Afternoon Quotes: Elway & Xanders

Matt Russell, Brian Xanders and Josh McDaniels just prior to the draft day trade for Tim Tebow. (AP Photo/Denver Broncos, Eric Lars Bakke)

Who said the offseason has to be boring? Well, if you’ve got an hour this weekend you can enjoy the entirety of the press conference that Denver Broncos Vice President of Football Operations John Elway and General Manager Brian Xanders just had.

They cover about everything fans would want to hear from them; from the draft, to the 4-3 switch to the new contract of Champ Bailey.

Some of the highlights from Elway include his thoughts on college quarterbacks coming into the NFL having operated out of the spread offense, he discusses Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick, and Tom Brady. He’s asked about Patrick Peterson (or did he tip his hand?) and mentions Justin Bannan and Jamal Williams. He also touches on the Kyle Orton subject just a bit (or did he tip his hand?).

Xanders focused a lot on the defense, specifically who was behind the playbook and what talented position coaches Denver is currently employing. He talks specifically about Tim Tebow rumors and Robert Ayers new role as a starting left defensive end. He talks Marcell Dareus and Nick Fairley, bringing up specifically that Clay Matthews was a one year starter (as was Ayers).

Click it right here for the whole darn thing!

BRONCOS V.P. OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS JOHN ELWAY – NFL SCOUTING COMBINE (2/25/11)

On the first day of the Combine

“We interviewed about 8-10 guys and it was a good night. I thought 15 minutes—because we had 15 minutes (with each player)—was going to be short, but it was actually just about right. That is the only thing that has been surprising to me. I thought that 15 minutes would not be enough time, but it turns out to be plenty of time.”

On how his playing career has prepared him to interview players at the Combine

“The good thing is that there are enough people in the room that I can kind of sit in the back. We have the questions already lined up and then it kind of just goes from there.”

On being at the Combine for the first time

“Everything is kind of new for me. But, the bottom line is that we have been going so hot and heavy the last month and a half, we kind of got into it early and often. This is new to me because I never really came here when I was the player. I had heard about the Combine, but had never been here. So, it is kind of just going through this process and understanding it, but it is pretty much what I understood it to be and it takes time to meet these kids, which is great.”

On why he didn’t attend the Combine as a player

“When I was a player, there were four of them. It was before they had one of them and there were kind of like four of them. Back then, they were not nearly as big as this was.”

On which Combine he attended as a player

“I didn’t attend any of them.”

On his impression of the Combine

“I am looking forward to seeing them workout. We have not been to a workout yet, just getting here yesterday and going through the interviews last night. Obviously, there is a lot of information that is gained from here and getting to see these guys up front and personal. It is also nice to kind of see everybody and get back and connected to the guys that are in the league that I knew that I had not seen for awhile.”

On how he evaluates quarterbacks

“I guess the perspective I look at will probably be as I look at a lot of guys—it will probably be a little bit different. I look at it as if I were playing against them, especially as a quarterback, having the perspective of having been where they are. The one thing that I have found since I retired is that the game is a lot easier sitting 20 rows up. In that end zone box, the game was pretty easy from there. You see everything and you do not have those 300-pounders breathing down your neck. I think the perspective of me having been in the pocket and playing that position helps me. I guess I can look at it and try to understand what they are thinking—what they do think about, what they do not think about as far as reads and progressions, different offenses that they are coming out of college from and what they might be thinking. I think there is probably a perspective that I am going to try to look at it from, instead of just looking at them as a pure player.”

On whether he will have a good perspective on pass rushers

“That, and I think the other good one I have is defensive backs, because I know what I liked to go against and I know what I did not like to go against. The way I thought about guys and when I was watching film, was more about playing against them. So, I am not so sure that is going to change so much. I know when I have watched them on film over the past month and a half; I always looked at whether the guy would worry me. Can the guy catch the ball? If a guy can’t catch the ball, he never really scared me.”

On signing Champ Bailey to a new four-year contract

“Well, I think that to us, it never looked like it was not going to get done. I think that was kind of the perspective. It took us getting the staff and getting everybody in there and getting our team evaluated and then getting somewhat of a plan. We could not do all that until everybody got comfortable and knew him—especially the new defensive coaches. And then, getting our plan and figuring out where Champ was and once that happened, it was rather quickly that it moved.”

