Quotes from:
Zac Taylor
Head Coach
Initial comments ...
"Shemar is a great young man. I met him at the Combine and got to know him a little bit through this process. He really fits into our locker room with the effort we're looking for and play style. Al (Golden) has a great vision for how to utilize him, so we're fired up that he was there.
What stands out about him?
"The overall athleticism, his effort and his play style, his relentlessness. If there's a word we want to define our defense with, we want guys that are relentless on all snaps. I think Shemar fits that to a T."
When you see him play and saw how he tested as he did during the draft process, do you go back and watch again to make sure everything lines up?
"The tape, first and foremost, is what we watch from the get-go."
Given that there wasn't as much production as you'd like to see versus the projection, how much production do you anticipate getting out of him?
"We anticipate getting a lot of production. We have great faith in our coaches. There's a lot of near production there as you watch all the clips of him. Again, we see a tremendous football player that's going to come in and help us."
How much of what he can do is also setting an edge?
"He's physical. He's got the dimensions, the speed, the (physicality). He's got the effort, so there's tremendous traits there we're excited about."
There's some talk the role he played in during his college career wasn't exactly prone to a lot of sack production — is that what you saw in evaluating him?
"They had a really talented defense. You just look at guys we've evaluated all across the defense, really. You can see why there's production that he had. He did a great job at his job. We've got tremendous confidence and faith in him. That's why we took him. I'm really excited to get him here."
When you scouted McKinnley Jackson last year, did Shemar start jumping off the tape back then?
"(Texas) A&M had a lot of players jump off the tape at you over the last several years. They've had really talented defenses. They've had several guys in this draft (and) several guys in previous drafts, so I think Shemar has done a great job earning playing time over the years."
How much were his disruptive tendencies a factor in his drafting?
"You'd love to see the stat where other guys got great production because of what he caused. That's what shows up on every single play and that's what we know we're going to get. We're going to do an outstanding job creating a role for him and pushing him to better or defense. Whether it's the opportunities that come his way or the opportunities he creates for other people, it doesn't matter to me as long as it improves our production."
How rare is it a guy can get around the quarterback that much but not have the sacks like he did in college?
"I can't speak to how rare that is or not. We're just excited that he was there."
You study premiere edge rushers all the time in game planning — everyone talks about Shemar's physical skillset. What specifically about that has you most excited?
"He's a tremendous athlete. Again, you've got to be aware of him, the play caller has got to be aware of him, the tackles have to do a great job defending against him and again, we're just excited about what he can bring to the table."
What stood out about him during the interview process?
"There was confidence. There was competitiveness. He's earned everything he's got in life, just hearing his story growing up and where he's gotten to now. So, again, really excited to get to know him better and get him in this building and get around him even more. We're fired up about him."
How do you see him fitting in your defensive end room. There's going to be talk about what this pick means for Trey Hendrickson ...
"No, this is not a story about anybody else. I don't think you can ever have enough defensive linemen, especially in this league and this division. So, this doesn't speak to anyone else that's on our football team. This is just adding another weapon to our defense that we can utilize and keep guys fresh, keep guys coming after the quarterback and being relentless against the run. Again, this just speaks to how we want to play football. We want a stout defense and a lot of times, that starts up front. Adding pieces to that puzzle up front is always helpful for us.
Is there a certain type of edge rusher you need in the AFC North?
"I think you can look at a lot of these different guys — I mean, they're all different shapes and sizes, so I wouldn't say you could put it in one little box, 'This is the type of rusher that succeeds.' There's different types of quarterbacks and styles of play. Teams may look at us differently and needed a different style to play against Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson or the other quarterbacks in our division."
Do you think he can contribute right away?
"I do, just from what I know about him. Now, guys are going to have to earn their way, so when he gets here, he's going to have to earn it. From what I know about him and his competitiveness, he's going to be willing to do that. It's difficult to rush and say, 'This guy's going to play this role and this amount of snaps.' But from what I've seen of him, he's going to come here and compete."
What was his reaction to being picked?
"Excited. He was emotional. You could tell there's a lot of people around him. It's hard to gauge just off a phone call, but I'm sure he's pretty excited."
Al Golden
Defensive Coordinator
Was there any endorsement on Shemar that really stood out to you?
