Raiders Ziegler, Kelly Talk NFL Draft Post Day-One

The Las Vegas Raiders selected Tyree Wilson, and after the first round, General Manager Dave Ziegler and Asstistant General Manager Champ Kelly spoke about Wilson and day one of the NFL Draft.

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders celebrated in their war room when Texas Tech Red Raider Tyree Wilson, one of the premiere EDGE players in the 2023 NFL Draft, fell to them at their seventh overall pick.

After the conclusion of the NFL Draft, General Manager Dave Ziegler and Assistant General Manager Champ Kelly took time to talk with the local media about the pick and looked ahead to the rest of the draft.

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

Day 1 Press Conference with General Manager Dave Ziegler and Assistant General Manager Champ Kelly

Q: I'm sure there had to be even a little bit of surprise that Tyree [Wilson] was there. It didn't take you long to pull the trigger on that, would you just talk through that process and maybe kind of a little bit of an early Christmas present?

Ziegler: "Yeah. Definitely we're excited that he was there. Going into it, weren't sure whether he was going to be there or not. We had our group of players that we liked in that area, but I think the magic number for us as we went in were how many quarterbacks were going to be taken and who that was going to push down the board. And so, very excited when we saw that he was still there and excited to have him."

Q: Was it a challenging evaluation because of the foot injury or did that come into play at all? I know you guys brought him here to the top 30, were you able to get things squared away on that visit?

Ziegler: "Yeah, I mean all those things -- you have to you have to take all those things into consideration as we've talked about before whether it's the play on the field, character, injuries, all those different types of things. And so, ultimately we had him here, we felt comfortable with where he is medically and things of that nature. So, it made sense for us. It wasn't something that ultimately -- if it was something that was going to keep us from doing it, obviously we wouldn't have done that. We have players that aren't on the board for medical reasons, and we go through a long process of the medical stuff -- our doctors, there was the Combine, the Combine rechecks, then we did our own medical stuff when he was here and we felt comfortable with it."

Q: Sounds like that visit made a big impact on him. Just beyond medically, what was it like having him in the building and how did that impact your thoughts on him?

Ziegler: "Yeah, he definitely had a big impact. When we're able to bring guys in for 30 visits, you have more of an unlimited time to be able to dig on the player. So, I'm not going to get into all the things that we do on 30 visits, but I would tell you that they're very thorough and we have a very, very strong understanding of where the player is medically, personally and I'd say just from a football intelligence standpoint. So, to be able to get him here and go through that process definitely made it a more comfortable situation for us."

Kelly: "I'll add to that as well. We also have -- our area scouts put in a ton of work gathering information about him prior to him coming in. And so you got, Calvin Branch and Kyle Caballero and Matt Hand, Curtis Knox and Ryan Gravel. Those guys spend a ton of time finding out and detailing the player before they even come in for the 30 visit."

Q: You guys are pretty heavily invested in the edge rushing position already between Chandler Jones and Maxx Crosby being on the roster. What about Tyree Wilson in particular made you feel comfortable investing in that position even more even though you're pretty good position.

Ziegler: "Just his ability to disrupt. I think like we've talked about it before, we want to be able to eventually develop over time here a front that's able to come in waves and you're able to keep guys fresh. And I think that's important in this day and age too, because especially we have quarterbacks who run around, like [Justin] Herbert can move around Russell Wilson moves around, Pat [Patrick Mahomes] he can move around in his own way. So, being able to have some guys that can pressure the quarterback, disrupt the pocket and have more guys that can do that in phases if you will, I think is valuable."

Kelly: "The other thing I would add is we thought that he was extremely versatile. So, this is a guy who played all across the front. So you can line up with Maxx [Crosby] and Chan [Chandler Jones] and this guy can still find a role to help us rush the quarterback. You know he's even seen dropping in some in some clips. So, we were excited about that as well."

Q: You've talked about versatility, I seen him line up at this as a six-technique covering up the tight end. Can you just talk about that with his arm length and how that can help the defense on the second level.

