Raiders' GM Dave Ziegler Recaps 2023 NFL Draft

The Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler concluded the second draft that he and Coach Josh McDaniels have overseen, and he recapped it for us.

HENDERSON, Nev.--Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler concluded his second draft at the helm of the Silver and Black and just recapped it.

Ziegler discussed the happenings of day three and all three days.

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

Day 3 Press Conference with General Manager Dave Ziegler

Opening Statement: "Before we get started I just want to, again, thank all of our college scouts, all of the pro scouts, all of our coaches that were involved in the process over the last three days. Just really clean and excellent collaboration, communication. Our area scouts who mostly live in different parts of the country have come in to help support us and provide feedback and provide information, and they all just did an excellent job. I'm really proud of our group. I'm really proud of our coaching staff and our administration staff here, just everyone that's come together the last three days. We have a really cohesive group, really low ego group and everybody puts the team first, and that's what we're striving to build here. And so, just very thankful and grateful for all the people that work in both the scouting, coaching and operations department over the last three days. And here we are, and now we're moving forward to the next phase of team building and OTAs, and all those different things. So, excited to move forward, excited about the last three days, and I'm excited for the future here and what we kind of have going on. So, that's what I have. Everybody else can tell me what they have."

Q: Several guys who you picked said that your coaches had an impact on them at the Senior Bowl. Can you talk about how big getting that Senior Bowl coaching staff is for the organization?

Ziegler: "It's another kind of detailed exposure that you often don't usually get if you don't have a coach involved. I think we talked about it the other day, but just being able to really see how guys learn, really get to see how guys operate day-to-day in meeting rooms, at practice, interaction with their teammates. Those are all things that we looked at, all things that we got feedback on. It wasn't just about the football performance. It was about how they treated each other, how they interacted, what their commitment was, and all those different types of things, different positions that they could play. And so, it was a really valuable tool for us, and something that we utilized and helped us in the decision-making process here over the weekend."

Q: Aidan O'Connell was a guy who had to fight his way up from the back of the line over at Purdue. Does that kind of mindset play into that a little bit? What was it about him that you guys pulled the trigger on that?

Ziegler: "To that, I think he was a walk-on. I think he started as the eighth-string quarterback at Purdue and worked his way all the way up and eventually became a starter there. A lot of things; I'd say the one thing about quarterbacks that you don't get to see if you're just watching tape, or if you're just watching games is, I'd say, over 50 percent of their success rate is really about what they're made up from the neck up. Intelligence, ability to process, those types of intangibles, leadership. And we felt like he has a lot of those different intangible qualities that we think are really, really important to have any chance to be successful in the league at quarterback. Also, I ust liked the tape, to be honest with you. I watched him at the end of October, and I walked down to Josh McDaniels office – he wasn't going to see him for another three or four months – and said: 'When you watch this kid, this is going to be a guy that you like.' So, I think a lot of the things that he did at Purdue, some of the things that he showed – there are areas to grow into, but he showed a lot of the things that we wanted from the quarterback position. And then when we got to meet him and spend time with him, he confirmed a lot of the let’s say 'neck up traits' that we look for."

Q: You've said a couple of times this offseason that you need to inject a roster with some homegrown talent and that you want to build some competitive depth at every position. Obviously, not every single position did that, but do you feel like you've started to work towards that with this draft class?

Ziegler: "Started to. Unfortunately, when you go through the draft, you're just not able to answer every question that you need as you work through it just the way that the draft goes. And there's 31 other teams that are selecting players too. And so, we did do that at certain spots. I think there's some areas of the team that we're going to continue to look to address and improve and add competition. But I think definitely on the defensive line we added some competition there. At the safety position, at the receiver position, we added some competition there. We obviously added a tight end. But we still have some other areas of the team that we need to continue to grow and continue to work at, which that'll kind of be the next phase that we're getting into now. Looking at those areas, looking at what the other available players are, and see if there's other ways that we can improve the team."

Q: You guys were pretty aggressive the whole draft and especially today you traded up to get the first three guys. Is that part of the game plan coming in today with that much capital or just kind of how things played out?

Ziegler: "I think it was a little bit of a product of this draft. I wouldn't say the depth in this draft as we went through was maybe as strong as it has been in past years. And so, I think it was a product of just kind of how the draft started to play out. Once you get into it, you can have an idea, but you start to get a feel – almost like how a game is going to be played — you start to get a feel of the board and kind of what the overall surplus is or lack of a surplus is. And so, I think that influenced some of our decision-making in terms of packaging some picks and moving up to get some targets based on what we thought was potentially going to be left for us at the end of the draft."

