Raiders Dave Ziegler Talks NFL Draft Post Day Two

The Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler discussed day two of the NFL Draft.

HENDERSON, Nev.--Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler made three selections today for the Silver and Black.

They were tight end Michael Mayer, defensive lineman Byron Young, and wide receiver Tre Tucker. All three were picked lower than where Ziegler had them on his draft board, and all three, while different in size and position, have the same attributes.

All three are versatile, have played a massive amount of plays, and are all very physical.

You can watch the entire press conference below and read the transcript:

Day 2 Press Conference with General Manager Dave Ziegler

Q: I'd like to talk to you about Byron Young. This is a guy that is a beast in rushing defense, he's a space eater, eats up blocks with an upside to become very good pass rusher. Will you just talk about where you selected him, what you saw?

Ziegler: "Big, physical kid, long arms, he's does a really nice job of being able to create leverage inside and control running lanes. A little bit early down pass rush too right now, I think he can develop more than that, but he has some first-step quickness and because of his length, it makes it hard for a lot of those guards to handle him inside. So, we see him being able to play inside, we also see him being able to bump out and play big end for us in some of our different defensive packages. So, saw him as a versatile guy on early downs right now who can play inside and can also move outside to play big end, has some pass rush ability. Also, foundation traits -- hard worker, smart, tough, dependable, loves football, a lot of the traits that we're looking for. And then kind of a self-made guy. So, really excited to be able to get him, have some of his versatility. Brings another little level of competition too on both inside and at the defensive end position for us."

Q: You talked about the tight ends being a deep group at the combine. Michael Mayer was somebody that a lot of people talked about as a first rounder. When did you start tracking him and kind of keep an eye on that to maybe go up and go get him?

Ziegler: "When we got to the end of the first round there were some discussions there about possibly moving back into the first round, and he was one of the guys who we had discussions about in that mold. Ultimately that didn't come to fruition, it didn't kind of work out that way. So, talked about it a lot last night, talked about it a lot today, and the fact that he was still there was a very exciting moment for us. He was one of the top-15 players on our board just in totality. So, to be able to get a guy like Michael [Mayer], a tight end, good size. A really unique thing about him I'd say is his short area quickness. He's a bigger guy, but he still has - when you watch the tape -- he has the ability to win in a short area, can win on third down, use his size down in the red zone. Obviously has some size to continue to develop as a run blocker. Another kid with excellent traits, very smart. Probably in terms of our scale of traits, one of the highest guys on our board in that regard too, the way we kind of measure that. So, really excited to be able to get a young tight end with his skill set where we got him. We felt like that was very good value."

Q: With trading Darren [Waller] and the unfortunate situation with Foster [Moreau], you need someone to step in like that. And that's a position where with this team, with the skill set positions, players that you have like Davante [Adams]. Is he someone who can make an immediate impact and sort of just melt right into the system and become a star because of his work ethic and his capabilities?

Ziegler: "As you know, when I talk about rookies, all of them are going to have to come in and earn their role. There's a lot of transitions that go on in doing that. But his skill set, I mean he has a skill set to come in and make an impact for us in year one. And how far that goes, I'm not going to put any expectations on him to say he's going to be this or that, but definitely feel like he can come in and make an impact for us in the passing game. We signed a couple, we signed Austin [Hooper] we signed O.J. [Howard] to one-year deals in the offseason. Obviously, Michael [Mayer] is going to be here for a long time from a contractual standpoint. But high ceiling for him if he continues to grow and learn the nuances of the game. You're going to see some different coverages and some different match-ups than you see in the college game, but has a very good skill set to make an impact for us."

Q: Speaking of some of those shared traits, I think all three guys that you took tonight have been in some really big games. I think they were all in college football playoff games. I'm sure there's a lot of coincidence there, but does that mean something when you're looking at film and you see a guy really pop not only in just some random game, but in some of these big moments?

