Denver Broncos Draft 2010 – Round One Quotes – Josh McDaniels

Opening Statement

“It’s been obviously, a busy day for us today and a very productive day. We were able to get two players who we thought could really come in here and contribute. We know what we’re going to get from them – hard work. They’re both obviously talented players and we’re excited about what they may be able to bring here to the Broncos. I think the draft is almost over tonight but there’s still a lot to go here this weekend and we look forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow. We’re excited about adding another third-round draft pick with the different trades we were able to make today. We’ll look to be aggressive again tomorrow and see what we can do to improve our football team.”

On the team’s plans for Broncos first-round draft pick (No. 25 overall) Tim Tebow

“Everybody that we evaluate and grade, obviously we put a grade on them – but that does not prohibit them from doing anything. Both players that we drafted today and every player that we draft this weekend is going to have an opportunity to contribute in any way that they can by determining their own role. We tell all our players that: Veterans, rookies, college free agents – doesn’t matter what it is – unrestricted free agents, when we sign them…They determine their role by what they do on our football team. We’re going to have a lot of days to evaluate their performance and evaluate how it is going to fit with our team. They’ll be given the same opportunities as the rest of our roster and they’ll make their own roles. Obviously we feel good about their ability to come in here and compete at those two positions and make those groups and those players at those positions better. We’ve tried to do that this entire offseason and free agency at every spot that we could. Adding players to make the positions more competitive, deeper and add depth. Most of it happened to be on defense but that’s our goal when we bring a player here.”

On whether Tebow was a value or a need-based pick

“I think it’s a good pick, I wouldn’t call it either one. The player obviously has all the traits that you’re looking for in terms of toughness and competitiveness. He’s intelligent and he’s won a lot of games. He’s a leader, he works hard and he’s got all the intangibles that you look for in a player at that position. He’s produced a lot of numbers and statistically – I’m not even going to talk about that because he’s one of the best in a long, long time. We need that player in that position to be a good player, a real good player. If we can make him a special player, that’s what we’re looking for. Now we have a deep group of quarterbacks and we expect the competition to be incredible. It hasn’t changed anything in terms of our depth chart right now. We’re looking for that position to be the best player on our team if we can make it that way. Competition is only going to make each one of those players better and that’s what we expect him to come in and provide us with.”

On whether Tebow’s style fits the Broncos’ system

“We stole a lot of (University of Florida’s) plays maybe three or four years ago. They run a lot of different things. They ask their quarterback to do a lot. No college quarterback – or very few I should say – have run or done what we’re going to do, or what other NFL teams do necessarily, because the game has spread out so much. There are so many different things going on right now in the college football game that maybe you don’t see in the professional football league. What Tim has been asked to do – mentally, there is a lot of burden on him – same thing here. What he’s been asked to do in terms of reading defenses and progressions and those types of things is similar to what he’ll have to do in the National Football League. He’s been well coached – I have a great deal of respect for (University of Florida Head) Coach (Urban) Meyer. I have a good relationship with (Meyer), known him for a long time and understand what (Tebow) has had to do and what he’s had to learn. I don’t really look at it and say, ‘His system doesn’t fit our system.’ No quarterback’s does. I’m not really worried too much about it, I just know what he’s been asked to do and what he’s been able to accomplish in that system there. I won’t deny that he doesn’t give you an opportunity to create some un-gameplanned production, similar to (Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback) Ben Roethlisberger, or a (Washington Redskins quarterback) Donovan McNabb or someone like that where you draw the play up there on the board and all of the sudden it doesn’t necessarily look as pretty as I thought it would but then he makes it work some other way – there is an element to his game like that.”

