#3 2008 NFL DRAFT RAMS PICK (Round 3, 65th overall): John Greco, OL, Toledo

[Nick]

Heh, NFL draft guru Gil Brandt just told Billy Devaney on Sirius Radio that he ought to be put in jail for stealing for Greco in the third round.

[Curly Horns]

Heh, NFL draft guru Gil Brandt just told Billy Devaney on Sirius Radio that he ought to be put in jail for stealing for Greco in the third round.

Heh, well that ought to cinch it then. Looks like we can keep him now that we have the draft guru blessing. A starting RT with no weaknesses in the 3rd round is a steal any day of the week :-)

[Nick]

Rams Head Coach Scott Linehan and Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Billy Devaney

Press Conference

April 27, 2008



(On third-round draft pick OT John Greco)

Billy Devaney: “With the second pick in the third round we took a tackle from Toledo, John Greco. The thinking behind this pick was this guy was a four-year starter at Toledo. He played his freshman year at right tackle and when Nick Kaczur graduated, and went on to play for the Patriots, Greco moved over to left tackle and played the rest of his career at Toledo at right tackle. We view him as coming in right away to add depth on the offensive line. We’re going to line him up at right tackle, knowing that he gives us versatility. He can play guard, he can play both sides of the ball. He is extremely smart, extremely tough. When we had our draft meetings, we kind of put together a profile we were looking at, regardless of positions. We kept stressing to our evaluators that we want smart, passionate and productive players and this guy hits on all three. He is extremely smart, he is a great competitor and he has been very productive.”



(On how Greco will fit into the team)

BD: “We spent time with him at Indianapolis and you can tell this guy is all business. He is the kind of mentality that you are looking for on the offensive line. I think he will be a great fit for our guys. He is going to be receptive of learning from our veterans and I think he gives us a lot of versatility. When the injuries hit, especially the first-year guys, these kinds of guys are valuable that can play multiple positions”



(On what position Greco would play)

BD: “We are going to line him up probably on the right side. He has played both left and right but he is better suited for the right side. Knowing that, if need be, he can slide inside and play guard also. We also think down the road, this wouldn’t be right away, but we think he would be a heck of a center at some point in his career also.”



(On similarities between Greco and Nick Kaczur)

BD: “The traits are the same; smart, the toughness, the production. I would tell you that Kaczur could play on the left side and probably more of a natural left guy than John would be. But their traits are certainly the same.”



(On Greco’s size and ability)

Scott Linehan: “Well everybody gets caught up in these dimensions. You like your left tackle to have pretty long arm length and things like that if you were probably going to knock the guy, which immediately, that’s what people do. He has got the size and bulk and 49 starts at tackle and by size, he is probably their best lineman so he is pretty important in their offense. For us, he can play any position because he has done it. He played his whole college career at tackle and the whole idea is that because of his versatility we just feel him having the ability to start at right tackle, left tackle in a pinch, but certainly can be moved into guard. The center thing just comes up because of his intelligence and his ability to play the game and that’s really more where that is. Being that he played tackle his whole career, that has got to be the comfort level for him and for us it is a great pick because we needed some depth across there. I just want to touch on some of the things Billy talked about. This guy’s make-up is what you are looking for in a football player. We stayed with the philosophy of these guys coming out that were smart, compassionate and productive and this guy was A-plus across the board on all of that. It’s just adding that football character to this football team. This is really exciting for me. I just couldn’t be more happy with this guy’s make-up as well.”





(On still being available in the third round)

SL: “I don’t know what knocks him to the third. He was there in the third round today. I don’t know what it would be but we had him really up there on our board obviously. I went home last night hoping he was going to be there because we had one team ahead of us.”



(On Greco’s competition to start)

SL: “Well he is going to compete right away. We are just being realistic here. He is adding depth across the board on our line. I think the realistic part is he is going to be competing right away, whether it’s this year or part way through the year, I don’t know. It’s probably too early to say but he definitely has the make-up to compete sooner than later that’s for sure.”



(On the amount of tackles drafted)

SL: “There are a couple more but when you get past that I think you are going to see a little bit of a dry spell. Our goal going into it was we wanted to address the offensive line at some point. We really feel good about the progress some of the guys that were hurt last year are making. Signing Jacob (Bell) in the off-season and free agency and getting into the draft, we knew if there was a way in the first two or three rounds that we could address our offensive line and continue to bolster our O-line, that was something we were wanting to come away with and we are really, really happy with this pick.”



