Raiders' GM Ziegler Talks NFL Draft and More

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler has 12 picks for the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft next week.

Today he took time with the local media to discuss the draft and all that is surrounding it.

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

General Manager Dave Ziegler

Opening Statement:

General Manager Dave Ziegler: “Before we get started, I just want to recognize some people here within the organization that have helped just throughout this process. This is a monster process when you talk about preparing for the NFL Draft. There's a lot of people involved throughout the organization that get us to this point, and that kind of get us organized and make it all happen. So first, just want to definitely recognize our area scouts who really build the foundation for this whole process starting in the fall. They're the ones that set the menu for us. When we get here and start really working through the board, they've done all the character work, they've done all the player evaluations, the all-star games, the pro days, and it's a hard job. Area scout is a hard job and our group did a really good job this year, so I want to recognize that group along with our national scouts and Shaun Herock, who also helped kind of get the board organized for us and again, do a lot of work in the fall, a lot of travel in the fall, supply us with a lot of information and background on the draftable players this year. And then our [Director of College Scouting] Brandon Yeargan, who joined us here, he's been on the job here for a little less than a year. Just did a phenomenal job here this fall, did a phenomenal job in terms of the scouting piece, but really even more importantly he did a phenomenal job in terms of the teaching piece and the education piece and really helping our scouts continue to work to get onto the same page continue to learn our system and continue to evolve as scouts. So, really appreciative of that. Our pro scouting department, who is also involved in the Draft process, with their focus really being on team needs and kind of studying the league and having an idea of what some of the league trends are, team trends are amongst the other teams in the league. So, we're glad for their support. Our Director of Scouting Administration John Barnett, who's been with us for a little less than a year, just does all things relative to coordinating travel for us. Our operations department here, phenomenal job also helping organize all the visits - again, the 30 visits and how that that process moves throughout our building, which is again very valuable for us. Our trainers, our strength and conditioning staff, our player development staff are all involved in and helping us through the evaluation process when we bring prospects here on site. Our nutrition, cafeteria, again all put in overtime work as we're having people come in and out of the building throughout the month for our 30 visits and those types of things. And then our families, there's a lot of sacrifice that our families go through throughout the fall especially with our college guys being on the road, but also all our in-house people, my family included - Cam, Gigi, Asher, they want to make sure I mention their name here in front of the audience, they've been helping me. Cam has a lot of draft opinions on what we're going to do here this year as a seven-year-old, so I've got to fight him down just like I've got to fight you guys down. He wants to know who we're picking, where we are going. Are we going to stay on the defensive side of the ball? Some of the same stuff you'll be asking today. But just really proud, really impressed and excited about the group of people that we have working here. We're still developing a cohesiveness as a team as we're evolving in the first year together and really excited on where it's going."

Q: Dave, as you do wrap this process up to get ready for Thursday, you've got 12 picks. A lot of those are at the top of every round. Do you feel looking at this body of players that you're in a pretty good position to add multiple players that are going to be able to help pretty quickly starting next season?

Ziegler: "Yeah, that's the hope, and I think when you're picking up at the top where we are at in some of these rounds, you hope that you're able to find some guys that are going to impact the team, and selfishly we want to do it throughout the whole draft. But I think we're in a good position with the number of picks that we have and where we're picking to find some players that are going to come in here and have a positive impact on the team."

Q: I'm sure that as the draft progresses through each round it dictates what you're able to do, changes your strategy, but looking at it right now there's no changes, it's status quo. What is the priority? What is the direction you want to go when you're looking at the seventh pick?

Ziegler: "I think the priority is finding someone that's going to have an impact. You want to find a starting level player at that spot, there's no doubt about that. And I think along with that, you want to find a player that hopefully fits a need that you have. I mean, we're going to look at the best available players, but we also have a lot of places on this team where we can add competition and we can add people that can help our roster. And we want to find a player that fits what we look for in a Raiders player. We want to find someone that has a passion for football. We want to find someone that is someone that has some upside, that has some explosiveness to their game that can impact the game in a positive way, and that's going to fit our organization I'd say and have a positive impact on the organization as a person too. So, those are some of the things that we'll be dialed in on."

