
Apr 23, 2005, 4:00:28 PM

ON FIRST-ROUND SELECTION
LB DERRICK JOHNSON

CARL PETERSON: “Obviously, we had a lot of insight on this guy. A (coach) that was here, Greg Robinson, coached for Dick and coached with Dick Tomey, who coached with both of us. All had superlatives to say about him as a person.

“The most productive linebacker in the draft. You look at solo tackles, assisted tackles, sacks, interceptions. The guy’s been an extraordinary player for the University of Texas. He is a Butkus Award winner and he’s also the Bronco Nagurski Award winner.”

DICK VERMEIL: “We actually had anticipated him being off the board at the time. Yesterday we sat and covered scenarios through the day if this guy was here or what if these two guys are here together and where do we go? His name was within that conversation many, many times coupled with somebody else. But each time we felt that Derrick would probably go because the pre-draft rumors and experts predicted he would go earlier. Instead, it was Thomas Davis who went and not Derrick Johnson.

“So, we ended up drafting Derrick in anticipation of bringing a very quality football player here. I don’t know if he’ll be ready to line up and play in the league opener, but there’ll be a day he’ll line up and play a lot of football in Kansas City.”

Q: You’re looking at him as a weakside linebacker, right?

VERMEIL: “No, we don’t play weakside, strongside. We play left and right. He’ll probably work at the left side. But I don’t know how long it will take him to end up making a strong contribution, but obviously he’s going to be on the roster and competing at that position with Scott Fujita.”

Q: What’s he got to prove to get onto the field?

VERMEIL: “First he’s going to have to learn the scheme. You do so much more in pro football than you do in college. But he had a good introduction to pro defenses last year with Greg (Robinson). I think the big thing will be to learn to take on people instead of just skating and running parallel down the line of scrimmage and through. There’ll be a lot of times he’s forced to gap hold and take on guards and tackles and centers, then ricochet and go make the play which he has really not been asked to do within his scheme.

“But when you stand 6'3" and weigh over 240 pounds odds are you’re going to be able to learn to do that pretty well. Plus, he’s a gifted athlete. He was a 10.5 100 meter kid in high school, a 48” triple jumper; he long jumped 10 foot at the Combine. This guy had tremendous athletic and movement skills. We have to incorporate those skills into our defensive fundamentals and scheme.”

Q: What did Greg Robinson tell you about him?

VERMEIL: “Greg Robinson said he was the best linebacker prospect that he’d ever seen including all the guys he coached in pro football.”

Q: Does he have the kind of coverage skills you need?

VERMEIL: “Yes, he is more of that kind of player. Very seldom does he line up on the tight end. We always have him stacked and backed off, more often than not. He’s not limited to those kinds of skills.”

Q: What did you learn when he visited last week?

VERMEIL: “Very articulate. Bright guy. Serious about his career. Not a real vocal guy, or a big ego guy. Not a guy who could woo the media and send you out all laughing and smiling. Pretty serious. Sort of a low key balanced young man.”

Q: But fits the profile?

VERMEIL: “Yes.”

Q: Had Thomas Davis and he both been available do you know what you would have done?

PETERSON: “We would have had a long discussion.”

VERMEIL: “It eliminated the debate.”

PETERSON: “This guy is a pure linebacker and Davis is a combination or versatile guy that’s a safety and linebacker. Linebacker is a place where we want to fill even more than we’ve done to date. So we think he can make a big impact and I hope he does line up in the opener.”

Q: When you felt that at least one of those guys would be there did it become kind of stress free?

PETERSON: “Yeah, and we entertained some calls from people that wanted to move up and wanted us to move back. One of those teams, frankly, we had pretty good information that the guy they would have taken was Derrick Johnson, so we said no.

We stayed with our grades for the highest guy on the board. We did not think he would be there at the 15th pick. But he was.”

Q: Was it helpful to be able to get the input of someone like Greg Robinson?

VERMEIL: “The information we used to draft this young man was information gathered through our scouting personnel. Every grade we have on him is an outstanding grade regardless of who we asked to grade him. Our cross-checkers and everybody else graded him very, very high.”

Q: Why do you suppose he was there at 15?

VERMEIL: “First off, three running backs went early. All of a sudden that’s the first time in the history of the National Football League that three of them have been drafted that early. That pushes other people down.”

PETERSON: “Three cornerbacks all gone.”

VERMEIL: “Pretty quick; that’s three and three and you’ve got six. That only leaves nine other spots. The other guy (Davis) had a little more versatility in that if he wasn’t a safety he could move to linebacker. Or if he wasn’t a linebacker he could move to safety. This guy is a linebacker.”

Q: How satisfied are you now with the defense?

VERMEIL: “I’m not satisfied. I won’t be satisfied until I see them play better, see us play better, see me coach better. That’s when I’ll be satisfied. All we’re doing right now is trying to upgrade our personnel and overall leadership of our defense with the moves that we have made. I’ll be satisfied when I see them play equivalent to the effort our scouting staff and our people who write out the bonus checks to bring people here give them.”