"I spoke to coach (Mike) Elko about three days ago, so (there was) just great insight from him. Loves the kid, loves the makeup. The way he conducts himself every day, the way he practices, the way he prepares — (he's a) team guy. That's' the embodiment of what we want. His play style is awesome. I love the way he finishes, so just can't wait to get him here."
When you looked at all his plays and even though he didn't get a lot of sacks, he was always around the ball. Was that a case of each play being different or was there one overall thing that made you say, 'If we get him here, we can teach him how to finish?'
"We felt like we could get him to gather a little bit at the top and complete some of those. He's got the reach and the length to do it. He's got the bend at the top and he's got the speed and power in his arms. He's got a lot of the things that we want. He's a strong edge setter. We feel like he's got the traits that we covet and the play demeanor that we don't have to do anything but get him out there and watch him do it. From that standpoint, we're excited to work with him."
What did you see from him at the Senior Bowl that impressed you?
"I'm just really impressed with the young man. The way he approaches it, the day in, day out practice, the drills, the way he chases the football. Again, for us, that's play demeanor. That's attitude. That's effort. Those are all the things we're looking for and he can set the edge in this division, which is really important. It's going to be hard to get knocked off the ball by tackles or tight ends. Obviously, he's a guy that makes plays on the second level and on the perimeter."
How do you evaluate his physical traits?
"I think they're elite. Again, not just the 40 (yard dash time) and the vertical and that kind of thing, but just how explosive he is, how powerful he is at the point of attack, his ability to anchor down and set it. He gives you versatility. He can play nine (technique), he can play six, he can play five, he can go ahead and play four-I if you want to move him down, so he gives you a chess piece that's really hard to find as a defensive end. We're excited about how to utilize him."
Do you see that athleticism translating to the NFL?
"Yeah. When the balls are thrown in the perimeter or behind him and he can turn and chase and make those types of plays that he made, that's an athletic young man, so we're excited about that. And we want to harness that. For us, Jerry (Montgomery) is going to do a great job working with him on finishing. But in terms of him being disruptive, that's a disruptive young man. Whether it's penetrating on stunts, being the penetrator or a looper, if you will, in the pass rush game and then just his physical presence on the edge, there are a lot of elements there that are hard to find in one young man, so we're excited about that."
How much do you take in your own ability to develop a player in evaluating someone like Shemar?
"I think it's more a vision for how you would utilize him and we're going to utilize him to his strengths. That's what's really important. We're not going to ask him to do anything that he hasn't already done. We want to take his traits and develop them so that he becomes better and continues to ascend. This is an ascending player right now. We're in an area now where (the impact of) COVID is hitting and you're getting a lot of fourth, fifth and even sixth-year guys. This guy is an ascending player right now and a young man that we're really looking forward to working with."
One of the areas that Duke Tobin and Zac Taylor have both talked about they want to be better is tackling. Some of Shemar's scouting reports listed that as a weakness. How did you evaluate his tackling?
"I think he's fine. I think there's a lot of plays where he's diving or reaching and a lot of that's because of his effort, so I don't think it's as simple as 'He's missing tackles.' I think it's getting near a lot of balls a lot of guys can't get to and we've got to help him finish better, but tackling right now, that's a big one for us to try and get that fixed in the next two months."
How quickly do you think he picks up the principles?
"He's a smart young man. Mike (Elko) said he learns really well and our interview was impressive. Again, you're talking about a Combine interview with 12 people in the room and everyone came away (with a) very favorable grade for him, so that was impressive."
In your experience, how important is that though when you're a first-round pick and you need him to contribute right away?
"No doubt. We're going to start day one when he gets here, we'll get going on it. We'll have a good plan for him and do whatever we need to do to get him out there."
How are you going to grade how good his rookie year is?
"Is he executing the defense the way we want him to? Is he making plays when they avail themselves? That's what we need him to do. He doesn't need to do anything more than that. He needs to be himself and play at the same intensity level and same play style coach was talking about — just be that. Be who you are, and his teammates and the staff will do the rest."
He's been listed in the 270-280 pound range. Do you want an edge rusher around that size?
