Quotes: Ed Marynowitz Roundtable Session – PhiladelphiaEagles.com
ED MARYNOWITZ: Morning, everyone. Appreciate you guys coming down. It’s been a busy offseason for you guys and us, so looking forward to answering questions. Fire away.
Q. This is another poor safety class. Why is it so hard to find good safeties coming out of college? Really NFL-ready safeties? For a team like yours and the scheme you play where coverage is such an important point of the safety position, do you look at corners a lot more than maybe some other teams as possible conversion guys?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, that’s a great question. I think the safety position, or the traditional safety position, is a little bit of a dying breed. You don’t see as much of the true box-down safeties anymore. It’s becoming more of a pass happy, spread league and the majority of the guys with size and length are playing corner now. I mean, there is certainly an affinity for those guys to cover the big wideouts now. So a lot of those guys, especially the ones that we look for, we’re looking for guys that can cross-train and maybe play both. The way we play our safeties, we like those guys to be able to roll down and play slot coverage. In order to play man coverage, they have to have the athleticism to do that. Typically, the traditional box-safeties don’t have that.
Q. Is University of Alabama safety Landon Collins a guy that can do that?
ED MARYNOWITZ: He can do to it a degree. I think all these guys have strengths and weaknesses. Landon has the potential to do that. Maybe not to the degree that some other guys do, but he certainly has the ability to do that.
Q. This is our first exposure to you since you’ve been hired. Your experience with contract negotiations, trade negotiations, things that kind of go beyond your experience as a scout, what is your background there and how has the adjustment been the past few months?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, I think there is certainly a learning curve any time you advance professionally. I think there are going to be new responsibilities that you have to undertake that you didn’t have to do in your previous role. So I’ve been fortunate. We have a lot of good people around here that have been able to help and assist in that, but the majority of my work was done beforehand in player evaluations. In some previous roles that I had before I joined the organization, I had some good experience managing people, working with a demanding head coach before, so there have been a lot of things that have been able to translate. But in terms of contract negotiations, trade talks, those are things that you kind of learn on the fly, but I’ve relied on the people here to help with that.
Q. When Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly brought you on to this new position, what did he relay to you in terms of, ‘This is what I want in this role that you’re in now?’
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, we just kind of had a conversation, and I just told him I’m here to support the head coach. It’s my belief in terms of our philosophy that everybody in the organization is here to support his vision. So my responsibility and my role is to do it in the player personnel area, no different than Derek’s (Eagles Director of Public Relations Derek Boyko) responsibility is to do it in the media realm. So I just told Chip that I’m here to support him and his vision. That doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with Chip. I know that’s a common thing that everybody throws out: ‘Is this guy just a yes man and do you agree?’ I’m never one to agree just to agree. To support the head coach, I don’t believe you have to tell him he’s right in everything that he says. You’re not going to disagree to disagree either. But I’ve never been afraid to voice my opinion.
Q. How do those disagreements resolve themselves?
ED MARYNOWITZ: There really haven’t been that many of them. Not because we’re all agreeing with him, but because I think we’re all speaking the same language. We all see players in a similar capacity. Chip has done a great job of supplying the vision to the entire organization, to the coaching staff and the personnel department, of what he’s looking for in order to build a football team. So whether it’s at any type of position, he’s going to give us the parameters, give us the prototypes, clearly communicate what he’s looking for, and it’s our responsibility to find those players.
Q. What is the crossover with Eagles Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman? Obviously, he’s still in the building and ostensibly involved in contracts. So what is the crossover between, you Howie and Chip?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I think everybody does their job. I think the roles are clearly defined and I think it’s everybody’s responsibility to do their part, and everybody has worked well to do that.
Q. When I talk to people about you, the one thing everybody that I’ve talked to has emphasized is detail oriented. Can you tell me about that? Is that just something you learned as you worked with people like University of Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban and so forth? Or have you always been like that?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I’ve been really fortunate to be around a lot of great people. I mean, it starts my parents are like that. I think I was raised the right way in terms of work ethic and being detailed and handling yourself the right way. But I’ve been fortunate from a football standpoint, whether it was high school coaches, to college coaches at La Salle (University), I really formulated the majority of what I believe from a football-philosophical standpoint starting with George O’Leary at Central Florida, which was my first job. An extremely demanding, and successful head coach, but you learn the right way to conduct your business, the right way to operate and the right way to over-prepare.