(On meeting with Greco before the draft)

SL: “Well we had him at the Combine and our visit with him actually out in the hallway at the Combine for quite a bit of time as he was waiting for our meeting, he came in on the pre-draft visit. It is nice to put that kind of time in with the players and get to know them as people because that is a big part of this process. When you meet him, you are going to know this is an offensive lineman and it’s important to him and he loves football. It’s just going to be a great addition to the group. I think he adds a lot of what we are looking for to this football team.”



(On Greco’s assets at tackle)

SL: “I’d say it is really one of his strongest assets. He is a physical player, he is strong, I think he is one of the strongest players at the Combine if I remember right, on the bench and all of that stuff. He has got a really strong lower body and he played out at tackle, the last couple of years at left tackle, but I think that is probably one the best things he does. That other thing with this right tackle, you want to have a physical guy there.”



(On Greco’s playing style)

SL: “It’s really a spread offense. He actually plays out of the two-point stance a lot which isn’t unusual anymore, it’s like quarterbacks and the shotgun. They run that, it’s kind of wide open but they run the ball and have a very good system, as a lot of these college programs do. You get to evaluate all of that. He is that kind of guy.”



(On picking Greco)

SL: “Yeah he was in the top tier of guys. To me, I think you are going to see a little bit of a dry spell. I don’t know what that means I just see how everybody sees it different. That’s how we saw it. We are getting down to where we needed to address this if we could and this was the guy. We were just hoping he wouldn’t go a pick ahead of us. It was unanimous. That’s just how it was, the way it was set up.”



(On if the team received phone calls about trading the third-round choice)

BD: “Yeah we did. But for the pick that you get in return to drop down 10, 15 spots, we didn’t think it was worth it. When we left the building last night, we restacked the board and it was a slam dunk we were going to take Greco. We were just hoping the pick before, whoever it was going to be, wouldn’t take him. There wasn’t any discussion. We came in this morning expecting phone calls and unless it was something really silly we don’t want to lose Greco. We got a few calls but it wasn’t anything of substance enough to make us want to risk losing this guy.”



(On the reaction of so many tackles being drafted)

DL: “We kind of thought that this was the year. That’s just the way it fell and that was the personality of this draft. No wide receivers but strong on tackles so it wasn’t shocking. We were determined to get a lineman and there was a group of guys that we had stacked and we thought about in the third round, with Greco at the top. It Greco would have gone first at the top of the third, we were still going to take a lineman. We felt that strongly about coming out with a tackle in this draft so it worked out good for us.”

[Walrus]

I was hoping my Hawks would come away with Greco. I think you guys got a real player.

[txramsfan]

Greco could possibly pan out to be the best pick of this draft for the Rams.

[RealRam]

Greco could possibly pan out to be the best pick of this draft for the Rams.

Wow, bold statement, TX! But it gives me relief as I too am rather anticipating that Greco is a good, reliable, blue collar OL and that he will probably fit just fine with the Rams.

I like this pick.

[eric2810]

I wonder whether Greco, our 'steal' of the draft, is a instant upgrade and will start from day 1, Could it be Incognito at Center, and Greco our new RG?

[RealRam]

I wonder whether Greco, our 'steal' of the draft, is an instant upgrade and will start from day 1, Could it be Incognito at Center, and Greco our new RG?

Brett Romberg is still my man at center. I hope he makes a solid starter this season which yields another body for our OL, i.e., Gog at G, even Setterstrom at G (assuming Fry is our backup C), and so forth.

We need to make a strong OL come back!

[Warner4prez]

Does anyone in the MO area know if they sell Incognito jerseys or is that something I would have to have made custom?

[Dominating D]

Ferter,

All this talk about projects. Who did you have as a good pick in round three that would not be a project and an area of need????

I'm just curious....

Players who are drafted in the 3rd round are usually not your plug and play guys. If the have rookie starting talent then most likely they have off the field issues. I LIKE the fact the RAMS are staying away from problem players and are drafting GOOD CHARACTER FOOTBALL GUYS.

I like the fact that Geco would challenge Barron I believe this will stir it up.

GO RAMS

[txramsfan]

Another position. Are the Rams really that bad off at OL to draft a project at this point? Weren't all the injuries the cause of the disaster with OL last season? Last season the majority of fans and experts were saying it was the injuries (unprecedented amount of OL injuries). Now we are to believe it was the lack of bodies or depth? The Rams signed an OG in FA. And this rookie (despite Linehan's verbal enthusiasm) is a project at this point. I do not see how Greco will be the savior if the Rams were to defy unprecedented odds and lose the entire OL again next season.

Yes, the Rams are that bad at O line.