Eric DeCosta Opening Statement: "It was a long day – a long couple of days – but today was a long day. [I'm] happy the way that it transpired. I think we added some really interesting, good developmental players, some guys that can come in and help us right away and some guys that looking out, I think we'll be looking back and saying, 'Hey, these guys really helped our team.' So just quickly, [here are] some quick things on these guys. [Teddye] Buchanan was a guy that I did late in the process. The coaches and the scouts liked him. I saw a guy that played very hard, a very gifted mover, explosive, an excellent coverage linebacker [who] should translate well to special teams. I think he's a really polished, tough, tenacious guy. Carson Vinson, [offensive line] Coach [George] Warhop, one of his favorite prospects, a small school guy with tremendous size and strength. I can tell you he came into my office last week. He visited last week and almost broke my hand, and then he tried to shake my hand, and he was leaving my office, and I just looked at him and said, 'I'm good.' But he is just a big strong physical athletic player. I think Coach Warhop is excited to work with him. 'BK' [Bilhal Kone], from Western Michigan, as he likes to be known, [is a] tall, long corner. I think he runs really well [and has] good ball skills. I think he can get stronger, but I think he's got really good coverage ability. I think he's a guy that can play from off and play from press, a good developmental corner with the size that we look for and the speed that we look for. Tyler Loop, the kicker, we told you guys that we would consider drafting a kicker if the right one was there, and this was a guy that for the last – I don't know – three weeks, [senior special teams coach] Randy Brown, our kicking coach, has been out canvassing the country, looking at kickers and evaluating guys. I have to be honest, it was kind of nice having him out of the office for an extended period of time." (laughter) "That was just a joke, but I think Randy does a phenomenal job of evaluating these kickers, and he came back and he said, 'Hey, Eric. There's one guy that I really covet, and it's Loop.' So, I think for us, we kind of felt like we had to draft him, and it was just a matter of getting the right spot and kind of working the picks and kind of coming up with the right combination. We think he's got a really strong leg, and he's got a lot of potential. I think [LaJohntay] Wester is a guy that ... What stands out about him is really his returnability. If you watch him, we think he's a twitchy, explosive punt returner. I think last year it became evident that we could probably get better there at that position. I feel like last year, probably, I didn't do a good enough job making sure that we had a good punt returner on the team. We had some guys, but we couldn't get the right mix, the right guy to really do it, and we think Wester has a chance to really come in here and be an impact punt return for us, so [we're] excited about him. Aeneas Peebles is ... Coach [John] Harbaugh, one of his guys. He loved his tape. We loved his explosion. He's a little undersized, but he's a twitchy, disruptive player who can rush for passer who plays hard, and I think he's got a really, really good skillset for us as a third-down sub-rusher who runs to the football and can make some plays that way. [Robert] Longerbeam – another corner – as I was looking at it, the last couple of weeks, for me, the two guys that were most intriguing corner-wise were 'BK' [Bilhal Kone] and Longerbeam, and I think we were kind of going back and forth. They were so close and both so talented in different ways, and I think our goal was to get one of those two guys, and as we got to the end of the draft, Longerbeam was still there. It was like a no-brainer for us to take him. He's just a really, really quick-footed, good corner who can play off coverage. He supports the run. He plays bigger than his size, and he's got tremendous speed. One thing we know here in Baltimore is you can never have enough corners. We think now we have a really, really good mix of veteran corners and also younger developmental guys who can help us get better. Then, the final guy is Garrett Dellinger, another offensive lineman from LSU. We watched him this year at the Senior Bowl. He's a talented athlete, a big wide-body guy, a true guard. He's physical. He's tough. I think he's a smart player, incidentally born in the state of Maryland, so that was kind of cool. [He's] a guy that we're excited about. We think he has traits, and we like the way he plays. Questions?"
Eric, it seemed like it was a very heavy defensive draft for you guys, especially early on. How much do you think you impacted the defense with draft? (Jamison Hensley)
(DeCOSTA) "We went into it thinking maybe that we would allocate some resources to that side of the football. I think it's very cyclical. Some years we spend most of our picks on offense. Some years more so on defense. Some years we're balanced. I think early on this year, we did spend some picks on defense. I think we got some great football players at important positions, guys that can make plays on the football [and] guys who can get to the quarterback. I think that's great, and probably the one thing we couldn't do is get that big wide-body-type guy [along the defensive line], and I think that's something that we'll assess and address after the draft, and we're already starting to talk about that, so we're aware of that, but I think the guys we took can really impact the defense for sure, and we're excited about them."
You mean like a backup nose tackle to make up for NT Michael Pierce's retirement? (Jeff Zrebiec)
(DeCOSTA) "Yes, just a big first- and second-down run-stuffing type of guy. We probably have a place for a guy like that. We had a couple of guys late that got picked in late [rounds] in the Draft that we were targeting potentially, and they got picked. But I think we do have some options with street free agents and different things that we'll have an opportunity to address that in some way."