I went from there to the Miami Dolphins; I had a great opportunity to work under the direction and the umbrella of Bill Parcells, who, obviously, his resume speaks for itself. But it’s a ‘one-wrong, all wrong’ type of approach, in terms of what you do. It forces you to over-prepare. I spent some time with him in Miami and then I had a great opportunity to go to Alabama and work for a guy like Nick Saban. I worked hand in hand with him for four years, three full seasons, and the majority of what I believe in terms of how to build a championship caliber football team, how to work, how to manage people, really was developed through him. So I’ve been around a lot of great people.
Certainly came here and spent a year under (former Eagles head coach) Andy Reid and that staff, which was a great experience, and now working for Chip, which has been incredible. So I’ve been fortunate and very blessed to be around great people, so I think that’s what’s formed a little bit of who I am.
Q. I’m told that the parameters at Alabama, when you guys set up your recruiting thing, the parameters for players were very similar to what NFL teams do. They were more like that than what college teams did.
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, Nick’s philosophy, he had been in the NFL for quite some time. Our philosophy there is a very similar philosophy to what we have here. It was a very height, weight, speed specific operation. So we’re looking to identify — this is a size speed league. We believe the SEC was a size speed league. There is enough statistical data that will support that in terms of players that are playing at a high level that there is a certain prototype. So our goal there was that although there may be varying degrees of players in terms of ability standpoint, when the starters come off the field and the backups come in, they all relatively look the same. So there is a certain prototype at each position. We try to build the same thing here, whether it’s inside linebacker, outside linebacker, corner, safety, there is a prototype and model that fits what we do. We did the same thing there.
Q. Can you expand on that prototype a little bit? Was that in place here before you arrived? Did it change with Chip? I mean, Chip’s always talked about arm length. They measure the knees, et cetera. Was that in place here or was it expanded upon when Chip came aboard?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Andy had a little bit of a different philosophy. There was a little bit more of an ability to get a little bit more creative in some of the different positions, so he would take some exceptions in terms of the NFL standards. He may take an undersized guy like (former Eagles LB) Brian Rolle at inside linebacker who is height deficient for the position, but he may take a risk on a guy like that if there was something there. Chip is a little bit more prototype specific. So we begin all of our evaluations by elimination a little bit. It’s a funnel system of 12,000-some college players that you funnel down to 3,500, to 1,600, to 300, to the 150 that are on your board.
So in doing that, the first step in that is we’re going to cross-check height, weight, speed and fits. So it’s not to say we’re totally going to eliminate a guy if he’s outside those parameters, but he better be exceptional in a lot of other areas to take a shot on a guy like that.
Q. When you were a player, why did you transfer from La Salle University to the University of Central Florida where you never got to play?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I had a great opportunity up here to play early. I played my first two years. There were a little bit of rumors that the program might eventually drop — which it did. I was nervous that it may drop before my time expired. I’m a competitive person. I felt like it was an opportunity maybe for me to go try to see if I could compete at a higher level.
Q. Did you think when you went to Central Florida that you would play?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, I wouldn’t have made the decision to go there just to say, ‘Ok, I’m going to be a back up.’
Q. It wasn’t to get George O’Leary’s influence?
ED MARYNOWITZ: No, I went there to try to compete to play, and I did compete. It didn’t work out that way, but it was one of the best decisions that I made from a career perspective to get around the people that I did down there.
Q. That’s how you got your start in coaching?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yes.
Q. And you were going to graduate school there and working. That must have been a great way to get going in coaching and evaluation?
D MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, and like I said, just fortunate to be around somebody like George O’Leary and what he’s done.
Q. What do you consider to be the strengths of this draft and where is it thinnest?
ED MARYNOWITZ: It’s not that different than probably the drafts in the past three years. I think there are certain positions of strengths and weakness. This one in particular, I think especially in the mid-rounds or the solid-starter categories, as we’d call them. There are some guys on the offensive line that I think can help and can contribute. There are some guys in the secondary, some corners that have length and size, some guys that are potential safeties. I think there are enough of those guys in this draft at all levels. It’s another strong class at wide receiver, as it was last year. So I think at all different levels you’ll be able to get quality players.