On how long it took for the new defensive coaches to evaluate Champ Bailey

“It took them about an hour (laughing).”

On whether quarterbacks that played in spread offenses while in college face big adjustments in the NFL

“There is no question. It is an adjustment when you are watching film and then all of the sudden, you see 11 guys look to the sideline because they are calling the audibles from the sideline. That is an adjustment—when you see that, you know it is going to be somewhat of an adjustment coming to the NFL, because the coach is not going to be able to call the audibles from the sideline. I think that is a concern—I think (the spread) is a great offense, especially for college. If you look at it and if I were a college coach, that is probably what I would be doing too—especially when you have the athletes, like a Cam Newton, that are back there running it. The thing is, you want them back there not thinking and just playing athletically because they are so good at that. I think that there is no question, that is a big adjustment.”

On whether the prototype of a franchise quarterback has changed to favor bigger and more mobile players

“I think the ability to be able to (extend a play) and keep it (alive)… Whether it is (Ben) Roethlisberger—to me, him and (Mike) Vick are different, because Roethlisberger kind of does it within the pocket. He gets out a little bit, whereas (Tom) Brady is pretty much the same also. Except, he does not get outside the pocket, but he does a great job in the pocket. I think that has always been the case with a quarterback having the ability to feel the rush, move within the pocket. And then, depending on who it is, with the athletic ability to get out and get a second chance on a play—I think that has always been there and it just helps you that much more now to be able to do that.”

On evaluating players at the Combine

“I think that everybody has their own way of evaluating people. We all sit there and watch film, so we are all going to draw our own conclusions off what we see on that film. I do not think there is a template that everybody looks at. Once we send scouts out, they have a template of what they are supposed to put in and how they are supposed to follow the evaluation process and how they write players up. But, I think that everybody has their own way of evaluating these guys. I think the thing that we have done is really tried to get all the personnel people involved in the process and hear what they have to say about it. Then, eventually as we get closer to the draft, we will start ranking guys and get them in a position to where we think they fit on our football team.”

On the Broncos’ defensive line

“I think going to the four-man line, there are some people that we need there. Going from a 3-4 to a 4-3, the numbers are there. We have two free agents now that are out there and then we have Jamal (Williams) and Justin (Bannan) that are under contract with us. So, it is something that we have to look at and (decide) what we are going to do. Again, we are still in that process and how we rank them and what that plan is going to be once we get that whole plan together—what money do we have and where is that going to go and where is the emphasis going to be? As we have talked earlier, there has always been an emphasis on the defensive side, because we have to get a lot better there.”

On draft prospect Patrick Peterson

“He is a great athlete and not only as a (defensive) player, but as a returner. He is special as a returner. He is a guy that can do a lot of different things for you. Athletically, he is as good as anybody in the draft. He can run and he has good size for a corner—he is 205, 210 pounds. He has good size and is a guy that can make some big plays. I think especially at the cornerback position, you like those guys that can make those plays, because those are game changers.”

On how the team is approaching free agency

“We are going as planned. We are just going to wait and see what happens. As far as we are concerned, it is business as usual for us.”

On whether he feels like he is paving the way for retired players to become football operations executives in the future

“I would hope so. I do not really think like we have been shut out in the first place. I think it is a matter of being in the right place at the right time and also having the qualifications to be able to do it. I think that if I had not been—obviously, (I was) a little bit inexperienced—but if I had not been through the Arena Football League for six years, I am not sure that I would be standing here. Looking back through what I have been through in the month and a half that I have been back, what I learned in the Arena Football League has been invaluable. I am glad I did that and the experience I gained there has helped me tremendously so far.”

On the biggest lesson he learned from working in the Arena Football League

“I think the key thing is just the process. The Arena League is not the same magnitude, but it is still a sports franchise, we still play games, so the processes that we did were pretty much the same there—dealing with the agents and getting guys signed. Even though we did not have a draft there—this is much different than in the Arena League—the process of signing players and evaluating players and getting players on the field, there was a lot of the same.”