Kelly: "I think that's kind of what I mentioned earlier. You get a guy that size, that length who is able to set the edge in the run game, but also he shows some versatility to be able to drop with awareness. Anytime you have that type of versatility with a player, it just adds to what you can do with different defensive packages. So, adding that to our roster right now really, really excites us, our coaches and eventually our fans."

Q: You've referenced your area scouts and I'm curious, when you hear about him in practice he has a Maxx Crosby type motor, he practices like he plays. For you personally, when you hear that from your scouts and he plays that position, practices like him what did that mean to you?

Kelly: "When they come back and they tell me - first of all they tell me, 'Okay, we've got this guy with extremely long arms with an amazing body who practices extremely hard, day in and day out.' We're automatically excited when we hear that, and then you meet him in person and then you watch the tape, just every interaction that we had in him made us like him even more. And the thought of him getting the chance to really come in and learn from Maxx Crosby, to learn from Chandler Jones, you're talking about a relatively young guy who still has some development to go, and to get it from those two guys is exciting for all of us."

Q: They talk about draft prospects a lot in terms of do they have a high ceiling or are they a safe type of pick. Where would you place him in that spectrum?

Ziegler: "I think he has some room to grow and improve. I think especially just as a pass rusher. He still has some areas where he can improve in terms of his countermoves, his ability to kind of win at the combat zone. In college, he's able to win with length and power and maybe less savvy, which he's going to be able to do that in the NFL level to a degree, too. But we just feel like just setting up your pass rush, countermoves, how to study your tackle, what's the best way to specifically beat this individual player; that's not something he had to do. He didn't have to vary it as much as he's going to have to do in the NFL. So there's a level of that, that I think he can continue to grow. He can continue to utilize and get better with his hand placement and things like that in the run game to use that length and to be a more physical edge setter and more consistent guy in that way. So, he has some areas he needs to continue to improve on. And quite frankly, just as we've talked about with our own team, I mean he's going to have to earn a role here. We're not going to give him any opportunities, and so whatever opportunity he's able to earn is what he'll earn on the field and if he doesn't then he doesn't. So, he's going to have a lot of transitions coming here going from college and playing at Texas Tech to being in the NFL. There's a lot of things that he's going to need to continue to grow at on the field and off the field. And we believe that he can do that, that's why we took him, but he still has a long way to go."

Kelly: "And I would just add to that -- any of these guys that are drafted in the first round have a development to go before they're productive players in this league. That's just the reality of it. Our young players on our roster right now are still developing and still growing. So it's, 'Do you have the mental capacity, the want to and the mindset to achieve what your ability is actually.' And so, we believe that through our interactions we had with him through the process."

Q: What was the reaction in the War Room when the Cardinals traded up and got Paris Johnson Jr.?

Ziegler: "I mean, it wasn't really much of a reaction in terms of one way or another. Again, we had a group of players there that we were going to be comfortable picking. We'd have been comfortable picking Paris if he was there, too. So, there was more of, I would say, a relieved feeling of just understanding that that pocket of players that we had were still going to be available, or there were going to be a guys available there for us to choose more than anything else."

Q: Was there any consideration to getting Jalen Carter?

Ziegler: "Sure. Yep. He was part of that group too, and ultimately we felt like the guy we chose was the best fit for us."

Q: It's the end of a long day and process, but there's a lot of players it seems that are still there and available. How excited are you to get back at it tomorrow and getting back into this?

Kelly: "Extremely excited. You've got an opportunity. It's the culmination of all the work that these guys have been putting in and all of us have been putting in for nearly a year now. So to get an opportunity, get some rest tonight, come back in bright and early, reassess where we are and the players that are available and confident in our work that we've put in. We're going to be able to add some more players that will have a chance to be quality Raiders in the future."

Q: Are you surprised at how the board fell? It looks like there's a lot of surprises, a lot of smokescreens came out late in this draft process. What are your thoughts on the way the draft fell?