Q: Are your needs filled on the defensive side of the ball with free agency and now drafting Johnson?

VERMEIL: “Yes.”

Q: Are you going to the offensive side or are you sticking with the defensive side?

VERMEIL: “I think Carl can answer that better than I can. I would imagine we would stay with the best players that are on the board as we have them rated.

“We spend so much time and really it’s a crime. You spend all those hours and all those dollars really for seven rounds. My gosh. It’s an overkill. It’s wrong. We could end up with a balanced remainder of the draft: so many offensive and so many defensive more so based on the talent where we had them rated.”

Q: Did you say what Gunther Cunningham said about Johnson?

VERMEIL: “Gunther was involved in the decision, the evaluation process. He was excited about the guy.”

PETERSON: “He was excited about the guy: big guy, very fluid, a guy who could run who has been extremely productive. Just look at his stats in four years. That’s a very gifted player and it was one of the guys we were hoping – couldn’t really plan completely — that he would be there. That’s the great thing about the draft: you never can predict it.”

Q: Any prospects for picking up a second rounder?

PETERSON: “It’s difficult to do because you have to bundle so many picks together, or then start taking picks from next year which I don’t want to do. It may happen; we’ll certainly continue to research it. We do have seven picks in the second day which we’re very happy about. But to get to the value of the second round draft choice you’re probably going to have to spend four or five of those.

“We’ve had some good success in the late rounds. We’re looking forward to it.”

VERMEIL: “I keep getting overtones that Junior Siavii was a bust. But we said when we drafted him that he was a project. Then when they get hurt it slows down the project. Ryan Sims breaks an arm and it slows him down. He’s making progress. Scott Fujita. He was a fifth round draft choice and is starting and playing, but that’s not evaluated as a great pick. The guys that we tend to over-evaluate and put too much pressure on are the earlier picks. Sometimes it takes time and sometimes you just make a mistake. It’s not the kid’s fault. You go on.”

Q: Do you look more toward a rookie’s productivity on special teams or backup roles?

PETERSON: “You want them to make your team, so they’d better be able to play special teams. If they can’t start they’ve got to make a contribution.

VERMEIL: “Johnson’s played a lot of football at a great institution where they’re always up there in the national rankings. He makes big plays and makes them in big games. He has the athletic skill to make them.”