"Yeah. The thing is if you can get an edge that's in that range — and again, he's been between 270-280 — if you can get a guy that's in that range that can also run like he does, it just gives you, as I eluded to earlier, flexibility along the front. What I mean by that is you don't necessarily have to sub every time you want to get into a different package and there's very few guys at this level who can do that."
How did he address the lack of finishing in his meetings with you?
"Again, the kid — there's no excuses in him — and again, for us, like Zac was saying earlier, it's all positive for us. There's no negative here. This is a heck of a pick for us. We're excited about him. We're excited about his athleticism, about his toughness, about his play style, all those things, so in terms of — there's a lot of production he's made. Again, if converts a couple more sacks and they're not just quarterback hits or hurries, we're not having this discussion right now because he's making plays out of his realm a lot of times, too. He's making a lot of plays on the perimeter and plays downfield because he has the skills to do that. Again, if that's the only thing we're focused on when he gets here in terms of quieting that down and making that better and giving him a plan for improvement in terms of that, then we're going to be successful."
When you did a review of the defense last year and this may be an example of taking the best player available on your board, did you see an edge to play opposite Trey Hendrickson as one of the more glaring needs or just 'How do we get better at each position?'
"The former. For us, we're trying to get — whether its edge, defensive line or linebacker — we're trying to get better at a lot of different spots and however it falls, then that's how it's falls. But we weren't going to pass up Shemar at 17 or move back because he may not be there. We were right there in terms of where our picks were and what we wanted and fit that role. Now it's on to whatever needs we have on offense and defense to fill in rounds 2, 3 and so on."
Do you think he can get snaps early?
"I think Zac already answered that. I think we have to teach him as quickly as we can to get him to learn that nothing will be handed to him. We have a lot of hungry guys on the team right now. But again, we're looking for the collective, the whole group to improve and play together and be a valuable component. Again, for us, he's talented, but he's got to earn his reps and earn it and we're ready to do that."
People will see the sack production numbers and think 'project.' Do you feel that way?
"No, I don't. Again, there's some guys that got picked earlier that have five and six sacks, so if we can help him convert a couple more, then we'll do that, but no I don't look at it like that. I look at it like — there's factors. How many tackles, how many tackles (for loss), all of the things. How many batted balls. All of the things that make up who the player is and what he can do to impact the game. I see a young man that's doing the job on every rep when I watch him on film."
Does this make you a more physical defense?
"It has to. It has to. Physical presence, we'll see when Shemar gets here and gets with our nutrition (team) and (determine) what his optimal weight is, somewhere between 270 and 280 (pounds) and that gives us a stout edge to go along with the guys we have now. And we're going to need them all in this division to do what we need to do. There's no doubt he gives us a physical presence and a strong edge setter."
Was there any particular college tape that stood out during your time as a college coach?
"No, I just heard guys (complaining) about him when we had to play him. He was the guy they were worried about and now I know why, having studied him. I'm just really excited about the young man because, again, you're not really compromising anything with this pick. You're not compromising character, you're not compromising work ethic, you're not compromising play style, you're not compromising height, weight, speed. Again, the focus is on what he needs to improve and that's fair. But I welcome that challenge and I know Jerry (Montgomery) does upstairs as well. But I see — not just him, but all of these young men and the guys that are on our current roster — I see them for what they can do to help us win and not maybe the one thing that they have to improve."
What was Jerry Montgomery's reaction?
"Jerry is fired up. Jerry loves coaching. He's really been working hard trying to be engaged with the guys that we have and trying to outline the plan. Part of that is the onboarding, to be honest with you: How do we get these guys — because there's going to be more guys drafted on defense — how do we get these guys to learn this system as quickly as we can and get them integrated so that they can help us, they can be part of the fortification of our defense and obviously play pivotal roles in what we need to do."
Is it coincidental to be able to have him play with someone he played alongside in college in McKinnley Jackson?
"There's no doubt. I think that helps and again, this time of year, just where we're at, just being around guys, there's so many good guys and good people on the group I've seen so far. I think there's going to be a lot of people trying to help him integrate. Obviously having one of his former teammates here helps him."
Is there a specific game that really flashed about him if people want to go back and watch his best efforts that stands out to you?
"I don't know. Again, I watched so many different games. (He played on a) very talented defense and a defense that played well all year. You could pick a couple games."