Ziegler: "Really, to be honest, no. It pretty much fell the way that we thought it was going to fall. I mean, there's a couple of surprises here and there, but for the most part the names peeled off pretty much in the order that we had them on the board for a lot of our own evaluations. Again, there were some that were different, but for the most part it fell pretty much how we thought it was going to fall."

Q: When you met [Tyree Wilson] for the first time to talk with him and interviewed him, what was the impression when you walked away from him or when he walked away from you? What kind of impressions did he leave upon you?

Ziegler: "Humble, someone who is I'd say, a willing learner, someone who was open to continue -- talked about needing to get better, talked about wanting to get better, showed a passion for football. His size stands out. I mean, this is a big man, long arms, athletic build. So, physically that stood out, and those were the things that stood out him as a person, which are things that we want. We want guys that have a growth mindset, guys that have a high passion for football -- you want to select guys that have a drive to get better. I think that's a really important thing, and that's a really important thing that our area scouts dig on in the fall that we asked them to put a lot of time in is what is the football character of that player. And we felt like the things that we had found out about him in the fall matched up to when we were able to meet with him and discuss those things with him. So again, it was a good start, it was a good foundation for us to start off on. There was a lot of boxes that he checked and then we went from there and it kept getting better."

Q: Chandler Jones is one of the comps thrown out with Tyree Wilson, do you see any of his game in Tyree?

Kelly: "I would say yeah, there's some Chandler Jones in there as far as the size, length, body stature. But Chandler Jones is an extremely productive NFL player who's had an awesome career, so we won't even try to do Tyree [Wilson] a disservice of making those types of comparisons just yet. We're just hoping to get him in here to get him into uniform."

Q: Players that are still available that maybe people didn't expect to be are Will Levis and Hendon Hooker. What do you guys think about them particularly as prospects?

Ziegler: "Good players, good college players. We've got to spend time with both of those young men. Good personalities, good character traits, both of them a little different paths and then some similarities in terms of them transfer into different schools and things like that. You've seen Hendon [Hooker] play in two different systems, Will [Levis] more in the Kentucky system, but two good players, two good football character - like them."

Q: Champ, as a DB, how does Tyree Wilson help coverage? You always hear about how coverage helps pass rush, pass rush helps coverage.

Kelly: "Typically the best coverage is a really good pass rush. So, I know that our secondary players are extremely excited about the possibility of what Tyree [Wilson] can provide for us. Me personally as a defensive back, I would be excited when you see a guy that's 6-5, 35-inch arms, who's proven to have the ability to get to the quarterback from multiple spots. That's just an exciting possibility. It means maybe I don't have to cover as long, and in this division, you've got to have some guys that can go get the quarterback."

Q: What was his demeanor and his emotion after you selected him? How did that conversation go?

Ziegler: "He was excited. We knew from before we even got to this point that this was a place that he wanted to play. This was an organization that he wanted to play for. He made that clear to us before we even drafted him. So, a lot of excitement, I mean it's a huge moment for all these guys and for Tyree [Wilson]. All the work that these guys have put in and the dream of being an NFL player and then being a top-10 pick, you could hear the excitement in his voice. A lot of commotion in the background, a lot of happy family members and things of that nature. I think you saw him get up to the stage and pick the commissioner up in the air and just a lot of energy, a lot of juice. He's ready to get to work, and he's ready to learn. He's ready to learn from the guys that are here. He's ready to earn his keep and be an accountable player, be someone that develops into a leader. I think those are the things that he knows are important to us, and those are things that he values and wants to do. So, it's awesome. It's an awesome moment for us to be able to share that with all these guys that we're going to draft over the course of the next couple days. It's a special feeling, and I know it's a special feeling for him."

Kelly: "We also thought he dressed for Vegas."

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The 2023 NFL Draft will continue tomorrow when it will begin at 4 p.m. PST.

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