Rich Eisen: We are now pleased to fire up PatriotsCam for the three-time Super Bowl winning head coach of the New England Patriots, and that is of course Bill Belichick joining us right now from Patriots headquarters. Coach, we appreciate you joining us. You have Jerod Mayo, a linebacker from Tennessee, now in your fold. What did you like about this young man?
Bill Belichick: Well, really pretty much everything. He's a physical player, good against the run, he runs well, can play in the passing game, he's a smart kid, and he's played all three positions for Tennessee. I think he also has some versatility at all three linebacker spots, and can play on fourth down and the kicking game, too. So he's a versatile player that's smart and likes football.
Mike Mayock: And Bill, with the reduced amount of time in the first round this year, going from fifteen minutes to ten minutes, did you think it was necessary to have this type of deal lined up in advance of today?
Belichick: You know, Mike, I think it was. Things went pretty quickly today. That ten minutes probably seems like a long time for you guys, but it's like about 45 seconds when you're actually on the clock. We talked to New Orleans yesterday, and then the trade really got consummated right before we got on the clock, and then finally it got done I think about four or five minutes into our timeframe. So it had to go down pretty quick. I'm glad we'd done a little bit of groundwork on it the day before.
Mayock: And I'm one of the Jerod Mayo believers in this draft. I thought he was an undervalued guy, and you obviously had a chance to move back to ten and actually pay him less. Was there ever an offensive line consideration? Our Charles Davis was all over wanting you to draft a Branden Albert and upgrade that offensive line. Any thoughts there?
Belichick: [Laughter] Well, there are a lot of good players available and I think there are still a lot of good players on the board. I think this draft has some depth to it. But we just did what we felt was best for our football team. I think the trade was good. I'm glad we have Jerod Mayo; I think he'll add a lot to our football team. Certainly, he has a lot of work to do, but he has a lot of things going for him. So, we had to do what we thought was best for our team. But there are a lot of good players out there and I think all teams are improving themselves today.
Steve Mariucci: Bill, Steve Mariucci here. Question about Mayo: You have a good group of veteran linebackers and you have some good flexibility, some position flexibility here with Mayo like you mentioned. How do you bring him along? Do you have him backup a couple of positions and learn them or maybe give him a role in your nickel and sub groups along with special teams? What would be his first role, do you think, on your veteran linebacker group?
Belichick: Well, I think those are all possibilities, Steve. I think the big thing for Jerod is to come in here, learn our system, learn a number of different positions, and then we'll just see how it goes and how it all fits together. When we visited with him in the spring…I think he's a sharp kid. He understands football concepts – he's been involved in a lot of different things on the strong side, the weak side, and in the middle at Tennessee. That's a very good program, he's a good football player and we'll just have to see how it all plays out. But I like the fact that he does have some versatility, and given what we have with our other players, we'll just see how all that comes together after he has a chance to learn our system and perform in it for a little bit and we get a chance to see how he does.
Brian Billick: Bill, this is Brian Billick. Everybody talks about the difficulty, the emotional letdown after coming off a Super Bowl. Your team certainly has the pedigree to…
Belichick: [Smiling] Did you really need to bring that up, Brian?
[Everybody laughs]
Billick: You know, we're both just getting back to sleep right now after the offseasons we've had. But, I mean, is that something that you're specifically going to address here obviously in your offseason workouts?
Belichick: Oh, you know, we've moved on. We really have. That was several months ago. We're already into the '08 season. We have a good offseason program going. The players are in here, they're working hard. Now we're getting ready for our spring camps in a couple weeks. The season's started and that's all behind us. We've been on both sides of that game. I'd much rather be on the winning side of it, but no matter what the result of it is, you just have to move on, and we've done that. We're into the '08 season, we're excited about the year coming up and looking forward to getting on the field later on this spring and seeing all the players participate in our system.
Eisen: Coach Belichick, we appreciate your thoughts. I don't know if it makes you feel any better, ten minutes feels like it's going real fast to us to. [Everybody laughs] All of us and Mayock like to talk up here in the draft, you know? It's pretty much the way it's going.
Belichick: It is. It's certainly put a different pace to the draft compared to the previous years. So that's probably good all the way around. We're looking forward to the second round, we have three picks in the third, so hopefully we'll be able to continue to find some players to improve our football team.
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