New England Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli spoke
with Dale Arnold and Michael Holley on the "Dale & Holley Show" on Boston's Sports Radio 850 WEEI.
DA: Joining us on the line is…I don't have the official
title but let's be honest, he's the General Manager of the New England Patriots,
Scott Pioli. Hey, Scott, how are you?
SP: Hey, thanks for the promotion, Dale.
[Laughter and crosstalk]
MH: Now, what is the official
title, Scott?
SP: Vice President of Player Personnel, last I checked.
DA: That's what it is.
MH: But you know, you haven't checked in about 25 minutes or a half hour.
Things change quickly around here.
[Laughter and crosstalk]
DA: Scott, has this been the most active offseason since you've been involved with the
Patriots?
SP: You know, I don't think it has been. It's really interesting, if
you go back to the 2001 offseason, in our second season here—I
think people have short memories [Laughter]—remember
that year? We signed 23 free agents that year, and we had 17 of those free agents ended
up sticking on our team that won the Super Bowl that year. I think it's maybe…there seemed to
be a little bit slower activity the last couple of years. We've been here
7 years now, and I think early on there was early movement—I
mean, don't forget, I think it was the first or second day of free agency
in 2001 we were pulling Larry Izzo into the fold. And like I said, we were pretty active that year,
too.
MH: I'll tell you what, 2001, that was your Abbey Road.
That was your Songs In The Key
of Life. [Laughter] Really, no one has 17 free agents stick in one year.
You have Mike Vrabel and Larry Izzo and guys like that. But this year it's pretty
interesting…
SP: Well the thing is, remember, we were coming off a 5-11 season, too. We
weren't a very good football team, so it was a little easier to have players
like that stick.
MH: That's true. At 5-11…man, why did you have to bring that up? [Laughter]
What, are you trying to keep yourself humble by thinking about the 2000
Patriots?
SP: I'll tell you what, I was talking with someone the other day and we were
reminiscing about that season how I came home one night and there was a 'For
Sale' sign on our front lawn. I asked [my wife] if she planned on moving and she
said 'No, but it looks like someone else wants us to.' [Laughter]
DA: Oh man!
SP: You don't forget things like that. Hey, it keeps perspective. It keeps
perspective.
MH: Now, you picked up a very good free agent linebacker in Adalius Thomas. I'm just wondering, I know you guys signed him fairly early,
when did you identify him as a guy that you might want to go
after?
SP: You know, I think it was a long process. Because what happens is you have the list of players that you know or
you think
are going to be free agents at the end of the year, or near the end of the year.
During the course of
the season you're looking at all the players that are potential free agents. But
then as the season goes on, people start locking up some of their players
long-term. And with Adalius it was interesting where he…we knew he was a good player, but
a chance where we got to see him more was during the playoffs. Because when the playoffs
are coming around you don't really know which team you're going to play, and Baltimore was
in that mix so we had to watch a lot of tape on Baltimore. And as you're
watching tape at the end of the year…again, you're watching to prepare for
those teams but you're also watching the players that you know are going to be
potential free agents, and he really stood out. He was a player that we got to
see quite a bit of as we prepared for the playoffs.
DA: Were you able to identify a year, two years in advance, whatever it was,
what this free agency year was going to be like because of the change in
the collective bargaining agreement and the salary cap structure?
SP: Not really because again, remember, this CBA wasn't done until well into
the eleventh hour last year. If you remember, they actually pushed back the
start of free agency last year and we had no idea what we were going to be
working under. And then even when they made the change, it was a while before we
knew what the salary cap for this season was going to be. We knew that there was
going to be a significant jump, they didn't have the exact numbers, and then
even when you get the exact numbers it takes a while for everything to sink in
and realize how much of a significant jump there was really going to be.
MH: You said you were watching Thomas and he jumped out at you. I'm sure he
jumped out at you before you were watching those tapes of Baltimore during the
playoffs. I'm just wondering how you handle it. Here's a guy, obviously a
talented player, a gifted player, but let's say you had met him and he's a jerk.
I mean, you identify him, he's going to be a free agent, but then what else do
you do? What other work do you do to make sure he's a fit for your organization?
SP: Again, remember, we meet these players when they're coming out. You have
an idea before they even start in the league. But remember, this is a guy who
was a two-time conference defensive player of the year. He was a player that
every team in the league had met and knew a little something about. Again, you
know people that know him. Players have relationships, we know coaches, we know
other scouts, so you hear and you have an idea of what players are like. And
when you also spend some time talking to these guys years ago, they don't change
a whole lot years later. And then if you watch the process, a lot of what
happens is you can identify a lot of characteristics of a player. When we got
into this situation he made it clear that it wasn't going to be about the last
dollar; he wanted to be treated fairly, get a decent market value deal and be in
a place where he was going to have success. He said those words and then his
actions proved that.