Ziegler: "I think being able to perform in big games also against another, I'd say high level competition. Obviously, like Byron [Young] playing in the SEC, he gets a lot of that week in and week out. But also playing in big bowl games and things of that nature. Seeing guys perform, I'd say at a high level in some of the bigger moments that they get to experience at the college level definitely has an impact. And the thing about college football is you try to see how players perform against the top-level competition that they face. Some guys depending on the conference that works differently, but that's what we really look out and see how that stands out. And for some guys, it's at the Senior Bowl or the East-West Game or one of these other All-Star games that you get to see some of those matchups. But all those instances where we're able to see these guys play against other top-level competition, it does hold some weight when you're going through the evaluation process."

Q: What was your initial vision for Tre Tucker?

Ziegler: "Tre has a lot of speed, so he has a lot of I'd say versatility offensively, just in terms of both as a receiver that can play the receiver position - there's also because of his speed, a gadget element to him that he can be used in getting him the ball in space and things of that nature. There's a lot of ways that we've seen that done in the league, whether it's speed sweeps, whether it's in the screen game, but we really studied him a lot and just as a receiver think he has the ability to win. And he's a tough match-up because of his short-area quickness and just his straight-line speed. He had a lot of explosive plays. Beyond that, which is unique about him, was his production as a gunner and his production as a kick-coverage player in the kicking game too, where he had a lot of production that way. And then also in the return game. So again, he's going to add a lot of competition to that group. We added some guys in free agency that have some of those skill sets. Again, obviously when you draft a player, contractually you have them longer than a year, so he's going to have some time to develop, but we think he's going to come in and compete right away. Just love the speed and explosiveness that he brings in both as an offensive player, as a returner and then also his ability to recover in the kicking game too."

Q: Sticking with Tre Tucker, how hard is it of an evaluation when you have a guy who's like 5-9, 180 pounds and you try seeing his versatility in the return game and also being able to dual threat as a wide receiver?

Ziegler: "I think when you're looking at guys that are maybe like shorter in stature, the thing that comes to my mind when I think of Tre [Tucker] is that he plays bigger than his size. Tre was also a high school wrestler in my hometown area of Akron, Ohio. So, kind of going back and just looking at his background from high school all the way through college, always had an edge, always had a chip on his shoulder, always played bigger than his size. And I think you saw that on film, you saw it as a gunner. So, those are the types of things you're looking for. Do they play bigger than their size? Do they play with a certain amount of physicality, an edge to them? And we felt Tre did that, and so felt really good about selecting him when we did."

Q: Each draft plays out differently, but you haven't addressed anything with the secondary just yet. Do you still feel like there's some mining to do in that group?

Ziegler: "There's still some players in that area that we like. And again, the draft obviously falls in different ways in different directions. And we knew once we worked through the draft, that you're going to have some areas that you're going to still want to fill or still want to grow whether that's through the draft, through college free agency or beyond. But yeah, I think we still see some good players that are there in the secondary, and we'll obviously have to see how the board falls and see what happens in that direction."

Q: You're locked in on the draft right now, but there are still veteran free agents out there at cornerback. Could that be maybe something - a guy like Rock Ya-Sin, a guy that played with the Raiders last year. Could somebody like that be somebody you explore bringing in?

Ziegler: "I'm not going to speak specifically to Rock [Ya-Sin], but I think just in general, whether it ends up being the free-agent market, whether it ends up being the trade market, whether it ends up going down even farther down the list there prior to the cut down to 53. I mean, there's going to be some other opportunities for us to add players. Like you mentioned, there's still some quality players out there that have been productive NFL players. I think once we get through the draft, we'll kind of reassess where we are as a team, reassess what those markets are, and see kind of how those puzzle pieces fit together. And if they make sense, then they make sense for us."

Q: You mentioned building from front to back, winning at the point of attack, being explosive. Do you feel like those first three picks address that even with Michael Mayer as a physical force at the line of scrimmage?

Ziegler: "Yes, and I think there's a little bit different element to all three of those guys. Obviously, Tyree [Wilson] has an explosive pass-rush ability. Also he can be very disruptive in the run game. Michael [Mayer] is a guy that's shown the ability to be a tough matchup on third down, be able to win on third down, be able to win in the red zone, which are obviously critical plays in a football game. And Byron [Young] just with his length and power, his explosive ability to reset the line of scrimmage in the run game and also uses length of leverage to disrupt the pocket. And so, we feel with those three guys -- and then Tre brings an explosive element in the areas that I mentioned that he's had a lot of success in. So, we still have work to do, but feel good about what we were able to do so far."