04-23-2005, 03:07 PM	Topic Starter
DaKCMan AP Beloved & Awesome CP Celebrity Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Florida Casino cash: $5614952	Q&A Carl and DV DRAFT: CARL PETERSON & DICK VERMEIL Apr 23, 2005, 4:00:28 PM ON FIRST-ROUND SELECTION LB DERRICK JOHNSON CARL PETERSON: “Obviously, we had a lot of insight on this guy. A (coach) that was here, Greg Robinson, coached for Dick and coached with Dick Tomey, who coached with both of us. All had superlatives to say about him as a person. “The most productive linebacker in the draft. You look at solo tackles, assisted tackles, sacks, interceptions. The guy’s been an extraordinary player for the University of Texas. He is a Butkus Award winner and he’s also the Bronco Nagurski Award winner.” DICK VERMEIL: “We actually had anticipated him being off the board at the time. Yesterday we sat and covered scenarios through the day if this guy was here or what if these two guys are here together and where do we go? His name was within that conversation many, many times coupled with somebody else. But each time we felt that Derrick would probably go because the pre-draft rumors and experts predicted he would go earlier. Instead, it was Thomas Davis who went and not Derrick Johnson. “So, we ended up drafting Derrick in anticipation of bringing a very quality football player here. I don’t know if he’ll be ready to line up and play in the league opener, but there’ll be a day he’ll line up and play a lot of football in Kansas City.” Q: You’re looking at him as a weakside linebacker, right? VERMEIL: “No, we don’t play weakside, strongside. We play left and right. He’ll probably work at the left side. But I don’t know how long it will take him to end up making a strong contribution, but obviously he’s going to be on the roster and competing at that position with Scott Fujita.” Q: What’s he got to prove to get onto the field? VERMEIL: “First he’s going to have to learn the scheme. You do so much more in pro football than you do in college. But he had a good introduction to pro defenses last year with Greg (Robinson). I think the big thing will be to learn to take on people instead of just skating and running parallel down the line of scrimmage and through. There’ll be a lot of times he’s forced to gap hold and take on guards and tackles and centers, then ricochet and go make the play which he has really not been asked to do within his scheme. “But when you stand 6'3" and weigh over 240 pounds odds are you’re going to be able to learn to do that pretty well. Plus, he’s a gifted athlete. He was a 10.5 100 meter kid in high school, a 48” triple jumper; he long jumped 10 foot at the Combine. This guy had tremendous athletic and movement skills. We have to incorporate those skills into our defensive fundamentals and scheme.” Q: What did Greg Robinson tell you about him? VERMEIL: “Greg Robinson said he was the best linebacker prospect that he’d ever seen including all the guys he coached in pro football.” Q: Does he have the kind of coverage skills you need? VERMEIL: “Yes, he is more of that kind of player. Very seldom does he line up on the tight end. We always have him stacked and backed off, more often than not. He’s not limited to those kinds of skills.” Q: What did you learn when he visited last week? VERMEIL: “Very articulate. Bright guy. Serious about his career. Not a real vocal guy, or a big ego guy. Not a guy who could woo the media and send you out all laughing and smiling. Pretty serious. Sort of a low key balanced young man.” Q: But fits the profile? VERMEIL: “Yes.” Q: Had Thomas Davis and he both been available do you know what you would have done? PETERSON: “We would have had a long discussion.” VERMEIL: “It eliminated the debate.” PETERSON: “This guy is a pure linebacker and Davis is a combination or versatile guy that’s a safety and linebacker. Linebacker is a place where we want to fill even more than we’ve done to date. So we think he can make a big impact and I hope he does line up in the opener.” Q: When you felt that at least one of those guys would be there did it become kind of stress free? PETERSON: “Yeah, and we entertained some calls from people that wanted to move up and wanted us to move back. One of those teams, frankly, we had pretty good information that the guy they would have taken was Derrick Johnson, so we said no. We stayed with our grades for the highest guy on the board. We did not think he would be there at the 15th pick. But he was.” Q: Was it helpful to be able to get the input of someone like Greg Robinson? VERMEIL: “The information we used to draft this young man was information gathered through our scouting personnel. Every grade we have on him is an outstanding grade regardless of who we asked to grade him. Our cross-checkers and everybody else graded him very, very high.” Q: Why do you suppose he was there at 15? VERMEIL: “First off, three running backs went early. All of a sudden that’s the first time in the history of the National Football League that three of them have been drafted that early. That pushes other people down.” PETERSON: “Three cornerbacks all gone.” VERMEIL: “Pretty quick; that’s three and three and you’ve got six. That only leaves nine other spots. The other guy (Davis) had a little more versatility in that if he wasn’t a safety he could move to linebacker. Or if he wasn’t a linebacker he could move to safety. This guy is a linebacker.” Q: How satisfied are you now with the defense? VERMEIL: “I’m not satisfied. I won’t be satisfied until I see them play better, see us play better, see me coach better. That’s when I’ll be satisfied. All we’re doing right now is trying to upgrade our personnel and overall leadership of our defense with the moves that we have made. I’ll be satisfied when I see them play equivalent to the effort our scouting staff and our people who write out the bonus checks to bring people here give them.” Q: Are your needs filled on the defensive side of the ball with free agency and now drafting Johnson? VERMEIL: “Yes.” Q: Are you going to the offensive side or are you sticking with the defensive side? VERMEIL: “I think Carl can answer that better than I can. I would imagine we would stay with the best players that are on the board as we have them rated. “We spend so much time and really it’s a crime. You spend all those hours and all those dollars really for seven rounds. My gosh. It’s an overkill. It’s wrong. We could end up with a balanced remainder of the draft: so many offensive and so many defensive more so based on the talent where we had them rated.” Q: Did you say what Gunther Cunningham said about Johnson? VERMEIL: “Gunther was involved in the decision, the evaluation process. He was excited about the guy.” PETERSON: “He was excited about the guy: big guy, very fluid, a guy who could run who has been extremely productive. Just look at his stats in four years. That’s a very gifted player and it was one of the guys we were hoping – couldn’t really plan completely — that he would be there. That’s the great thing about the draft: you never can predict it.” Q: Any prospects for picking up a second rounder? PETERSON: “It’s difficult to do because you have to bundle so many picks together, or then start taking picks from next year which I don’t want to do. It may happen; we’ll certainly continue to research it. We do have seven picks in the second day which we’re very happy about. But to get to the value of the second round draft choice you’re probably going to have to spend four or five of those. “We’ve had some good success in the late rounds. We’re looking forward to it.” VERMEIL: “I keep getting overtones that Junior Siavii was a bust. But we said when we drafted him that he was a project. Then when they get hurt it slows down the project. Ryan Sims breaks an arm and it slows him down. He’s making progress. Scott Fujita. He was a fifth round draft choice and is starting and playing, but that’s not evaluated as a great pick. The guys that we tend to over-evaluate and put too much pressure on are the earlier picks. Sometimes it takes time and sometimes you just make a mistake. It’s not the kid’s fault. You go on.” Q: Do you look more toward a rookie’s productivity on special teams or backup roles? PETERSON: “You want them to make your team, so they’d better be able to play special teams. If they can’t start they’ve got to make a contribution. VERMEIL: “Johnson’s played a lot of football at a great institution where they’re always up there in the national rankings. He makes big plays and makes them in big games. He has the athletic skill to make them.”
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