Q: Looking at your board and the players you were able to get, did you better than you thought you would or about the same?

Ziegler: "I haven't thought about that yet. I would like to think we did better. I think that's the easy answer to say. But that doesn't go without things that I'm going to go back and look at and second guess some decisions here or there or look at how the board fell. I mean, there's still going to be an element of going back and quality controlling some of our decisions and some of the decisions that I made and things like that. But overall, we do feel really good about it. We feel really excited about it, but there will still be areas to look at and say: 'Hey, we can improve here or there.' So, there's always areas to grow."

Q: How important was it for you to get some of those guys on defense that had production? Guys that had interceptions, forced fumbles, sacks, and were able get the ball back?

Ziegler: "It was an area we wanted to improve as a team, just ball disruption. It wasn't a statistical category that we ranked very highly in last year. And so, Jakorian [Bennett], I think in the last two years he had more plays on the ball, one of the top players in college football in terms of making plays on the ball. And so, guys that can make plays on the football and disrupt the football, or disrupt the pocket which can cause disruptive plays and things of that nature were some definitely influential factors. Especially when you're looking at corners, you're always going to that stat sheet when you're starting to watch a corner and see what their production was, or lack of production was, or what the history was there. We have to be careful sometimes because of what they were asked to do in coverage and how they were asked to play, but it is an important factor."

Q: You get to the seventh round and find Nesta Jade Silvera, a guy a lot of people maybe projected in the fifth round. Were you a little surprised he was there?

Ziegler: “Yeah, we were, just with the production that he had he this year at Arizona State. He had started his career at Miami and transferred to Arizona State and he was a really disruptive player this year. He wasn't a player that I had been able to spend much time on prior to draft meetings. I'm only able to watch so many players, but when we put on the tape it was just surprising to see this inside player and just how disruptive he was in the run game. A lot of penetration, a lot of plays where he's in the backfield and just a lot of plays where he's finding the football and making tackles. And so, those guys are hard to find. Sometimes these guys that are transferring and things like that can get lost in the shuffle a little bit, but Antonio Pierce had knew him from his recruiting days while he was at Arizona state. So, he had some knowledge of him. And then the new head coach at Arizona State wasn't there with Nesta but is in the building now and obviously he has connections. Kenny Dillingham was someone that I coached at Chaparral High School when I was coaching high school football in Arizona. So, there was some connections for us just to learn a little bit about his journey, learn about who he was, and we he was also a guy we brought in for 30 visit. So, we got to spend some time with him in the building and, yeah, really excited that he was there. And again, there's going to be a lot of competition in that defensive tackle room. Everyone's going to have to buckle up and bring their best every day because there's going to be a lot of hungry people in that room.”

Q: Where do you see Chris Smith fitting in?

Ziegler: "Chris Smith, when I watched him, (he) reminded me a lot of Duron Harmon in his ability. Duron obviously was a great player for us last year, but Chris relies on his instincts and awareness to make plays on the football. He’s a student of the game. He has a very unique ability, I would say, just to pattern read and look at a route concept and how it develops out of the snap and make some reads that able himself to be in position to make plays on the football. Also, a physical kid, not the biggest in stature. When you look at Chris Smith and you just read the numbers…I don't think he ran a super-fast 40, he's not a super big guy. But when you put on the tape, he's a guy that impresses you. There are a few picks on this, but after the Chris Smith pick, four or five texts from different GM’s around the league where they were targeting Chris Smith just because of how good of a football player he was. So, excited about him to come in and see him compete with that group.”

Q: You ended up with six defensive players and three offensive players. Is that the split coming in you thought it would be based on your needs, or is it just the way the board fell?

Ziegler: "I wasn't 100 percent sure how that was actually going to come out. Obviously, there was a defensive focus going in, or a hope I would say, that it was going to be a defensive focus, but you really never know how the board is going to go and players you're going to lose out on. And there was a player or two that we were targeting that that did get picked a couple picks before we were going to take them. And so, there was a defensive focus going in, but I would say generally speaking the board fell that way. I would say yes when there were maybe some things that were close here in the set today, we leaned a little bit more heavy to the defensive side.”

Q: You talked about emphasizing turning over the ball and Amari Burney had a couple of interceptions for Florida. He's been described as somewhat of a tweener safety/linebacker. Where do you see him fitting into the defense?