On how important this year’s draft is to the Broncos

“It is very crucial. We know that the key thing is—and we have talked about the fact that we have to be good in the draft—we cannot miss in the draft, especially with where we are. We do not have the luxury of having many misses, especially when you have the picks that we have. We have to be dead on and the guys that we do go with have to be able to play for us and play for us early. We know that for us to get back to where we have to get, we have to be good in the draft. There are discussions on whether we have been good or bad in the draft in the past. But, if you look at last year’s draft, we got some pretty darn good players out of there. We have to continue that process. We cannot miss in the draft. We have to be good there.”

On how he has worked with General Manager Brian Xanders and Head Coach John Fox

“It has been great, it really has. The more I get to know John and the more I get to know Brian, the better it works. I think we are all pretty much on the same page with the direction we want to go and we want to try to do that. That has been the great thing; we thought a lot alike up to this point. It has worked very well with John and his background and the success that he has had and his ability to work with people. I think that when you talk about John Fox and him being a players’ coach—he is also very good to work with and it has been great. As well as Brian, I think that everybody is getting adjusted to everybody and me coming in new, and then John and his staff. It has been pretty darn smooth.”

On the impact Head Coach John Fox had in Champ Bailey’s decision to sign with the Broncos

“Well, I think that Champ—we wanted Champ back, so it was just a matter of getting the numbers right, but also what Champ had heard about John also played a big influence on him. Like I said, he wanted to stay in Denver. The funny thing is that we had the numbers and everything all lined up, but Champ wanted to sit down and talk to John. So, we said, ‘Alright, John, if you guys come out of that meeting and he does not want to come here, you are gone (laughing).’ I said, ‘It is up to you, so you better make sure he is here.’ It worked out great and we are thrilled to have Champ back.”

On what he learned from his father that has helped him in his current position

“I think just the experience of being around football and understanding the game is the biggest part. I think that he was a guy that would—actually, we were talking about this last night, it will be 10 years this April since he passed away. So, the last time I spent with him was in the draft in 2001 before he passed away. I sat there and it was good for me just to be able to see him watch different guys and get his opinion on different guys and see if I was seeing the same types of things that he was seeing. There are guys that are still playing that back then—he was a big Drew Brees fan back then—those types of things that stick in my mind and different guys that he was talking about. And, I would ask him, ‘What did you see?’ And the thing was the competitiveness (of the player), and that is what I remember him saying about guys that are competitors—especially about Drew. So, that is one thing that stuck in my mind.”

On whether he and his father agreed on most of the players they evaluated together

“Most of them—I have said this before, and I saw (Broncos Southwest Area Scout) Cornell Green last night, who has been a longtime Bronco scout and a good friend of my dad and said, ‘He would love this right now.’ If my dad was still around, I told everybody that he would have been my first hire if he was still here, just because of his knowledge and the respect that I had for him. Cornell was talking about him also, so that kind of sums it up.”

On Cam Newton’s decision to throw at the Combine

“I think that it is good for people to get around Cam. I am not so sure that what he does on the field is going to—I think you can watch the film and see how athletically gifted he is, but I think that the questions with Cam are those questions that everybody is bringing up. So, I know it is good for us just to get around him and get a feel for him. I think it is good for Cam to be here.”

On evaluating a player’s competitive drive at the Combine

“I think that is important for us, to try to find out how important football is to them. I think that to get around them and get a feel for them is the first start until they get to the pro days later on in the spring. That is a start, but I think that is the big key, to figure that out, whether kids want to play. That is obviously a big, big factor to it.”

On whether anybody from the Broncos’ front office has spoken to Kyle Orton this offseason

“I met with Kyle—I have talked to Kyle and I told him the same thing that I have told you guys, that right now, he is the starting quarterback. We are in February, but if we had to play a game tomorrow, Kyle would be the guy. We will continue down the path, obviously we have the draft and a lot of things ahead of us. Until that changes—it is not going to change until we get down the road and see what happens.”

On what type of defensive linemen the Broncos are looking for

“I think that comes down to (Head Coach John) Fox. I think that it can depend. And, I do not want to answer for John—it is his defense and also (Defensive Coordinator) Dennis Allen—and what kind of guys they like. John last year had huge guys in Carolina and Dennis Allen had smaller, quicker guys in New Orleans. I think that until we come together and figure out exactly what direction (to go)… That is really a Dennis Allen question, as well as a John Fox question.”