Q: What's the process like? Because we all do the mock drafts and we all have different opinions and it always plays out differently. How many times you guys run through it, like just a trial run just to see how it shakes out and well if this happens then this is how we can react?

Ziegler: "When we're going through our draft meetings - we just finished up about 15-straight days of draft meetings, those conversations are fluid as you're going through the board, you're going through different positions, you're looking back at the order of the draft and how things will fall from a strategic standpoint. And so I wouldn't say it's as much for us as like, we're going to structure this one day and we're going to work through a mock process. Some people do that. Ours is really fluid. I just came down from a conversation in that regard. So, it happens as you're going through the board and you're going through the positions, and you start to look at the board I'd say from a horizontal nature. You start to have those things start to pop up organically, and you have a lot of those conversations."

Q: Is there inherent pressure to get it right?

Ziegler: "Yes, I want to get 12 contributing players. So yeah, we put that pressure on ourselves and I put that pressure on myself and Josh [McDaniels] puts the pressure on himself, and just as a scouting department we feel that pressure in a good way, because I think that pressure drives you. When you're meeting for 15-straight days, there's a monotony that you can let grow in, but I think that pressure, that motivation to get it right, that motivation to improve the team, that's the pressure that that keeps us pushing and keeps us focused and dialed in."

Q: You guys brought Jimmy Garoppolo in, does that lessen any urgency that you might have at the top of the draft to bring in a quarterback?

Ziegler: “Not necessarily. I think that anytime you can find a young player at that position that's going to have an impact on your team, you have to keep an open mind to that. Of course we're excited to have Jimmy and having Jimmy does supply us with a very high-quality starting player at the position, and so we feel comfortable with that. But I think to close that door and just say that that's not something you would do because of X,Y and Z, that's not the business that we're in.”

Q: Last year in the draft you invested your first pick on an interior swing offensive lineman in Dylan Parham. Sitting at number seven this year, you could potentially draft another offensive lineman that's very versatile in Peter Skoronski. Can you just talk about what he brings to the table and what you look for in the NFL traits when it comes to evaluating the offensive line?

Ziegler: “Well, when you talk about [Peter] Skoronski and then you talk about Dylan [Parham], you're talking about two players that have multi-position versatility, and we've talked about the value of that versatility. You only get so many players that you can take to the game, and so having players that can do different things and fill different spots, that increases a player's value. While he's played left tackle at Northwestern, you see a player that can play tackle, you see a player that has, I would say, a play style that could go in and play guard too. So, that's attractive about him. Offensive linemen, intelligence is important. You know, versatility is important. I also think like just in general, the ability to pass protect, and run blocking is important too. But I think you have to have a certain skill set to be able to be a solid pass protector in the NFL from an athletic standpoint. And so, I think that's an important trait when you're differentiating between guys is some of the ability to pass protect.”

Q: You’re a week out from the draft and I'm curious, is all the hay in the barn? Are you still evaluating? can there be paralysis by analysis? Where do you sit? What's your philosophy?

Ziegler: “ Yeah, I'm still working. Yep. And we'll work up until the day of the draft. And so, it's not necessarily a paralysis by analysis type of thing. It's not, ‘Hey, let's watch four more games on this specific player.’ It's more at this point, we have the board in some pockets and there's some groups of players at different parts of the board. So, it might be, ‘Hey, let's take a look at these three players, or these four players, dive back into it.’ Let's look at the maybe these specific traits that we're looking for that we maybe had a difference of opinion on and those types of things. So, it's more of, I'd say, a quality control check in a focused manner at this point, rather than just kind of, ‘Hey, let's watch all six games again type of thing.’ That's not really where we're at, at this point. So, we're getting closer, but we'll keep kind of putting in some work here all the way up until we’re ready to go on Thursday.”

Q: You’ve talked about how when you first came into the league, you were scouting cornerbacks, and I know early in the offseason you said that you felt like the secondary might be the deepest position in the draft. How much fun has it been evaluating these cornerbacks in this draft class?

Ziegler: “A lot. I enjoy it. The athletic component of playing that position is fun to watch for me, and seeing how different guys play different matchups. In college, it's a little bit different because everybody plays in a different conference, everybody sees a different set of receivers. It's not like in the NFL where week in and week out you're seeing the number one or number two. So, it makes it a little bit more difficult. You have to be really focused in on the level of competition. But, yeah, always enjoy it. They come in different shapes and different sizes. You have guys that can only play mostly on the perimeter, guys that can play inside and outside. More man guys, more zone guys. So, I always think it's fun just putting those pieces together of the puzzle and seeing which of those types of players you know are going to ultimately fit best for our system.”