Ziegler: “Yeah, we think he's a linebacker. He started as a safety, played linebacker at Florida this year. That's a transition that's not super easy to make, just your line of vision and how you see the game from a safety position to a linebacker position. Obviously, it's a lot quicker reaction from the linebacker spot. We thought he's done a really good job over his career developing as a linebacker. He does also have that coverage ability that you kind of see that safety background. I think in college sometimes they line those guys up to make them play a little bit more man coverage. You don't see a lot of linebackers in the pros play man coverage anymore. Obviously, you do it a little bit in cover one. One of the things we look at when we're watching linebackers at the pro level or college level is their ability to close space and zone because that's really what they're asked to do more than anything else is drop into zone and close space, and he could do that. Also had a couple good plays playing tight ends and things like that down the seam. So, I think he's a versatile guy that's still growing. Impeccable traits; was one of the most highly thought of guys there at that Florida program. Went down there for the Pro Day this year, myself and Champ [Kelly] were down there and got to see him in person. He ran a 4.51. Some clocks they had him at a 4.48/4.49, so he's a kid that can run. Excited about the athleticism that he brings and excited about the mentality that he brings too.”

Q: When it comes to determining one pick over the other, how much did the attitude and the foundational type of assets that make up a player go into weighing one over the other in this particular draft?

Ziegler: "Yeah, that always plays a big role for us. I think that I talked about this at different times in my first year, but we have different grades that we grade in terms of we grade the player for what he does on the field. And then we also have a level of grades of I would say just the character, the football intelligence and putting that all together. I just think it's so hard to win in the NFL that you want to be careful of how many people you're bringing in that are going to expel extra resources. We understand that everyone's developing and growing and that these are young kids. That's why we have a player development department, and we have a rookie program, and we have all these things to help grow individuals. But if you're spending a lot of time, I'd say, worrying about guys being on time or extra time in the training room or immaturity and different things like that, that definitely weighs into our thought process when we're making different picks. And again, you're going to take some calculated risks and gambles. Not everyone's going to be perfect, and we understand that. But the lower the maintenance on the player, I think that gives you a better opportunity, one, for that player to grow because there's less distractions, and then it kind of magnifies for the team when you have a lot more people that are not maintenance and are focusing just on winning football games. I think that's a good foundation.”

Q: Obviously you were aggressive making trades up and getting Tre Tucker in the third round. How challenging is it to gauge other team's interest in the guys you like?

Ziegler: “It's a challenging part of it because you really don't know. We do put a lot of time into studying team needs and trying to understand what other teams draft philosophies are, but it's hard to know really like exactly how they feel about maybe a specific player on their team. Maybe we have that player graded low and they think he's maybe a starting level player, where we think he is someone that they would maybe want to replace. And so, there's a lot of that that's tough, and then I'd say in the earlier rounds because it is more focused on best available player, it's not always tied directly into needs and that makes it a little bit more difficult too. So, yeah, you take some calculated risks and gambles. We'll look back and we probably drafted some guys a handful of spots too early. And I think there's probably other teams that can kind of feel the same way. And so, yeah, it's a really difficult part of the process in the draft of kind of trying to gauge all that. We put a lot of effort into it and try to do the best we can.”

Q: In Jakorian Bennett, what were some of the things you guys liked about him? It seems like a lot of people are pointing to the game against Ohio State in terms of how he stepped up against some really good receivers.

Ziegler: “Yeah, I think watching Jakorian and spending time watching him in 2021 and then 2022, the one thing that we saw was just some growth and development as a as a defensive back, and specifically his ability. He improved his ability to defend the football, especially making plays down the field which for a defensive back is one of the more difficult things where you're running and tracking vertical routes, your back is to the quarterback, being able to find and play the ball. We felt like he improved in that area. He's very fast, as evident to his 40 speed. He ran a 4.30 I believe at the Combine, and you can see that speed on tape. His ability to close space. Also, a good sturdy build, physical kid. Someone that we also think is going to be able to contribute in the kicking game, which is important for us. So, his speed, explosiveness, and like I said, I think his growth from ‘21 to ’22, and we think there's some more growth for him to do and we're excited about that.”

Q: Is the offensive line an area to keep an eye on in UDFA signings or post draft?

Ziegler: "They're upstairs right now working through all that. We'll add some linemen to our UDFA class and another one where the board just at a couple of spots just didn't fall that exact way. There were some offensive linemen that we targeted in the draft. A couple got picked a spot or two before we were going to take them and we had to pivot and go in a different direction, but this is also the next phase of team building also. So, between now and the start of the season, there's going to be different opportunities, whether it's people that are still on the street, whether there's trade opportunities, whether it ends up being at the cut down. There's going to be some areas of the team that we still want to target and grow."

Q: There's a lot of people that fall in love with specifics height, weight, whatever. And there's some guys that maybe you didn't fit into those molds, but each of them have an edge they come with. They play with an edge, they practice with an edge, it seems like that was really a big detail for you this draft. Am I overstating it?

