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Transcript: Giants GM Jerry Reese on First Round choice Aaron Ross

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April 28, 2007

Q:  What was it about Aaron Ross that you liked?

A:  His has played at a high level. He has size, he has speed.  He fits our scheme.  He fits our scheme - a big guy with long arms who can battle big receivers.  He can play that press coverage that our coordinator thinks that we are probably are going to play more of this year.  So he fits what we want to do.  He was productive - six interceptions, 19 pass breakups.  He has returned three punts for touchdowns in his career.  So he had a lot of value.  Will he cover Terrell Owens better than he will cover Santana Moss?  Absolutely he will because he is a big guy, he is long-armed.  Is he going to get some balls caught on him from little guys in front of him?  He probably will, but he is going to battle those big guys that we play with the in the National Football League, which is a big-receiver league.  So we felt good about him in that aspect.  Very productive.

Q:  How close did you come to moving up or down?

A:  We tried to move up a couple of times and they wanted too much for us to move up.  We just decided that we will stay the plan.  We actually kind of thought this is where we would be at this point in the draft.  A couple of guys kept falling.   Let's get up and try to get a couple of them, a couple of corners that we liked.  They fell farther than we thought they would.  We tried to get up a couple of times but the price was too high.  So we moved on.

Q:  Was the corner position the one that you wanted?

A:  It was one of the positions.  Obviously we can use some help in the secondary.  So we wanted to address that.   We didn't want to reach for a corner but we saw the high-rated corners start to fall so, you get a little antsy and go up and take a stab at some of them. 

Q:  Was this more of a need pick or was it a value pick?

A:  It was a need and a value pick for us.  So we didn't reach for this guy.  With the players on the board, we did not reach for this player.  So it was a need and a value pick for us. So that is a good place to be in when you can get a need and a value pick.  Seldom do you get it like that.

Q:  Was he the second corner picked?

A:  He was the third corner picked.  Revis was the first corner picked, then Hall, then Ross.  He was the third corner picked.

Q:  How high were you looking to go?  Were you looking to get up close to the top 10?

A:  No, we were not trying to get up in the top 10 because those guys were past the top 10; they fell past the top 10.  We thought those guys might go in the top 10.  And when they started to fall past the top 10 that's when we investigated moving up to try maybe to secure one of those guys.  But the price was too steep and we passed.

Q:  Ross is going to be 25 starting this season?  Is that a factor?

A:  Twenty-five is not old.  Twenty-five years old - we are not worried about that.  We know he is going to be 25.  That's not an issue for us. 

Q:  Does that lead you to believe that he will be more prepared for this than if he were 22 or 23?

A:  Not necessarily.  Twenty-three, 25, is really not that big of a difference.  That's nitpicking. 

Q:  You said you were very interested in two other corners and you picked this one.  Cornerback was obviously something you were interested in.

A:  Sure, we were interested in corners.  There were several other defensive positions that we were interested in.  But this guy was sitting there with all of the production so it was the right time and the right place for us to pick him.  So we picked him.

Q:  Is it fair to say you felt cornerback was a bigger need than the linebacker position?

A:  No necessarily.  But where we had this guy ranked compared to some of the linebackers we had ranked, he was the best choice for us at the time; how we had him ranked on our board.

Q:  How much is this a reflection of your new coordinator?  The Eagles always tried to stock up on the defensive backfield.

A:  Coach Spagnuolo gave us the type of players that he liked in his system.  He didn't say, "Well, I want this player."  He did tell us, "I want Aaron Ross or I want Leon Hall."  He said, "These are the type of players that I like in the system that we are going to run."  So we have a description of corners, we have a description of safeties.  And we had the same thing with Tim Lewis as well.  So it's not new for us.  This guy fits what we are going to try to do.

Q:  At what point did you know that Ross was going to be a serious consideration?  Was it the Combine, was it is workout?

A:  Obviously we were looking at corners and we felt like he was the third corner.  We had the other two guys that went before us.  We had those guys ranked ahead of him and he was the third corner.  So if those two guys went, obviously like we thought they would, he would probably be in the conversation at some point if the right people were still not on the board for us.  And they were not on the board so he was a value pick and a need pick for us.

Q:  Was it his Combine, or his workout, or just his season in general that left the biggest impression on you?

A:  His whole body of work; what he did in the Combine, what he did during the season and over his career.  He played at a high level on some championship football teams.  So his whole body of work intrigued us.  

Q:  When the Jets moved up to 14th, was that when the conversations stopped about moving up?

A:  When the Jets moved up?

Q:  When they picked the corner is that when the conversation stopped for you?

A:  No, we still made a couple of calls after that. 

Q:  Re:  Offers to move down?

A:  There were some offers to move down but for us to move down seven or eight spots, the guy had too much value for us to move down seven or eight spots.  We talked about these scenarios.  We talked about it and really we thought this guy may be a guy that could be there.  And he was one of the guys that we talked about that could be there at the right time.  We would sit and wait and see if somebody wanted to move up to our spot.  We did get a couple of calls but they were nickeling and diming us and we picked.

Q:  Do you expect this guy to be a big factor in the punt return game?

 A:  I expect him to challenge.  Hopefully he will.  I expect him to challenge because he has done it.  He has three returns for touchdowns at a high level ....  So I definitely expect him to challenge and be back there at some point.