Q: You guys have hosted several quarterbacks on visits. Obviously, Jimmy's going to be your starter this year barring injury. Do you guys feel like you guys are in a situation where you can be comfortable taking a player that probably isn't going to be able to play right away?

Ziegler: “Yeah, I do. I think it goes back just to the value of the position, and I think that's important. I think doing your due diligence on all those guys is important, too. Obviously, we're in a position where there's a lot of quarterbacks. At the beginning of this process, you could say, ‘Hey, you don't know how it's going to fall. There's four, five, or six guys that we're going to do work on and that could fall to us or be there at seven.’ And so, we did our due diligence because of that. But I also think, yeah, the value of that position and having a young guy that can come in and play and contribute. We've seen where those contracts have gone on quarterbacks, too, so there's obviously an advantage of having a quarterback on a rookie contract in terms of roster construction and those types of things. And so, like I mentioned at the beginning, I think just closing that door, I think it’s irresponsible to do that.”

Q: What have you learned about Jalen Carter in this process? And do you believe it's a more complicated issue for the Raiders than it would be for another team?

Ziegler: “No, I don't think so. For me, it's not, in terms of more complicated. We looked at Jalen like every other player that's in the draft and doing our due diligence on all aspects of the player from football learning, from practice habits, from the personal side of things on the field and off the field, how they interact with people, how they treat people, their experience at the Pro Day and Combine. All of those different aspects. I don't think we want to cheat the process with any prospect in that regard. We want to hit those bases for each individual prospect and then of course on some prospects, it's deeper, right? There are just more things to look at and more things to consider based on their situation. And so, Jalen in that regard was, similar to a lot of players in the draft and feel very comfortable with the work that we've done on him.”

Q: There are all sorts of scenarios for trading up and trading down in the first round. Have you ruled anything out?

Ziegler: “No, we haven't ruled anything out in that regard, and we won't. Whether that's for pick number seven or if that's pick 100. We'll take every pick individually, assess the situation and what makes most sense for us, in terms of standing firm and picking or moving up or moving back. And so philosophically, that's how we operate.”

Q: In moving up or down in the first round, and considering some of the needs that you have, does one outweigh the other?

Ziegler: “Yeah, and I think that's what you have to weigh. You have to understand in that situation the landscape of the first round, and there's a lot that goes into that. Understanding the gap between the second rated corner on your board, or the second ranked defensive tackle versus the fourth defensive tackle, or the second tight end on the board versus the third tight end on the board. In other words, what's that gap in terms of skill? What's that gap in terms of where you think you could potentially draft that player? If you're trading up in the draft, how many players could that potentially take you out of? And so, there's a lot of that mechanics, and then there's some guessing to that, obviously, because we don't know. But there's a lot of those conversations that you have to you have to work through before Thursday and have an understanding of at least what you would be willing to do.”

Q: Is there ever a tendency to try to out-think the room? 'I know this guy is going to do this,' where it could be dangerous or not advisable, or something where you try to be smarter than you really should be?

Ziegler: “In terms of what other teams may do? Yeah, I think you can overthink some things because there is a level of guestimation in regard to what people in their building are thinking and how they view their own roster, too. You may feel like a team is strong at a certain spot on their roster, or the totality of one position – in the running back position, or whatever it may be – and they don't feel that comfortable. And so, you can overthink and kind of get yourself into maybe a decision that isn't the right decision at that time. And so, that's why you have to take all of that with a grain of salt, and we try to do our own work in-house. We spend a lot of time on team needs. Our pro department does an excellent job, led by Dwayne Joseph, in terms of really studying the teams. That's something they do all year round; study not only what their needs are, but what their draft philosophies are and what they've done leading up to the draft and things like that, to try to have as best an educated guess on what those different teams may do. But you can out-think yourself, there's no doubt about it. You have to be smart in that way."

Q: For a lot of general managers, the best player available is who I'm taking. Other guys say, 'Hey, if I'm full at that position, I'll slide.' What is the Dave Ziegler mentality of drafting?