Ziegler: "No, I think that's right. Philosophically, the measurables do play into some decision making, but it's not something philosophically that is really dominant for us. That's not something that was the way that I was trained, but also just what we believe in. We really just believe in the tape, and then we believe in the research on the background and the person, because I think what we're looking for is people that have a growth mindset people that have a passion and a love for football so they can improve, so they can grow, so they can work on different parts of their game. So that along with just the football tape is most important to us. I've seen so many guys of different shapes and sizes succeed in the NFL from the time that I've been in the league that that's not so much as a focus for us as much as the tape, the attitude and their love for football. Now again, Tyree Wilson is an impressive looking dude, so like there are some elements of that too. When you can get the best of both worlds it's great, but we're not going to eliminate a specific player because of their measurables."

Q: Taking it back to Aidan O'Connell, when you say you go in the season and tell Josh [McDaniels], 'You're going to love this guy,' does he then a few months later come back and tell you, 'You're absolutely right'? And how often you have those conversations with him when you're scouting someone and you see someone that you want to go tell him?

Ziegler: "During the fall, I try to limit it to let him focus on the team and focus on football, but Josh [McDaniels] loves the scouting aspect of the whole process. Some coaches do, some coaches don't. Josh started in personnel at the beginning of his career, so he enjoys the tape aspect, breaking down prospects, kind of fitting all the puzzle pieces together. So yeah, when I know there's a prospect that I think that's going to fit our mold and that he's going to like, I'll let him know in the fall. He'll kind of put it to the side, and then eventually he'll come back up and tell me that I was right and that that's a player that he liked."

Q: You drafted Byron Young yesterday. We know what he brings to the field, stopping the run, really good at that. But one thing that stood out to me was when he was talking about being a winner and helping the locker room. How much does that mentality of him being the guy who feels like he can change even the culture -- how much does that help as well?

Ziegler: "Yeah, it's really important. We're still at the beginning stages of developing this program and laying the foundation for the type of program we want here in Las Vegas. So, Byron [Young] has a lot of the traits. He's been a part of a winning program, part of a program that's demanding and kind of a that championship-caliber breed. So, bringing players in with that DNA that can add to what we're already putting together, we think what he's about and what he's experienced -- there's a lot of similarities in the things that we value. So, to have a guy like that to kind of be one of the leaders of the rookie class with his ideals and his experiences, I think that's going to help the whole group."

Q: A lot of quarterbacks were taken at the end of the fourth round. Was there a pocket of guys that teams were looking out for so that when the first guy goes all the sudden now it's time to get a quarterback?

Ziegler: "That's a good question. I think that's what happened today, because it was a crazy run on quarterbacks. I think [Jake] Haener maybe was one of the first ones to go, and I think that is what happened. That's what we kind of looked at it as, 'Okay, here comes the run,' so it gave us a little bit more of an aggressive mindset to go up and get the guy that we wanted to get and then you saw those dominoes continue to fall. So yeah, sometimes the draft works that way. I guess it happened with the receivers in the first round too. No receivers were taken, then all of a sudden four or five went. So, I do think that was kind of part of what happened today."

Q: Obviously this is your second season with Josh McDaniels and your GM-coach dynamic. Even though you guys are close, how much more synergy would you say you had in this year's draft compared to last years?

Ziegler: "More because we had more time. We felt like we had more time, and we did have more time just to kind of work through the process from the very beginning. And what I mean by that is last year =everything was much more rushed. At this time last year, he was still trying to teach the coaches, implementing the offensive system and the defensive system. There was more time needed to be spent for him with the coaching staff and with the players with OTAs and things of that (nature). Just a lot more preparation I would say that he had to spend too last year just as a first-year head coach in the spring getting ready for our first kind of offseason with the players. So, there was a lot more time that we were able to spend and he was able to spend on the draft process. So, there was just more clarity, more thoroughness I would say for us. The communication between him and myself is always very good, but it just was a smoother process."

Round 1 No. 7 overall pick: Tyree Wilson, DE, Texas Tech

Round 2 No. 35 overall pick: Michael Mayer, TE, Notre Dame

Round 3 No. 70 overall: Byron Young, DT, Alabama

Round 3 No. 100 overall: Tre Tucker, WR, Cincinnati

Round 4 No. 104 overall: Jakorian Bennett, CB, Maryland

Round 4 No. 135 overall: Aidan O'Connell, QB, Purdue

Round 5 No. 170 overall: Christopher Smith II, S, Georgia

Round 6 No. 203 overall: Amari Burney, LB, Florida

Round 7 No. 231 overall: Nesta Jade Silvera, DT, Arizona State

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