On whether players’ characters impacted the Broncos’ draft strategy

“I would say this, (Oklahoma State WR) Dez Bryant was on our board and I’ll stick with what I said (Friday). We liked Demaryius Thomas and had him graded highly the entire spring and he was higher than Dez Bryant, at the same level or however you want to see it. He’s a player that has some unique traits and unique skills. He’s a smart kid, we spent a lot of time with him – I spent a lot of time with him personally. He understands our system, our offense and what we’ve asked our receivers to learn. I think that’s a thing that he can process and allows him to get on the field and contribute to our team. They’re both big, they’re both fast, they can catch the ball and have a high average per reception. He’s played in a league with a lot of competition so we’re excited about Demaryius being on our football team. It certainly gives us the opportunity to have a bigger wide receiver that can do some different things, create some matchup problems and I think that’s something that you’re looking for now.”

On whether the Broncos gave up too much to move up in the first round

“Not at all. Like I said, we felt very good about the player and had we waited too long we would have lost that opportunity, there’s no question about that – there were a lot of people interested. I think the longer you wait the more chances you take with any player. That position on our team, that player has to be at the top of our charts and we want that player to be a great player. He’s got to lead our team, he’s got to make every player in the locker room better and he has to make our team better. That’s what a quarterback needs to do in this league and we want the competition that we provide in that spot to make all of those players better. There’s nothing better to try to improve everyone’s performance than to bring people there who can compete with them. That’s what we did with (first-round selection) Tim (Tebow), that’s what we did with (Broncos quarterback) Brady (Quinn) and (Broncos quarterback) Kyle (Orton) has obviously been here. Tom (Brandstater) has been working his butt off in the offseason program too. We have a competitive situation at, to me, the most important position and we expect that to make all of them better.”

On how quickly Tebow can be a starting quarterback in the NFL and what his immediate role may be

“The answer of the starter and all that is going to be determined by what they do. They’re all going to learn the same things, be given the same opportunity. Our starting quarterback is Kyle Orton. If somebody performs better than Kyle Orton then that’s going to have to change but right now it hasn’t and we’ll see what happens as we move forward. Tim is a player who is capable of doing different things. He could be a gameplan-type thing if that’s what we determine is best early in his career. He’s done a lot of things in his career, running the football and doing different things in terms of handling the football. He’s a guy that gives you the opportunity to create some packages like that and if you want to use that then you can get creative. There’s no mystery about the Wildcat (offense) becoming more in vogue and having a player who may be able to do both run and pass the ball gives you another option.”

On how both of Denver’s first-round selections fit the team’s goals

“We want players who are tough, smart, have great character, love football and are passionate about coming here and helping the Broncos win a championship. I think both players fit that role and I think that’s something that we’re looking for in all of our players. What we’re trying to build here is team chemistry and a team that cares about winning and winning a championship and that’s it. That’s the single goal that we all have in mind. I think that bringing in guys that share that vision and share that belief is what’s most important. I think we’ve added two players to our team tonight that will help us go out after that goal.”

On whether most of the trades were made in the moment or were premeditated

“Some of them, you discuss things leading up to the draft, certainly there’s no question about that. Most of ours were either right when we were on the clock or arraigned slightly prior to us being on the clock – or in the case of us trading into someone else’s slot right before they were on the clock. ‘Will you take this for that to move up if you’re guy isn’t there?’ ‘Yeah I will,’ ‘OK well I’ll call you when we’re on the clock,’ that kind of thing, that’s kind of how it went. We knew we had some flexibility to try to move back. We had some players that we knew that we liked. Demaryius certainly was the high priority at that point and we moved back and felt like we had an opportunity. At some point we were slightly concerned that teams might have some action in that spot, the 22, 23, 24 spot so that’s when we went from 24 to 22 with New England.

On whether the second trade was already lined up when Denver made its selection of Georgia Tech WR Demaryius Thomas at No. 22 overall

“No we did not. It was close, but that was kind of the thought process going into it…Once we made our first selection, let’s see what the conversations can lead us to. We didn’t have anything imminent or even planned at that time.”

On whether Oakland’s selection of Alabama LB Rolando McClain at No. 8 overall impacted the Broncos’ draft

“No, they got a good player that we’re going to have to play a lot. They got a good player but no that did not impact us.”