On the decision to take a quarterback in the fourth round, after taking Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick in the draft:
“Everybody knows that any time you get a quarterback like Robert with the second pick in the draft, and give up two No. 1’s and a No. 2, that he’s your franchise quarterback. He’s going to be your quarterback for the next decade. He has everything I look for in a quarterback and in a person. I’ve always enjoyed an offense when you can move a quarterback around. With the exceptional speed that he has, to be able to drop back as well as throw on the move, that just doesn’t happen very often. That’s why we did what we did. In that, in the fourth round today, your third day, you’re trying to find people that can make your football team. We have a little bit more depth than we did in the past, and you got to do what you can do to give your team the best chance to have players and depth at each position. I got a chance to be around Kirk, and I got a chance to know him at the Senior Bowl. He’s a quality young man and he’ll come in here and have a chance to show us what we can do.”
On quarterback Kirk Cousins’ backup role with the Redskins:
“You’re right, but there are injuries. I’ve lost five tailbacks in three games. I’ve lost two tight ends as we did this year. I’ve lost three or four offensive linemen, and you’re two plays away from being the starter. We have to have depth on a football team to win and you want quality. So if you see a guy, a quality player that you can get in the fourth round like we did, that is one or two plays away from being the starter, hopefully it doesn’t happen, but you ought to be prepared if it does. Getting a chance to know [Cousins], to know what type of guy he is, to know what he brings to the table, I thought it was a steal for us at that position. With as many draft choices that we were able to get throughout the draft, I was pleased at the end result.
On the luxury of drafting with some depth already on the team:
“Well, we made a lot of progress. Any time you have 12 draft picks actually make your team and everybody at least dress for a game, you’re feeling pretty lucky. Especially with a guy like [Jarvis] Jenkins that goes down, he’s able to come back and help us this year. We didn’t have the depth we wanted to last year. Fortunately we had a good draft. Obviously, we helped ourselves. Now, when you take a look at free agency, we helped ourselves in a lot of areas there. We addressed some needs and we feel very good about where we are at.”
On what he told Cousins before he drafted him:
“I told him, ‘I know you know that we obtained Robert,’ and that he was going to be our quarterback. He’s our franchise quarterback. He’s our quarterback of the future. Kirk Cousins is a very smart guy. I told him that I couldn’t pass him up. You’re in the fourth round and it’s the third day, I said, ‘you want to put your best football team together.’ The question was asked, ‘well does he know he’s going to be a backup?’ Sure he knows he’s going to be a backup, but you’re one play away or two plays away from being the starter. You never know what’s going to happen in the National Football League. I’m hoping Robert, for the next 10 years, never misses a game, and we keep our fingers crossed that that happens. I know what Robert has the capabilities of doing, and we’re going to give him the supporting cast where he can go in and get it done. That’s my job, to give him the best players to go out there and obviously execute our game plan, and hopefully he will be able to do that.”
On the decision to release quarterback John Beck:
“I thought I owed it to John. Before the draft was over, we did make the decision to go this way to let John know that you can talk to these teams or his agent know he’s able to talk to anybody as quickly as he can. So if somebody wants John instead of drafting somebody, they’d have the ability to do so without drafting one obviously beforehand.”
On Cousins organizing his own Pro Day routine and being detail-oriented:
“I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t see the Pro Day. I wasn’t at the Pro Day. I had a chance to be around Kirk at the Senior Bowl and get a chance to spend a little time around him, but you know, he’s the type of guy that I was impressed with. I liked the way he handled himself, and that’s why you make a decision on the third day when a guy’s available. You make the best decision for your football team.”
On when it became a possibility that the Redskins would draft two quarterbacks even after Beck was close to being the starter last season:
“It’s disappointing. I talked to John as he came back for our workouts. I talked to him about a number of possibilities. [I told John],‘I’ll be very upfront and very honest with you. I can’t tell you exactly what we’re going to do, but if I do make a decision to go a different direction, I’ll call you as soon as I make that decision. Your agent will know, so you can do the best thing for you.’”
On when the decision to move on from Beck began to form and if drafting Cousins was a reflection of drafting the best player available or filling a need:
“I’ll be honest with you. I did talk to Robert [Griffin III] this morning when he was here. I said, ‘Hey, there’s a possibility of going in that direction.’ And I said, ‘We do need some depth. I’m going to do the best thing for the organization. You know it has no reflection on you,’ because I talked to him in detail about what I thought about him. He knows he’s our franchise guy. He knows he’s our future. I talked to him about me being upfront with him, letting him know what we’re going to do and get it done. He’s pretty good about it. He understood. He does have a lot of confidence. He’s not afraid. I can guarantee that.”
On what he saw in guard Josh LeRibeus:
“We did [like LeRibeus], obviously, or we wouldn’t have drafted him. Here’s a guy that has pretty good size, does have quickness, plays the center or guard position, has the ability to play both, [and is] extremely bright. We’re very happy to get him.”
On how he views safety Jordan Bernstine and cornerback Richard Crawford:
“Crawford is a corner. Bernstine is a safety.”
On Crawford’s ability to play different positions:
“He has the possibility of playing inside in the nickel as well as the outside. Also, punt return. Yeah, we think he has some value. Had the chance to talk to [SMU head coach] June Jones in detail about him. I really liked what I saw and was glad he was available in the seventh round.”
On where he thinks linebacker Keenan Robinson will play for the Redskins:
“He did play inside [in college]. He was an inside linebacker. He [also] has played outside. He is a guy who could play both. We liked his speed. One of the reasons why we drafted him is we had him also at the Senior Bowl. Just a quality young man and we just liked the way he practices and how he handled himself. We think he can fit in well.”
On his analysis of guard Adam Gettis:
“Yeah, he’s got the quickness we look for, kind of like Kory Lichtensteiger. You know, he can play center or the guard position. He’s got speed. You can never have enough depth in that offensive line. That’s why I think it was big for us to get three offensive linemen that we were hoping we were going to get before the draft started. And we weren’t really sure when they were going to go, but we were counting on signing three if we could to add some depth to our offensive line after the injuries last year. And all three guys we got, we targeted, and that doesn’t happen very often. So we are very happy with the depth on the offensive line.”
On tackle Thomas Compton:
“Talking about Compton, the offensive tackle – got great speed, quickness, what we look for in our tackle. [He] did a great job in all his agility drills as well as his 40-yard dash. We think he gives us some flexibility to play both sides.”
On running back Alfred Morris:
“Relative to Morris, just liked his running style. He has the ability to make people miss, has great lateral quickness, can cut on a dime, and now we get a chance to see how he’ll come in and compete with the other backs. As we have proven through the years, a lot of times you’re going to need four or five guys to go through the season. He is a tailback.”
On how the process works of signing additional undrafted free agents:
“Yeah, we’ll have our draft choices, obviously, who will be there, a few guys that we do sign in free agency with the draft choices and a number of tryout guys that we’ll evaluate through the weekend.”
On if coaching the Senior Bowl helped in the evaluation process:
“Yeah, it really helped us a lot. Anytime you’ve got a football team, you get a chance to be around your squad and these players a whole week. That’s a big advantage and also being with the other squad for a day. Getting a chance to sit down and talk, even though you don’t practice or go out and practice with them, you really get a chance to sit with them in a different type of environment and that was special for us.”