Q. There is a narrative out there that you’re Chip’s guy, and you’re being brought in to be his right hand man. What is the relationship like between you two? Is there enough flexibility for you to tell Chip when perhaps you don’t agree with him and that maybe you think he’s wrong?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, and I kind of alluded to it a little bit before, but I’m never one to agree just to agree. On the flip side of that, I’m never one to disagree just to disagree either. So I’m confident in our process, my preparation, the work that I do, and I think that there’s got to be a mutual trust and respect for the people in both of those positions.
Q. And that Chip will listen to you?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, and he does. He’s very open-minded. He wants collaboration, and that was part of what we have now which is so unique, it’s a fully integrated approach between the coaching staff and the personnel department; everybody is involved and everybody has a role. The way that our meetings are structured now, everybody has an opportunity to speak their mind. We get everything on the table. Not everybody is going to agree on all types of players, but I think what’s important is that everybody has an opportunity to communicate that and then that’s part of our decision making process.
Q. I understand you were part of Chip’s initial interview process in Phoenix. Could you describe that and why you guys were able to hit it off? From my understanding, you guys basically did hit it off pretty much right from the start.
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, I was fortunate. Mr. Lurie (Eagles Chairman and Chief Executive Officer) afforded me the opportunity to take part in the coaching search, which was a great opportunity for me. Again, I’ll do anything that I can do to help support the organization and certainly that was a good experience for me. But I’ve been impressed with Chip from afar for a long time. Obviously, he’s been an extremely highly-successful coach everywhere he’s been. But I don’t think there is one thing specifically that I can point to as to why me and him hit it off. We have a really good working relationship. I think there is a mutual trust and respect for both people.
Q. In terms of the draft, have you always been really interested in and fascinated in it? Did you have a big board when you were 12 years old or something?
ED MARYNOWITZ: No, no. I never did that. I think I always knew that — everybody usually asks that question, ‘Did you want to coach?’ Typically, if you played or you’ve been involved in football, most people want to be involved on the coaching end of it. I never wanted to be involved in a coaching capacity. I always liked this side of it, in terms of roster management, team building, the draft, player personnel and player evaluations. That got me going a lot more than coaching did. But I never had a big board; I never skipped school to study the draft or any of those kind of things. I was playing more than I was doing that. But it’s certainly something that I’ve been interested in for a long time.
Q. As far as the scouting process goes, how much can reality differ from perception? The reason I ask is one of the players we follow is first-round WR prospect Kevin White out of West Virginia. Going into the combine, there were huge concerns about his speed. He’s a Division I player, and of course he has a great 40 time. How can something like that happen with some guys? Was it even a concern for you?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, I didn’t think when I watched him that the play speed was a concern of his off the tape. But I think that the way we approach the process is that every segment is a cross-check of each other. So when we go in, the tape in the fall is the tape in the fall. We’ll grade that accordingly. Then we’ll take the all star game exposure and we’ll grade that separately. Then it goes to the Combine and we’ll take the Combine numbers, testing numbers, how he did in the on field performance and we’ll grade that separately.
Then we have his pro day exposure, we’ll grade that separately. So everything cross-checks one another. So just because a guy runs extremely fast at the Combine and times well, or maybe he tests well in all those different categories, but the tape’s not that good, we won’t let one thing affect the other. We’ll take it all into consideration, we’ll grade them all separately, but it’s all one piece of the puzzle.
Q. On December 31, 2014 when former Eagles Vice President of Player Personnel Tom Gamble was let go, a couple days later when the whole front office is reorganized and Chip’s in charge, what is going through your mind? Are you thinking at that point that this is a good chance for you to take that spot and everything?
ED MARYNOWITZ: That’s really never been my approach. I approach it the same way. I do my job and I control what I can control. I’ve always taken that approach in every job that I’ve had. So I don’t have any control over who was let go, who was going to be hired, what that process was. Again, I felt like I was here to support the head coach and do my job, which is all I did.
Q. They talked to some other people though in that process. Was that a nervous time for you at all?
ED MARYNOWITZ: No, again, because it didn’t concern me. So it wasn’t something that —
Q. Well it might have if somebody had come in who didn’t
ED MARYNOWITZ: That’s never been my focus. Again, I can’t control that. The only thing I can control is doing my job, preparing us for the draft, handling my responsibilities and then whatever happened was going to happen. If I can’t control it, I don’t worry about it.