Ziegler: "We talked about it last year – we're focused on taking the best player available. I think where our roster's at, and our want to improve competition at every position, that leaves us open to that. Now, I would also say, and I would caveat that by saying when you talk about best available player, there's a lot of different things that encompass that. It's not just tape. And so, it's the best fit for the Raiders. And there's different things that go into that, whether it's the football intelligence piece, football character. There's different things that go into that, that makes that player the best available player for each individual organization. I think that sometimes can get lost. And so that's what it means for us – the best available player, that's the best player for the Raiders organization and fits what we're looking for. And we're going to stay true to that process and stay open to that."

Q: When talking about the versatility between the different types of cornerbacks in this class, Christian Gonzalez, Devon Witherspoon, Joey Porter Jr. What are some traits that you look for in terms of starting outside quarterbacks that you value?

Ziegler: "I think one of the biggest things is guys that can affect the capacity of making plays on the football. I think that's a trait that you want to see, and it doesn't always materialize in college stats. Because a lot of guys are asked to play a certain type of way and that's part of the difficulty in maybe evaluating the position. You may watch a guy that maybe doesn't have much ball production because they've asked him to play a bunch of cover three and he's playing seven, eight yards off the ball. But then when you look at his athletic traits, his short area quickness, his explosive burst, his speed, that's the level of projection that you have to make. But I think people that can make an impact on the ball is important. I think for us, we have a little bit more diversification in our coverages in terms of both playing zone and playing in some man scheme. So, guys that can play man coverage, guys that you can see have a feel at the top of routes, to match routes, and stay in phase and those types of things. And also, I'd say press technique, which is something I think you can improve on. But just a player's ability to play with patience at the line of scrimmage, ability to affect the route and disrupt the route from a man-to-man situation are a couple of the traits that we look for. And there's also the aspect I think that gets lost, that's tackling. You still have to be able to tackle. You get edge runs, the games become a little bit more horizontal, not as many vertical runs, straight down the middle of the formation. So, guys that can show up and tackle I think that's still an attractive trait for us, too."

Q: Is there a fine line between guys who had production in college and guys that project to be that guy and have that production on the next level?

Ziegler: "You have to be careful. And I think that's because you can project something that's not there when you project too much. And so I think that you have to take all things into account, too, and that's why whether it's going from the game film, to maybe Senior Bowl practices, or another All Star games' practices, or taking the combine and looking at some of the things that were done there. Maybe their ability to make plays on the ball because you didn't get to see him catch the football a lot. So, you just take all those puzzle pieces that are made available to you to help in that projection. But I think it's something you still have to be careful with."

Q: After last year's draft, just how much difference is there for you in the process this time around? And how much more comfortable are you this year?

Ziegler: “Definitely more comfort. Anytime you're in the first year on the job, there's a lot of different things to get used to. Last year was the first time I had worked with our group going through this process, and now we're kind of in year two, and so you have a little bit of a better understanding. The guys have a little bit of a better understanding of what we're looking for. So, there was less teaching going on, more just getting into the nuts and bolts of the film, the nuts and bolts of the evaluation process. Many more people speaking the same language and things of that nature. And so that all has led to just a more comfortable, and I'd say, clear, fluid process for us. And again, it doesn't guarantee any results, but we definitely feel confident in what we've done, and I feel confident in the group that we have and the level of comfort is high."

Q: How often do guys on the current roster try to push to draft their former teammates. And then, vice versa, how often do you go to your current players to get more insight on maybe somebody that you're interested in to sort of get a different perspective on that player?

Ziegler: "Yeah, to answer the second question that's definitely a resource we utilize. Guys that are on our team currently that have played with different guys in the draft, those are conversations that we're going to have during the process, that we have had also. And so, yeah, it's a valuable resource because they've been with those players in a more detailed way than we have. They've seen them practice, they've seen some guys grow throughout their time that they spent with them in college. And so, definitely a lot of value in that. In terms of the players’ opinions, there's some that play scout a little bit more than others. And they're generally pretty sly about it, they're not overly overt. It's more like, 'Hey, what did you think about so and so at whatever school, South Carolina, did you watch them. Yeah, I played with him.’ And so, there's more of that interjection from certain scouts that are on our 90-man roster than others. But at the same time, keep an open mind, keep an open ear, and take it with a grain of salt."