Eric, with the selection of K Tyler Loop, is the expectation that he would come in and compete with K Justin Tucker? Is the expectation that he would come in and be the kicker? Is it too early to say? (Childs Walker)
(DeCOSTA) "Yes, I think [Tyler Loop] is a really talented player, and I think that, right now, they're both on the roster, and there's a situation for us where we're just trying to find the best football players. So, we're excited to see what he can do. I've actually never met Tyler. I'm looking forward to that. He'll be here next week, and we will get a chance to see his leg, and that will help us address what our decision making is going to be moving forward."
Do you guys get periodic updates on the league's investigation into K Justin Tucker, and have you gotten any ballpark idea of when it might be concluded? June? Training camp? Any updates on that? (Luke Jones)
(DeCOSTA) "Yes, I'm not a part of that loop, so to speak. I do get some updates from [president] Sashi [Brown] periodically. I haven't gotten anything recently, and we're not really under any idea when that timeline's going to be. We're just kind of waiting."
In drafting a kicker, what does that do to impact K Justin Tucker's roster spot at all? (Jamison Hensley)
(DeCOSTA) "No, I haven't really thought about that at this point. I just thought [Tyler Loop] was a really talented player, and it made sense for us to do that for a lot of different reasons. We've told you guys multiple times this spring that we would look at kickers, and so, for us, it's like any other position this year. We evaluated all these guys, [and] we felt like he was draftable. We felt like he was the best kicker. It made sense for us to take him."
Did the New England Patriots decision to draft a kicker force you guys to make your move when you did, or was it all planned? (Jerry Coleman)
(DeCOSTA) "That's a good question. I think, certainly, it's like this with every position. So, you have a player that maybe you like, and you're certainly aware of [position] runs, and we see that all the time, and it's something that we're very attuned to, and that's really a thing. It's like momentum in sports, right? There was a run, and so we had sort of targeted if we were going to take this guy. [Selecting Tyler Loop] was going to be somewhere probably on the third day of the draft, and probably in one of the later rounds, but when you see sort of the toothpaste open up, you have to be aware that, 'Hey, this could start a run,' and we've seen it with other positions. We saw it last year with offensive linemen in the second round. We saw it a few years ago we drafted Jordan Stout with punters. So, it does happen [and we're] aware of that. I wouldn't say it necessarily increased the urgency for us necessarily, but it was definitely like, 'OK, this is the time we would probably have to go ahead and do it."
John, you have a close relationship with K Justin Tucker. Is he someone you talk to and give him a heads up that you're planning on draft a kicker, or do you think he's been around a long time, and he understands that it's part of the business? (Jeff Zrebiec)
(HARBAUGH) "Both. I don't think we would have to, but we had talked to [Justin Tucker]. He was in this week kicking and working out, so we had conversations, and he already understood. He knew the situation, and you guys knew, he had seen all those kinds of quotes, too. So, he knew that was a possibility."
John, you've been around kickers. What stood out to you in looking at what you saw from K Tyler Loop? (Jamison Hensley)
(HARBAUGH) "Yes, I watched the tape with [senior special teams coach] Randy [Brown]; [he] took me through it. Randy saw him in person, also. We looked through all the guys, and [Tyler Loop] is good. He's a talented guy, he's strong, and he's very consistent with his leg swing. He's one of these guys [who is] a kicking nerd, and you like to see that. He's really into every detail and technique, and he studied Justin [Tucker] a lot and a lot of other guys, too. And he studied our operation, so I know he's excited, too."
Eric, obviously you signed QB Cooper Rush as a veteran backup. Was there any consideration of drafting a developmental quarterback during this draft? (Ken Weinman)
(DeCOSTA) "We did look at that. We had a few guys that we liked. We were probably in a situation on the third day when we might've done that. And I can tell you that one guy got picked that we really did. We talked about it. I mean we still think Devin [Leary] has a chance to develop, and I think he improved over the course of the year. But again, there were some guys we liked, one in particular that we might've taken, but he got picked."
Eric, can you explain the rationale behind that one trade with the Titans? It seemed kind of odd to move back five in one round and then move up five in the next round. (Jeff Zrebiec)
(DeCOSTA) "Yes, it is kind of an analytics thing for us. I know, I agree, it kind of looked weird, but it also had to do with our draft board and where we thought we had to take guys and just a combination of picks, potentially tied to the kicker, just for us to gain some additional flexibility in the sixth round and maneuver a little bit that way. It really wasn't anybody that we really coveted at that specific point when we picked. So we just liked the movement in the sixth round for us to kind of get some things accomplished. And also, we felt like there might be an opportunity for us to actually potentially use some of those sixth-round picks potentially to acquire some picks next year, which we sort of did by trading a sixth-round pick as part of another deal, but to get a fifth-round pick. So, it was really an analytics thing, a strategy that we used based on the board, the type of players that we thought were there. And then also the percentages – not to get too geeky – but we have this list that Derek again does that gives us percentages of when guys are going to be there at each round, at each pick. So for us, based on that and the players that we wanted, we thought it made some sense."
Eric, since we're not going to talk to you for a while, do you have any update on the fifth-year options? (Jonas Shaffer)
(DeCOSTA) "I do not. Thank you."