Q. So did you put in for the job? Because when I saw you at the Senior Bowl, you hadn’t talked to the Eagles yet in terms of an interview. Did they know that you had interest in the job and you were just waiting for them to come to you?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, as soon as it happened I just told Chip, ‘Hey, I’m here to help.’ It’s a huge undertaking for a head coach to take over personnel responsibilities at that time in the process. So, at that time with the departures that had happened, I was the highest-ranking personnel person in the building, so it was my responsibility to get him caught up and up to speed on where we were at in the process from a pro-scouting standpoint, in terms of free-agent preparation, and in the draft. So I just caught him up to speed, let him know that I was here to support him in any way, and did not ask to be interviewed for the job or anything like that. They came to me later in the process and wanted to visit with me.
Q. Was it awkward for you? You were with Gamble looking at players and here’s a guy that’s no longer with the organization. What is your relationship with Gamble now and what were your opinions on when he was let go?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Tom has been great to me. He was a great mentor to me. We worked very closely together for the two years that he was here. I’m still in constant communication with Tom. Again, I don’t have any control over what happened here or why that happened. But our relationship will not change. He’s a professional and a personal friend of mine, and I’m happy for him in the opportunity that he has now.
Q. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, how is the draft going to be different this year than in past years? Are you running it? What is the structure?
ED MARYNOWITZ: We’re still in some of the planning phases of that. Right now we’ve been focused on the board, getting those guys set in the right spot. In terms of the administration of the room and the responsibilities that each person will have, that is still to be determined.
Q. Are you on the phone with teams? Are you going to be the one who is negotiating trades?
ED MARYNOWITZ: It will be me and some other people, but, again, it’s a little bit to-be-determined on how we’re going to approach that.
Q. To be as prototype specific as you want to be in terms of selecting guys, and maybe this is an old fashioned way to look at it, but does that take some of the human element out of it? The intangible element? You said Coach Reid was a little bit more open to saying, ‘Ok, maybe this guy can play up to what you’d like to see him do, but he’s not as prototype specific as you’d like.’ Because to me, that is the difference between great evaluators and great scouts. They’re the ones that can see the stuff that other guys can’t see, not the ones who can see the stuff that guys can see?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Sure and I think there is still an element of that that you can do right now. No. 1, big picture wise, you want to play with the odds not against the odds. The odds are telling you that the majority of these guys that are under this certain prototype do not play at a starting level in the NFL. If you have seven draft picks, do you really want to waste one, especially in the top three rounds, on a guy that history is telling you, typically guys with these type of measurables don’t produce that level. That is one school of thought.
The way we approach the evaluations, it’s really a three part evaluation. So, No. 1, it’s the height, weight, speed according to the position. That’s one factor. So either they have that or they don’t. It doesn’t necessarily eliminate them, per se, but that’s one element of that. So you’ll grade that individually. Then the second part is the position specifics or the critical factors for that position, which is basically the guy’s athletic ability to play that specific spot, which is also relative to your system and scheme, which is different than — I mean, every team is different. We’ve got certain prototypes for that. So that is phase two of that.
The third part is the character, attitude, intelligence piece, in terms of the right football make up and how we want to build our team. So each one in and of itself is evaluated, just because a guy is exceptional or deficient in one, it won’t preclude us from taking him, but ideally, especially in the upper rounds, you’re striving for guys that fit in all three of those. You just don’t want to take exceptions.
Q. Howie Roseman came in last year and talked about the philosophy being to take the best player available regardless of position. Is that still a philosophy?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I would expand that to say best player for us. It’s the best player available for us that fits our system. We want good players. I think your needs, they’re always fluid, they’re always flexible in terms of a position of strength right now could quickly become a position of weakness, so we want to take the best player available for us.
Q. With the first round specifically, in terms of trades, do a lot of those things get done beforehand? Do you anticipate going into Thursday night saying, ‘If this guy falls, we’ve already talked to this team?’ Or how does that work?
ED MARYNOWITZ: We have another round of meetings that will actually take place this afternoon and tomorrow and then at the beginning of next week where we’ll do a little bit of deeper conversation to some of the strategy part of what we’ll do. Some initial calls get placed toward the end of this week. There have been a few received on our end of people that may want to move up or move back. So people kind of gauge your interest in terms of jockeying for the position. The majority of those calls will happen next week and then as the players start to come off the board, that’s when the phones start ringing more.