DA: Was the silver lining of losing the
AFC championship that it gave Bill [Belichick] and the coaching staff…
SP: Dale…
DA: …an opportunity…
SP: Dale…
DA: …to talk to this guy?
SP: Dale, there is no silver lining.
DA: No. I understand.
SP: [Laughter] I hear what you're saying. There's absolutely no silver lining
in losing any game.
DA: I should have put it a different way. [Laughter and crosstalk] And
putting it a different way, did it help your free agent process that Bill and
the staff got a chance to talk to this guy in Hawaii?
SP: No, because again, the time spent together with the players and the
coaches isn't that great during that week down there. You don't get involved in
those kinds of situations. I don't think that really had anything to…it had nothing to do with the process, really. They're spending more time at
banquets and I think their day is done by 10 in the morning. I think they're out
on the golf course by…tee-time's at 10:30, I believe.
MH: Can you explain why you guys initially signed Wes Welker to an offer sheet, or were considering signing him, and then
wound up giving up a 2nd and 7th round pick for him?
SP: You see, Michael, that question, [Laughter] the way you asked it right there,
it goes to show you how much
this urban legend has spread already. There was never an offer sheet executed
or talked about with the Miami Dolphins. When free agency started, as time went
on, we were talking to the agent, after free agency started, getting an idea of where we thought the market
was going to be, understanding that there were a couple of different options.
And really the only conversations that took place between myself and Randy Mueller were trade discussions. I gave Randy a call and asked him if they
would be willing to consider trading the player. And from that conversation on,
again, there was
never an offer sheet executed, there was never an offer sheet that was talked about.
Again, somehow, somewhere, there's this great myth out there that we either created an offer
sheet…I read somewhere or heard somewhere that we had put an offer sheet out
there, or constructed an offer sheet, I think it was worth $38 million. And
again, I don't know where this stuff starts sometimes, but the
conversation never really went there. I called Randy and the trade was made
within a matter of hours.
MH: Since we're on the subject of rumor mongering, let's keep it going. [Laughter
and crosstalk] A big rumor out there is that
Randy Moss is available and that there is some interest on the part of the New
England Patriots. Could you address
that?
SP: Michael, he's under contract with another team and we never discuss that. We
don't talk about, we will not
talk about, players under contract with other teams.
MH: In general, what do you think of Randy Moss?
[Laughter]
SP: Again, it's just an interesting thing. I just gave you another example a minute ago
of how…I don't know how and where rumors start and how they're perpetuated,
and they grow into these other things. I wouldn't even get into a discussion
regarding another player that is under contract with another team.
DA: Scott, as you and Bill and the coaching staff assess last year and look at
offseason needs, how much is your draft preparation affected by what you do in free agency?
SP: It's funny, it's a great question because before we even go to the Combine and before free
agency starts, I don't know how many different mock drafts I saw that were out
there predicting
what all the different teams were going to do and what was going to happen in the draft.
I always get a kick out of that because free agency does impact how the draft
falls. Teams try to address their needs at different times, and we've obviously
addressed a couple of areas where we think we…I don't know if you'd call them
'need' areas or just at least upgrade certain situations. So free agency
certainly impacts what teams do or don't do in the draft.
MH: You have some chips now with 5 draft
picks. There's something else coming. Don't you…
SP: With 5 draft picks? Don't we…we have 6 draft picks.
MH: Six draft picks. [Laughter and crosstalk] You have 6 draft picks. You
have some more coming, don't you?
SP: This is where we're at involving the Wes Welker trade. We understood that
we gave up in the 2nd and in the 7th, but we now have 6 picks left, including
our own picks and one of Seattle's picks—we also
have Arizona's 6th—and sometime between now and the draft they'll be
announcing the compensatory picks. We anticipate for all the free agents that we lost
last year we have another 4 picks coming to us that will be compensatory picks.
So we're going to be looking at on draft day, at this point, having 10 picks.
And 4 of those
picks, compensatory picks, will be picks that we get that cannot be traded.
So as we're looking at the draft right now, we know we have 10 picks at this
point in time.
MH: What do you think the highest of those compensatory picks will be?
SP: A 4th and a 6th, because they have a very complicated formula that seems
to be changing every year at the league office that's based on a number of
different factors that include the amount of money that the contract is signed
for by the player when they leave through unrestricted free agency, but there's
also a component of what their play-time is during the season that's factored in there.
So it could be…we know
we're going to have a 7th and we're projecting probably 2 [6th round picks] and just trying to
figure out what that David Givens pick will be is somewhere in there, but his play-time was affected
pretty significantly with his injury this year.
DA: Did the Corey Dillon situation catch you guys by surprise?
SP: What situation?
DA: I mean the request to be released.