On whether the offensive line is a priority for the Broncos

“I think we have a lot of priorities and we are kind of waiting to see how it all falls out until we get into the process. We have been through a preliminary look at all the rookies and the guys coming out so far, but we have not gotten too much into the study part of it yet. All of the names that you have heard and read about are all great players, but until we get back and start delving into everybody, getting to the pro days and then closer to the draft, we will start pinpointing guys and ranking guys and getting our priorities. I do not want to dodge your question, but to answer your question and not to dodge it is the fact that we do have several holes. We just have to figure out the priorities and what is available to us.”

On whether he thinks the team will get trade offers for the No. 2 draft choice

“Who knows? I think that it is hard to tell because you do not have a feel for that yet.”

BRONCOS GENERAL MANAGER BRIAN XANDERS – NFL SCOUTING COMBINE (2/25/11)

On his role this year compared to previous seasons

“There is more influence on the player personnel decisions. It’s a different role with (Head Coach John) Fox and (V.P. of Football Operations John) Elway. We are working together and working towards a consensus. It’s a good process we have in place and there is a lot of positive collaboration and communication on every decision we make. It’s a great opportunity for myself to have an expanded role of running the roster, acquiring the players and picking the players. Obviously, Coach Fox will coach the team and be a part of that process, and then John Elway has final say.”

On the defense

“Fox has been a very successful defensive coach. Since 1997, I think (his teams have) averaged (a) 10th or 11th (ranking) on defense. (Defensive Coordinator) Dennis (Allen) comes from the (Saints Defensive Coordinator) Greg Williams school of that Saints defense that won the Super Bowl (XLIV) with big-time takeaways, disruption and negative plays. What’s happening now is they are blending both philosophies in the 4-3 and building the new playbook—the Broncos’ 2011 defensive playbook—together. What’s interesting is we have Richard Smith also, a linebackers coach, and he’s been a coordinator at two places in this league. Wayne Nunnely has been in San Diego. Our DB coaches (Secondary Coach Ron Milus and Assistant Secondary Coach Sam Garnes) are very experienced. So it’s a great collaboration and they are building a strong playbook for 2011.”

On what type of player the Broncos are looking for

“First of all, in player personnel we want players with instincts, which leads to production. Obviously, play speed is a big thing with the John Fox model of the linebackers and DBs—their speed. The whole front seven, we want them to be disruptive playmakers that create negative plays—run and pass. The front four are probably bigger than some other 4-3 teams, but we will get to a point where it is really specific. We have the Combine this week. We are going to meet during the Combine on specifics on the left end, the three-technique, the nose tackle and the right end. The ‘Sam,’ ‘Mike’ and ‘Will’—we already defined them last week. We are going to get there and it’s going to be a good defense.”

On QB Tim Tebow

“There are a lot of people in our building that are behind Tim Tebow. He had a very successful career at (the University of) Florida and he is working hard in his career to be a better quarterback at the NFL level. He is somebody that the franchise invested a lot into, in terms of draft picks and the contract, but he is going to create his role and he has done a good job so far with his limited opportunities. The big picture is every player has to create their own role on the team. John Fox wants competition at every position and we are going to go from there.”

On Robert Ayers

“It’s good that John Fox evaluated Robert Ayers a couple years ago in the draft. He sees him as the left defensive end—starting left defensive end. At (the University of) Tennessee, they had a 3-4 and a 4-3 hybrid system, and he was a disruptive guy in the senior year that he had. That’s why we took him. He had 15 tackles for a loss and he was a playmaker at Tennessee. (Fox) sees him as the left defensive end (and) Elvis (Dumervil) is at the right defensive end. So, we feel good about their upside and we just have to get production from that whole front seven.”

On draft prospects Nick Fairley and Marcell Dareus

“(Nick) Fairley and (Marcell) Dareus are both very good players. They are different types of players. Dareus has played in a 3-4 and he’s played left end, right end and nose tackle. Fairley is really a true three-technique and he is a disrupting guy nonstop throughout the game. He beats linemen all day, every game. Both of them are good. I don’t want to compare them to NFL players but I think they will both have a high upside and they will both be good picks.”