Q. Pick number 20 – that’s right around historically where teams say there are usually 20, 22 guys that are real first-round players, and after that you’re kind of drafting second round guys. Where’s that line this year do you think?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I believe there’s really eight to ten players I believe that are really true difference-maker types and I don’t think that’s any different than it is in the past. Last year’s draft probably the same thing. When you go back the last three years, there really is probably ten players that I think everybody has conviction on. After that, I think it just depends on your system, your scheme and what you’re looking for.
Q. Were you at the tryout for QB 
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, I was there. We brought Tim in for a workout. Obviously, we were intrigued with what we saw there. We saw a player that had improved from the last time we saw him live, which was when he was here with New England. So we had some conversations and discussions and we felt that it was an opportunity to bring in somebody that could compete for a spot. Look, we’ve got 68 players on our football team right now. Tim’s one of them. So he’ll have an opportunity to compete for a roster spot, and his role will be determined by his performance, and I think it’s as simple as that. We’re bringing in a guy that will be able to compete, and we look forward to watching him compete.
Q. As a quarterback?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yes, as a quarterback he’ll compete.
Q. Is Oregon QB Marcus Mariota one of those eight to ten difference makers?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Depending on who you ask. Marcus is a really good player. He’s been a very productive college football player. We’ve done our evaluation work on him, obviously. I’m not going to get into the specifics of where we have him or exactly what his strengths and weaknesses are. But he’s a player we’re aware of. We’ve gone through the process.
Q. What is your philosophy on trading up, moving as far as 20 to 2?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I share the same philosophy as Chip does in that. Philosophically, we are opposed to ‘mortgaging the future’ was Chip’s term. Really the way we look at it is draft picks – every draft pick you have is an opportunity to improve your football team. So the more opportunities we have to improve our team, we’re excited about that. So I’d rather have more picks than less picks. I think Chip shares the same philosophy. That doesn’t preclude us from moving up and doing something. I think you never say never. But philosophically, we have eight picks and we’d like to pick eight players or more, not less.
Q. When you talk about not mortgaging the future, is there a number in terms of future picks or what that would imply?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I think there is an internal number on that that we’re not going to share outside the building, but we know what mortgaging the future is internally.
Q. You mention that you’d developed a mutual respect and trust with Chip. How did that develop?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I don’t know, to be honest with you. I try to approach it the same way. I think the comment I mentioned before. I just do my job, and I control what I can control. I think I work to a high standard, and hopefully the way that I work, the way that I handle myself maybe Chip took notice of that and had respect for the way that I operated and did my business.
Q. You were talking about prototypes earlier, 6-2, 6-3 wide receivers are becoming the norm in this league. Why is that? It seems to be even more of a focus for Chip to have that kind of wideout. Wy is that?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I think size, speed wins, No. 1. Okay, so he brought up the line, (Alabama head coach) Nick Saban used the same line – ‘Big people beat up little people.’ There is a reason why heavyweights don’t fight the lightweights. This is a big man’s game. For what we do offensively, especially at the receiver position, and their involvement in the run game in terms of blocking force, I think size matters in terms of that aspect as well. But overall you don’t want to sacrifice athletic ability and speed. But if you can get size and speed at any position, you’re looking to get that and acquire those players.
Q. A few moments ago you mentioned three criteria: the height, weight, speed, position specific and character…how do you balance those three when you’re making a decision on a player?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I think it’s unique to each player. But those are the three main buckets you’re going to discuss those players on. So as we go through our meetings, we’re going to factor in the numbers in terms of height, weight, speed, the position specific and critical factors, that’s where you get a lot of your discussions; your healthy debates and discussions. Because what you may see as starter-level ball skills, I may see as back up level. We may need to talk and discuss and we may need to watch tape together to say, ‘Okay, show me why you thought he was at this level, and I can prove to you why I saw it at this level.’ So we have a lot of those conversations and those back and forths.
Q. What is the process of evaluating Oregon players? I know Chip has kind of said that he recuses himself when it comes to those types of players. But how does that work? What input do you have?
ED MARYNOWITZ: We evaluate all those players the same way. Every player from an evaluation standpoint, I think the difference with Oregon players for Chip, and Alabama players in my case, we know a lot more of the character, attitude, intelligence because you’ve been around these guys. You you’ve recruited them. You know their family, the day to day, the make up, that is the hardest part of our job is figuring out the wiring and the make up of these guys. What helps is if you know the guy day to day and you’ve been around him, that piece of it is a little bit more clearly defined. But in terms of the evaluation of the player, you’re going to evaluate the player the same way you evaluate every other player.
