The New England Patriots held press conferences at the end of the day for head coach Bill Belichick, along with some of the team's late round draft picks. Here are the key messages.
Bill Belichick
On trading into 2017
"The Miami trade was made, I don't know, probably an hour before it would have even gotten to those picks just so that we could plan and they could plan and then really we were very close to picking and Seattle kind of came up and made us the offer into next year so they were very independent. It's just the way that it worked out."
"When you're trading back there I don't think you're trading for a player. At least then, that particular trade, no, not at all. [You] just kind of trade for value just to either one guy in the fifth or two guys in the sixth, minus the seventh. I'm just saying it's really more of a philosophical thing of where you want to be and just kind of spacing it out a little bit."
On Malcolm Mitchell in a Pro Style offense
"I think any time you see a guy in college do something that's similar to what we are doing that helps a little bit. [Brian] Schottenheimer was down there last year and obviously he's a very good coach, runs a pro system."
On drafting quarterback Jacoby Brissett
"We just felt like it was the best thing to do for the team at that point. He's a good player, a good kid. We'll see how it goes."
"There's always an element of team planning, especially at that position. If you can you try to look ahead a little bit. If you can't then take it as it comes. Things change but there's an element of planning at all positions on your team, certainly that one."
On 7th round pick Devin Lucien transferring colleges
"I mean that's a very unusual situation. You very rarely see a player do what Devin did. Transfer within the conference. Of course he came back and played really well against UCLA. I think there was a relationship that he had with the quarterback and that certainly benefited him and he had a good year at Arizona State, better than what he had previously had at UCLA.
"But it's an unusual situation where you have a player like that go in the same conference and so you can kind of see him against the same competition but with a different team and a different offense. It was interesting but he did, he went down there and had a good year with like you said, not much practice, not much lead up. It's good. It's good for him."
On adding depth on the interior line
"Well you can really never have too much depth in this league. So, we'll see how it goes but I think we'll have a good competitive situation there. Overall, I think [there's] competition on the offensive line. We'll see how it all plays out. Some of those guys play multiple spots. I would say [Ted] Karras, [Joe] Thuney, and then we have a lot of guys that haven't played a lot of spots including [Jonathan] Cooper, [Bryan] Stork, [David] Andrews, [Tre'] Jackson, [Shaq] Mason, even Josh Kline hasn't - he's been primarily a guard.
"Our tackles have been primarily a tackle even though Cam [Fleming] and Marcus [Cannon] have played guard briefly so having a little more flexibility with some players so we have some moving parts instead of again, there was times where we carried eight lineman in games with the center, guard, and tackle as the sixth, seventh, and eighth guys. When you don't have that kind of flexibility it has a little bit of impact on the roster."
On rookies adjusting to the NFL
"They have no idea what they're getting into. It's not their fault. We all had to go through it at some point or another. They're going to get a big dose of what they probably haven't had a whole lot of certainly any time recently. It's a big load. The competition level is going to step up. The volume is going to step up. It's not a scholarship. In college they can't take them away from you. In the NFL you're fighting for a job so it's a whole new ball game. Those guys have a lot to absorb, a lot to learn but just like every other rookie class they'll get through it. We'll have some ups and downs but we'll start the process on Thursday night when they come in. We'll just be grinding away here for the next few weeks."
LB Elandon Roberts
On Patriots predraft interest
"In my contact with the Patriots I had only spoken to them once at [my] pro day."
On his leadership ability
"Well, just growing up my family was just a strong family. My dad, he was an Army guy so we lived in a very structured household. He wasn't too strict but at the same time we always want to be our own leaders. My dad went by the saying of ‘Don't be a follower, be a leader', and I think that's what comes in on the field for me. I know with the New England Patriots organization that you see a lot of players that are leaders on the field and I'm just glad and I'm blessed to be a part of the organization."
OG Ted Karras
On growing up in a football family
"My whole family is football players and football coaches. Every male in my family has played college football. I'll be in the fifth in the NFL in my family and I'm very grateful to join that fraternity. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to play in the NFL."
On what he brought to his college team
"I felt I was a leader. I felt I brought a hard-nose attitude. I worked every day, maybe not considered the most elite athlete but I got the job done and excelled at the job. I not only got the job done but did the job well. That's kind of how I've always been. I've always been a little less highly regarded than the next guy but seemed to step in and do the job well."
On his predraft contact with the Patriots
"The contact I had with the Patriots was coach [Dante] Scarnecchia came to my pro day. He worked me out."
On his pregame superstition
"Are you talking about me dousing myself with water? Yeah, I don't know where that came from. It started in high school. I always felt I had to play football being wet. I know that's kind of weird but that's about it. I don't really have that many superstitions. I try to follow the same routine. I know if I play center, I know I'm not going to be able to get that wet. You're definitely cold, but I've never really felt the temperature of a game when I'm playing. When you're playing, especially O-line, I'm no sleeves, no tights guy. When you're playing football, there's no reason to ever think about the temp as an O-lineman."
WR Devin Lucien
On his late season production
"Anytime you go into an offense kind of late, I didn't go to spring ball there, it's going to take some time to not only get a relationship with the quarterback but the coach has to put stuff together for you guys to pass. I feel like when everything started clicking with me and [Mike] Bercovici and our offensive coordinator at the time, Mike Norvell, tried to see what we were good at. I think that's when the production really started to click in, not for myself, but for the entire team."
On his best attribute as a receiver
"I would probably say my hands. I think that it is important for the receiver to catch the ball before anything else. I kind of pride myself on trying to be pretty good at everything. That's pretty much it."
On his predraft contact with the Patriots
"I had a workout with their director of pro scouting [probably Dave Ziegler, who replaced current Lions general manager Bob Quinn] at Arizona State."
On his friendship with Patriots WR Chris Harper
"I grew up with Chris Harper. I've known Chris since we were probably eight years old. We were the one-two duo at our high school together. We ran track together as kids. Our families are really close. He's like a brother to me. That's one of the positive things of being drafted as a Patriot...He was one of the first people I talked to. [He said,] 'Congratulations, when you come here be ready to work, and let's have fun with it, let's do this thing.'"
On transferring colleges and learning a new offense
"It was a lot different, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you guys. It was a lot different because at UCLA, it was more of a spread, kind of like Oregon. I feel like Arizona State, it was a spread team, don't get me wrong, but they had some pro-style wrinkles to it so instead of pulling one word that would call the entire route or play at UCLA, at Arizona State, they had tags and different words but it would just be one word for the entire play. That was the biggest thing, just adjusting to that, but I was able to adjust quickly, there are just a lot of moving parts in football, not just learning the offense."
"It meant everything. I knew that I had to leave UCLA to put myself in the best position to be drafted. Becoming a New England Patriot is literally a dream. Being able to play and do somet hings with Tom Brady and the great receivers they already have there already. I'm really excited about it. Getting back to your question, the production was everything. I don't think had I stayed at UCLA, I don't think I'd be on this phone call with you guys."