Rams Head Coach
Scott Linehan and Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Billy Devaney
April 27, 2008
(On draft pick Roy Schuening)
Billy Devaney: “We just made a trade with Washington. We gave them both of our six (round picks) to move up, and Washington gave us back our seventh round pick, so we have two picks in the seventh round, Washington’s and the compensatory pick. This selection we took Roy Schuening, a guard from Oregon State. He is a great size guy. A physical, throw-back kind of guy, blue-collar and very tough. We heard about him a while ago from
Steven Jackson who gave him a ringing endorsement many months ago. We’re hoping Jackson is pleased because we really are. We talked earlier about the board kind of falling apart and this guy was sticking out like a sore thumb. That is why we thought we better go get him rather than just standing pat. Once he went, then we really would be throwing darts. He was the one guy that was still on the board that we thought was really a really legitimate prospect at this point.”
(On Schuening playing fullback)
BD: “This guy is physical enough. He jumped in at right tackle last year at the end of the season when injuries took there toll. He is really not a right tackle but that is the kind of guy he is. He went out there and competed but he is a guard and that’s where we project him to be.”
(On the competition with the veterans)
BD: “At this point, what we were talking about the other day when we were talking about the first-round pick, for these kids to come in and say we expect them to start, it’s hard for young kids to start in this league. Its great competition, we have got veterans in the building that are great. They are not going to give up their job easily. They have got to fight through that. It’s hard to say at what point these guys are going to be ready to contribute. We see them with really good futures for a long time with the Rams. How fast that happens, it’s hard to say.”
(On Schuening being projected as a second or third-rounder)
Scott Linehan: “I guess that is the debate we will find out here in a few years. Fifty starts at Oregon State and the fact that he has played and been durable. He has great leadership qualities and traits you look for. He obviously has an ability to play the game and the stature he has at the guard position, potential center, he is just a great prospect. He is a guy you can work with. You know he is going to come to work everyday with his lunch pail and give you a great day’s work. At the end of the day and you surround yourself with enough of these kinds of guys, now you have got yourself an offensive lineman that’s going to be here to stay. One way to translate that for Rams fans, Adam Timmerman got here a different way. He made it via free agency but he went through that background to get through Green Bay to get here so you see what kind of player he was and he just had the right stuff. Andy McCollum was another guy. I don’t know if he was free agent or late round pick, seventh, I can’t remember what it was. But by the time he got his chance, he took advantage of playing in a couple Super Bowls and playing very good football. When you get those kind of fellows around guys like Orlando (Pace) and people, I think now you are talking about the make of an offensive lineman.”
(On Schuening as a player)
SL: “He has got some versatility, durability and toughness, he is a physical player. For a guy to swing out like he did this year, he is not a tackle really but can go out there and play winning football, just says a lot about him. There is something about the make up of an offensive lineman that he played through whatever and started 50 starts in college and not miss a game. That is hard to do and he is still great as far as physicals. It’s not like he is beat up, he is in really good shape. He is coming out of a great program. I know a little bit about him. My nephew played with him through his career. He married a girl from the same school so I know a little about the kid as far as meeting him a couple of times. But that doesn’t play into it at all, he did it on his own and he played great football there. Steven did give a pretty good endorsement for the kid. Steven knows what we are looking for because it’s an organizational goal to get those kinds of guys in our program.”
(On injuries)
BD: No injury issues. The other part, we talk about this repeatedly, the theme in our evaluation is smart, compassionate, productive players. This guy was academic, all Pac-10 so he is a smart guy, he is passionate about football and productive. So he is another guy that we kept emphasizing throughout and that’s why this guy was sticking out. He was a guy that met all three of these traits.”
(On if we was decided on draft day)
BD: “It’s not something you go into saying you have to do something for the sake of doing it. But again, as the draft unfolds, that’s going to dictate what your approach is going to be. If this would have been drafted a few picks before, we just would have stayed where we were and used our picks as is. The fact that he was still there we wanted not to be in a position to lose the guy so that is why we went after him.”
(On his Oregon State career)
BD: “It is something he is exposed to a lot and Scott alluded to it also. I know Mike Riley, the head coach at Oregon State, I worked with him in San Diego. I know the line coach that is up there, Mike Cavanaugh. He is a tremendous offensive lineman and he has a great reputation of putting guys in the NFL, offensive linemen who turn out to be good players. All of that factored into our evaluation also. They throw the ball, they run the ball and he has been exposed to a lot in his years at Oregon State. That all worked in his favor.”
(On the off season)
SL: “Players are really having a great off season as far as the work and all of those things. I think the greatest statement for our football team as they see the profiles of these players I think that probably the thing that is going to be a ringing endorsement for that. The players, I’m not sure if they are working this weekend, I know the personnel and the coaches are but the team is getting a lot better and I know we are excited about these guys.”
(On the free agents)
BD: “In our situation, we have so many guys under contract at this point, there is going to be a small amount of free agents that we have to sign after the draft. There are a couple positions we have ear marked where we need some guys to come in. But for the most part, there is not going to be very many, I’m going to say maybe six or seven, eight at the most. So there is not going to be that normal frenzy that most teams go through. That’s fun, it’s wild, and it’s a competitive thing. But again, we are not going to be in that situation. It is better to get quality. If there were one or two guys that were close to being drafted, we call them eighth round picks, that means almost draftable, they are the guys we key on. To be honest, we will start that process fairly soon and starting warming those guys up as well everybody else. That is kind of when the frenzy starts, when the draft is over.”
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