SP: Again, urban legend. I think sometimes what happens is…I would say this, I
would debate whether Corey's representation asked for a release,
because Corey certainly did not. It's just…again, we released Corey and that's
really all there
is. Sometimes how things get twisted and they're explained different ways. We had a
good, long conversation with those folks and it was just a decision that we made.
MH: Well, let's ask it this way, Scott. And I've known Scott for a long time.
[Laughter] He'll beat me up on this but I'll ask him.
Why did you release him?
SP: It was just time for…both sides decided it was in their best interest to move in different directions
now. We love
Corey. Corey Dillon helped get us a championship. He has the single-season
rushing record and he was a huge, huge part of us winning a Super Bowl
championship. We just felt it was the time, for a number of reasons, and after a
good lengthy discussion, it was the best interest of both sides to head in different
directions.
DA: Your organization has utilized the franchise tag in the past, you
utilized it again this year with Asante Samuel. In general, do you like using
that designation?
SP: Here's what I know. I know it's a part of the rules that were collectively
bargained between the Players Union and the National Football League, and it's a
piece of the system that is in place, just like all the other pieces of
the system, and it's something that's there for teams and players to use. I
think it's something that has been collectively bargained, and it's used, and we
have the right to use it. And we've chosen to.
DA: Is it safe to say that it would probably be better for your organization
and salary cap maintenance if you could move on from a 1-year franchise tag and
work out a long-term deal?
SP: I think what's more important, or just as important, is the relationship
with the player and how the player feels and how he feels about being here and
how we feel about having him. I mean, there are a lot of dynamics involved here.
I think one of the things we've tried to pay attention to is not simply basing
things on bottom line numbers. It has to do with the relationships and the
player's happiness about being here or not being here. That's more of what I
think we focus on.
MH: Scott, I know you're used to traveling during the year visiting lots of
college campuses. Could you just compare your experiences as an evaluator at
these individual workouts post-Combine and the Combine itself? In other words,
what do you get out of each experience and which one is more valuable?
SP: To me, what I really enjoy during the season is…at this point in time
when the players are having their Pro Days or working out, they're so focused.
It seems like they have far fewer distractions. They're focused on one thing and
one thing only, and that's their workout and that's their performance on that
given day. Whereas when you go to see them in practice or you go to see them
during the season, you get a chance to see them in a much more natural
environment, in their daily work environment as student
athletes, so to speak. They're preparing for games, they're preparing to play a
game rather than being focused on and being prepared for a one-hour visit with
myself or Bill or one of our scouts. They are very different situations. My
personal preference is during the season games to see them in a more
natural environment, without them knowing that "the lights are on them," so to
speak.
DA: As part of that I was going to ask you if the way you handle your player
evaluation process, if you think the Combine is overrated in terms of how it
helps you.
SP: Well, I don't know if it's overrated. It has certainly changed. It's a
different setup than it's been in the past. There are some elements that have
gotten better. Obviously one of the things that has improved is the fact that
more players are working out, and you get to see them compete and you get to see
them under similar circumstances and compare them to one another. I think one of
the more difficult things that we used to get a great deal out of was the
individual time spent with the players. Because, and I think everyone has gotten
to see over the last several years, we're not just looking for the best football
player, we're looking for the right players that fit our system from a makeup
standpoint. Players that fit Bill's leadership and want to live with Bill's
leadership. And I think that that has nothing to do with some of the athletic
things that happen on the field. That's information that you find out in
one-on-one meetings and time being spent. But the way that the Combine has
shifted the one-on-one interview system—you have 15 minutes
with a player and that's it. There's not a whole lot that you can get done in 15
minutes with a player, especially when they've been prepared by their agents, or
their representation, how to do the one-on-one interview. So that has
been probably the most frustrating part of the changes at the Combine. Now, it
still has great value in other ways, but that's the one part that I know has
changed for us.
MH: I know you have to get going. I'll just ask you one
more question…[Laughter and crosstalk] Scott, we don't get a chance to talk to
you often. I just want to hear this in your own words. A while ago there was
speculation that Scott Pioli, he grew up in New York, his dream job, the New York Giants,
and he's a candidate to be a general manager. You came out pretty quickly and
you said 'Thanks, but no thanks. I'm staying with the Patriots.' What went into
that decision?
SP: It comes down to quality of life and happiness. No disrespect to any other
job opportunities that may have been out there or may come in the future, but
you know what my dream job is? My dream job is being with people that I care about,
people that I want to work with, people that I enjoy coming to work with every
day, whether it's the coaches, whether it's ownership, whether it's the players. We've built something
here that's pretty special, and quality of life has more to do with being happy,
coming to work every day, and winning. And the other thing that's paramount is we're
winning here. It's a great situation here with a lot of great people, and I enjoy
being here.
DA: Scott, we really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you.
SP: Dale, Michael, thanks very much. I appreciate your time.
DA: That is Scott Pioli, Vice President of Player Personnel for the New
England Patriots. |