Q. If the first two parts are great and you like everything about the size and speed, but there are character issues and there are a couple of guys in this draft that have baggage. Where does that weigh in? How do you decide, ‘Okay, we can deal with this or we can’t?’
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, those are extensive conversations. A lot of people are involved with that. We want to get as much exposure to those players as possible. The combine affords us a small window to do that. There is a 15 minute formal interview period that we’ll visit with those guys there. Guys that we have additional questions on, we have an opportunity to bring 30 players to Philadelphia for the top 30 visits. We go out and see those players. So we do our due diligence with every player. What we’re looking for and I’ll use the term a lot, and I used it a few minutes ago, we want guys that are wired the right way. So an old Parcells saying is, ‘When the best players are your best people is really when you have something that’s going.’ That is the type of culture that we want. The best people, the best players are the guys that have the best intangibles. We’re big on culture here and the right fit, and I think that it’s important that we continue to bring guys in that are wired the right way.
Q. How do you find out if they’re wired the right way? What are some of the tools?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I think through the mechanism the league gives us in terms of the interview process. But we’re very active in terms of pro days, private workouts. We try to maximize every segment of the scouting calendar we have to figure out these guys from a make up standpoint. You can only know to a certain degree, but we try to do our due diligence on every player to make sure if we bring a guy in that there are no surprises. That is one of the reasons why we’re very active. We don’t just go to pro days or private workouts just to go. We go for a specific reason.
Q. So they actually have meetings as opposed to having teams think that you’re on to this guy in practice?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, we’re not into wasting time. We’re not into going just to go. We’re not into smoke screens. We go for a reason. We meet extensively as a group. Anytime somebody’s at a workout, there are specific questions that they need to get answered. Some of them may be intangibles. They need to go visit with a position coach, some sort of contact that they have at the school, an academic advisor. Anybody that has insight on what the guy is. Other players we may be okay from a character, attitude, intelligence standpoint. We feel good about our information, but we need to go and figure out can this guy play the ball deep? There were some concerns, there was some debate. Me and (Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer) Zach (Berman) saw that a little differently. Now we’re going to work them out. We really need to hone in on ball skills. So we’re going to come away and everybody that goes to a pro day, it’s their responsibility to come back with answers to the questions that we had.
Q. Parcells and Saban obviously are two very successful program builders. Can you draw any parallels between either of them and Chip?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, and that’s a great question. And I get that question a lot, especially as it pertains to Saban and Chip together. Although they’re much different from a personality standpoint and communication standpoint, they share so many of the same philosophical values and approaches in terms of Chip was ‘Win the Day’ at Oregon. Nick Saban, it’s ‘The Process.’ It’s control what you can control. It’s focus on the day to day, and the little things that matter and you don’t worry about the end result. They share a lot of those things. The way they communicate that message is very different, so it’s been really unique for me to see two different approaches for that. But at their core, what they believe, how they want to builds a program and expectation and standard of performance, all of that is virtually the same.
Q. How is it different how they communicate?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Nick is a little bit more of a I don’t know the right way to say it. Nick has his own unique way of communicating with players, and Chip is a little bit on the other side of the spectrum on that. I’m not going to say anything. I’ve got a lot of respect for Nick Saban. He’s been unbelievable to me. His approach is good for some players. It’s not good for other players. Chip’s approach in terms of being able to communicate with the pro player and handle those guys is exceptional.
Q. You mentioned the pro days. Are they more important in the evaluation process in an organization like this with a coach as the top personnel guy who doesn’t get a chance to do any scouting in the fall than they are maybe with the more typical organization that has a general manager and a coach?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I think they’re equally important for both. I think anytime you get an opportunity to get exposure to the player, it’s important. So whether it’s an All Star Game, a pro day at the combine, obviously our live exposure from the scouting department when we see these guys in the fall, all of those exposures are equally important.
Q. You say we all kind of have the same vision right now. Other than sort of trying to fit the prototype, what does this new regime focus on? What is the change? Are you looking to get faster? Are you looking to get more physical?