Q: You were very emphatic about each team has its own board and how that player relates. So I'm curious, when you look at all the guys you've selected so far, have you been able to do well getting guys that maybe you had higher on your boards a little bit later?

Ziegler: "Yeah, I think we have. I'm not going to get into the specifics of how we had each individual guy ranked, but yeah, we felt like we were able to get good value with the picks based on where those players were on the board. Now we're getting into obviously day three, the boards a little bit more picked over. It's not as robust as it was to start the day, so now we're looking for I'd say a little bit more of the diamond in the rough element, right? Or a little bit more of maybe taking some guys that have more upside and some potential. Maybe it (didn't) manifest itself in a perfect way on tape consistently, but those are some of the types of guys that are still available in the draft. So yeah, we're excited about the value that we were able to get, and we'll see. We'll have to put in some good work here tomorrow too."

Q: Within those types of guys that come on the last day -- you're obviously going to be looking at the best players available where it fits, but is there anywhere specific that you're hoping to fill these early on and with the first few picks? Are there still positions that you want to answer some questions?

Ziegler: "Yeah, there's definitely some areas that we still want to address. I mean, I don't want to get into the specifics of it, because then other teams that maybe have those ideas, and all of a sudden they're trading in front of us from a strategic standpoint. But yeah, there's still a few key areas on the team that we want to try to continue to address as we head into the last day."

Q: If you look at the game logs of the players who you guys have drafted, there's a ton of games on that on that docket. Is that important to you? And especially from the physicality of football being able to be available and be out there?

Ziegler: "Yeah, that's part of the process when we go through evaluating each individual player. Now, some players you're going to take maybe a greater risk on based on the talent and things like that, maybe a guy that's had an injury or two or something of that nature. But yeah, availability is very valuable and durability is very valuable. That's another piece of the puzzle that we look at when we're evaluating each individual player. Then again like I mentioned, you have to kind of look at the risk reward of what the talent is of that player, what the injuries have been, and that goes all goes into the equation when you're looking at each individual player."

Q: The Senior Bowl is obviously a resource. You had Patrick Graham there with Byron Young and Tre Tucker. What were Patrick's thought on these guys? I'm sure he was high on them. What was he saying to you guys about them?

Ziegler: "That was a big part of the process for us, and it was really valuable. Pat [Patrick Graham] and Matt Edwards, one of our defensive line coaches was also there helping out on staff, so we were able to get a lot of intel from them - a lot of the character, the background, the classroom stuff. I think one thing that stood out on both of those guys was just their professional demeanor, their passion for football, their ability to learn. So, not a lot, I would say a lot of maintenance, that comes into some of the extra stuff that's beyond the field with those guys, because you can't learn that unless you're their coach, like how they prepared, how they handled themselves, how they interacted with their coaches, how they took instruction. Both of those guys really excelled in those two areas at the Senior Bowl. And then again, we were able to watch a lot of the Senior Bowl practices and tape, so we're able to kind of collab on what that looked like, and we felt both of those guys had good performances down there. But the most valuable stuff was the stuff that we couldn't see at practice, which was behind the scenes, and both of those guys excelled in those two areas."

Q: When it comes to Tre Tucker, how unique is it for a receiver to utilize what he learned in wrestling on the football field?

Ziegler: "It's unique, and I think what he's learned in that regard - and again, I think wrestling, there's a level of toughness that you have to have to be a wrestler. I think that's one thing that Trey has. As I mentioned too, he's a smaller guy, but he plays bigger and he plays with an edge, and I think a lot of that toughness comes from wrestling. He also has very good balance and agility when you watch him. And if you've watched any good wrestlers, that's one thing that they're able to do is play with leverage, have agility, have balance. I think it's a unique thing for a receiver. You don't often see those two things attached, but wrestling in Akron, Ohio, in Tallmadge, Ohio, where I'm from, that's a big sport back there. So, unique for him, and you see it in a lot of the areas where he plays, especially in the kicking game."

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