Q: Seems to be a pretty impressive class of tight ends and I was just curious of what your thoughts are of the two local kids that played high school ball, Dalton Kincaid and Darnell Washington. Have you looked at these two guys and what are their traits?

Ziegler: "Yeah, two good football players. Again, two local people that went to good football programs, and had success at two good football programs. To go to Georgia and go to Utah and earn starting roles and be highly productive players at those two schools, says a lot about those two players. Different styles of players, obviously Darnell is much bigger, longer and has size to kind of be a force in line as a point of attack blocker, and he also has size and length as a receiver. And I'd say Dalton, obviously his strength has been in the passing game and has been really productive as a route runner and being able to get open at different levels of the field and still developing as a run blocker. They didn't ask them to run block a lot, but he has a willingness to do that. And so, two impressive kids that have had great college careers that look like they have a chance of being really productive NFL players also.”

Q: You've answered questions about quarterbacks and saying you're not going to close the door. And when I asked you about priority, you gave me some characteristics – guys that can come in and start, compete and character. If the right quarterback drops does that mean that Jimmy G [Garoppolo] could have some competition?

Ziegler: "Yeah, I think we're open to having competition at the quarterback position and every other position on the roster. I think that we're never going to close the door on that. Just philosophically the way that Josh [McDaniels] and I believe that we're going to build this roster is any opportunity that we have a chance to improve the competition, and if that means it's at the quarterback position and there's a competition there, we think that brings out the best of our players. And so, I think that's why we wouldn't close the door. I talked about some of the different reasons we wouldn't close the door on that specific position, but I don't think we'd ever look at it necessarily and say, ‘Hey, just because this one player is here at this position that we have to cancel ourselves out of drafting another high-level player at any position on the roster.’"

Q: I assume last year you and Josh [McDaniels] were on the same page for most things and those times you might not be, I assume you have the final say. Can you take us through some of that, if you're just not on a page with your scouts or Josh, and how those conversations go?

Ziegler: "Yeah. Well, I'd say like just through our process of how we work up to Thursday, Josh and I spend a lot of time in the last kind of week leading up to the draft ironing out those different things. And so, we won't have a situation where we're actually in the draft room and a pick is there and we're on two different pages. We'll have ironed all those things out prior to getting to that point. And so, there'll be some debates to get to that point on certain things, but we'll work through all that by the time we get to the draft we’ll be ready to go."

Q: There's been a lot of talk about this S2 Cognition test. Is that a tool that you feel is valuable and one that you guys utilize? And then, also you started your offseason program on Monday and Josh Jacobs isn't here. Any concern with that or do you feel like there's a path available for you guys to find common ground and work something out?

Ziegler: "Yeah, in terms of the S2 cognition test, we're familiar with it. It's not something that we currently utilize here. We use a lot of different, other available tools for evaluating quarterbacks and other positions, different psychological tests, things of that nature that we value. So, I know what it is and some of the value of it, but like I said, not something that we currently have in place here. In terms of Josh [Jacobs], like you said, he hasn't signed the tender yet so obviously he's not allowed by NFL rules to be here for the this portion of the offseason program. But we're going to continue to work through that situation. And as I've mentioned before I'm not going to really do the contract negotiation and those types of things in the in the public eye. I just don't think that's responsible to do, or fair to do, for any of the parties involved. And so, we'll just keep working through that process and see where it goes."

Q: On a more general level, do you think the running back to scale needs to be looked at in a certain way. It seems like smart teams are not guaranteeing long-term contracts to running backs because that's probably the smart thing to do. Do you think that needs to be looked at some point in terms of pay scale or something along those lines of not affecting the cap as much?

Ziegler: “Those aren't the weeds that I want to get into right now. I would just say this, in terms of the running back position, obviously, it's a physical position to play. And it's one of the more physical positions to play in football, those guys take a lot of hits. They often carry the ball and touch the ball more than other skill players and things like that. And so, it's a tough position to play. And in terms of getting into the pay scale and what it could be or should be, I'll leave that one alone."

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The 2023 NFL Draft will go from April 27-29 and be held at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo. The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period began at 4 p.m. EDT on March 15.

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