ED MARYNOWITZ: We just want to get good players. I don’t think there is one specific trait we’re saying we need to improve ‘X’. We’re looking to improve at every position. We’re looking at good football players – as many of them as we can at as many positions as possible. We’re looking to increase the quality of depth and competition at every position at every level. Not only starters, but back ups as well.
Q. In some cases you’re projecting different positions. You mentioned cornerback to safety, there’s tackle to guard in some cases, linebacker safety in some cases. How do you make those projections?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I think that’s part of what we do as evaluators is you have to project. Every player is a projection at this point. You’re projecting guys that are playing in college to play in the NFL game. So certainly those are a little bit more difficult to make at times because there is no evidence on film of them doing that. But you can get a lot of those questions answered in private workout settings where you can put the guy through some different drills or maybe things that you weren’t able to see on tape. You can put them through drills to better evaluate those things.
Q. If I could ask on one player, Washington’s Shaq Thompson, a multi-positional player, do you view him as a linebacker or safety?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I don’t want to get into where he fits. But that is a good example of that. A player that can do a lot of different things. His value will be different for every club you talk to in terms of where exactly they slot him. It’s a good example, but I don’t want to tell you exactly where we’ve got him.
Q. You mentioned in the combine, Connecticut CB Byron Jones obviously had a really good performance there in terms of the vertical leap, et cetera. How is that versus what he did on film?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, and I think it’s just like I alluded to before. Everything is a cross check of one another. So his tape grade is the tape grade now. His is a little bit of an incomplete half of a grade because he missed a little bit of the season. So you go back to 2013 film and watch him there as well. But in terms of the specific evaluation of him as a player, I don’t want to get into the strengths and weaknesses and what level we think he can play at. But his combine performance was obviously very impressive, and you weigh that in. Obviously, he has certain athleticism and tools in his body that are unique and rare.
Q. What are your thoughts on UCLA QB Brett Hundley and the group of second tier quarterbacks?
ED MARYNOWITZ: Yeah, again, I don’t want to get into specific evaluations of him as a player. But in terms of that next perceived tier of quarterbacks, there are a number of guys that I think have an opportunity to compete and have a decent role in this league.
Q. The three draft positions of strength you mentioned were wide receiver, corner and offensive line. You lost players or released players at all three of those positions, is that coincidence or not so much?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I don’t think it’s a coincidence. We can’t control some of the depth of the draft at each position. Certainly it’s a good opportunity that there is depth at those positions, but in terms of perceived need or what those are, again, we’re just kind of looking to acquire really good players at all spots, but we’re excited there is an opportunity.
Q. When you look at a team like Seattle, they’ve had a ton of success with guys drafted in the late rounds, including a guy you signed in CB Byron Maxwell. What does it kind of take to have success in those late rounds? How important do you think that is?
ED MARYNOWITZ: I think when you’re looking at the later rounds, I think the best philosophy to have is, ‘What can they do?’ There is a reason why, certainly, they’re not a guy that is in the top three rounds. But it’s more about what they can do rather than what they can’t do in the later rounds. I think sometimes in the later rounds you may defer a little bit more to numbers in terms of testing numbers and what they have in their body. You want guys that have athleticism and traits that can translate. Guys that are wired the right way in terms of being willing to develop and improve as players. Byron Maxwell is a great example of that. He has a certain level of skill set and is wired the right way to improve and develop, and I think you’re looking for those trades in late round picks.
Q. Historically in NFL, the most successful programs have been built through the draft and then supplementing players in free agency. You guys seem to be taking an unconventional approach given who has left the building in the last couple of months with trades and free agency. Why do you think that will work?
ED MARYNOWITZ: We want to build through the draft. I believe that is the best way. Those are the best players for the most economical-friendly situations so I think building through the draft is certainly what we want to do. Our approach to free agency this year was quite simple. We needed to get better in our opinion. We’re very confident in the evaluation of the players we had on our current team, and we’re very confident in the evaluation of the players that might have been available to us in free ad. We look to maximize that segment of the process. We feel like we improved and got better, and that’s why we made those decisions.
Q. Your approach to scouting now as opposed to before you met Chip, he’s so specific with his criteria, has it forced you to use a different eye or different mindset than you’ve had to use before?
ED MARYNOWITZ: No, because I came from a similar school of thought. Even George O’Leary to Parcells what he built there, to Nick Saban, I’ve always been around prototype-driven personnel operations. Defer to size and speed, trying to get guys that look the same and have a similar skillset.
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