On evaluating players that were not longtime starters in college

“It happens. Every year there are a bunch of players where everybody says, ‘They were a one-year starter.’ Kind of like Robert Ayers. Sometimes it’s because of their situation, sometimes it’s people in front of them. Marcell Dareus—he had three defensive linemen in front of him last year. He played a lot, but he’s really a one-year starter. Fairley was a one-year starter. Then there are success stories. (Packers LB) Clay Matthews was a one-year starter. He had four sacks and was a Special Teams Player of the Year three times at USC and he had all of these linebackers in front of him. He was a one-year starter but he blossomed in the league. To me, there is risk and reward with everybody in the draft, but the biggest thing is to find the best players that fit your team and go from there.”

On how much weight character has in draft evaluations

“We researched their football character and their personal character and we have four categories under each one of them. We never want the character grade to bleed into the football grade so we separate them on our scale. We have tags and alerts that allow us to follow what the players’ concerns are and red flags. To me, (character) is always going to be part of the equation. At the right time you can take some chances but obviously you want guys that love football. That’s No. 1. You want players that have a passion for the game and want to do (what is) best for the team. That’s one of our first questions in our interviews every night. We try to find out what drives them and what motives them. What is their passion for the game? Are they leaders? What is their work ethic (like)? What is their effort level? What is their temperament? How are they after their wins and losses? We get into all of that with their character.”

On whether Denver would consider trade offers due to the depth at the quarterback position

“We feel great about that position group as a whole. Brady Quinn, Tim Tebow, Kyle Orton—we have a strong group there. We feel like they will all compete and fight for their jobs and their roles. We just feel great about that position group, just like a lot of people are saying our receiver group is very strong. A lot of people say our cornerback group now is strong. In the big picture, that is how we feel about those position groups, so we will see what happens.”

On the offense

“The offense last year was an explosive passing offense. We need to solidify and create the running game, in terms of the attempts. To me, we have potential there to have a balanced attack. Coach Fox and (Offensive Coordinator) Mike McCoy will generate those strategies. The biggest thing there is we feel we have some good, young, talented players across all of the position groups. We are going to try to always get better at every level there. The offense was very effective in the passing game and we need to improve the running game in the (number of) attempts.”

On wide receivers Eddie Royal and Demaryius Thomas

“Both players are rehabbing well. They will be fine. They love football, they are good players and they are going to have big roles on our team. So, I think they will be fine.”

On how the injuries to Royal and Thomas will affect draft strategy

“In the draft, we are going to evaluate the whole board. We will see how it shakes out with the team needs based on receiver vs. a defensive player vs. another offensive player, but we feel good about our receivers.”

On draft prospect Cam Newton

“Cam has had a really productive year. He had an exciting year. He comes in and wins the Junior College National Championship and then he comes to Auburn (University) and wins the National Championship. He is a winner. He will show what he has out here in the quarterback workouts. Somebody told me today that every quarterback is going to work out for the first time, so it will be exciting to see him. I think he will have a good career.”

On whether a player like Cam Newton will get serious draft consideration given the team’s depth at quarterback

“Oh yes. That’s one thing (Head Coach John) Fox and I talked about early, was no matter who we have on our roster, we are going to look at every position group, evaluate it and give it fair due and a fair chance on our board, no matter who we have on our team. We are always going to try to add competition to every position group and we will try to make the best decisions for the Denver Broncos based on who we have on that board.”

On signing Champ Bailey to a new four-year contract

“There was never a question that we (would) have him. It was just the timing and the structure. We had a deal in October that we were close on and we started (the negotiations) back up. Once we evaluated the free agent market and our own team, we came out of that meeting saying, ‘Champ is our No. 1 priority. He is our best defensive player. Let’s get him done.’ We were close anyways. It was really a tweaking of the 2012 league year. We changed some numbers there and it worked out. He had a great meeting with Coach Fox for 45 minutes and he came out of there smiling. A lot of players in this league want to play for Coach Fox. Champ was excited about what Coach Fox had to say and it all worked out with Jack Reale (Bailey’s agent). He did a great job on the contract (with Broncos Director of Football Administration) Mike Bluem. We had a lot of dialogue. John Elway was involved. There were a lot of positive negotiations there and we feel good that he is back with us.”