( Associated Press Photo / Gail Burton)
You’ve heard of positionless basketball, and you guys have drafted a lot of versatile players. Do you think the NFL is gearing up towards position-reducing like that, especially on defense? (Cordell Woodland)
Horties: “Yeah yeah. I think, again, versatility is important, especially on defense — on offense as well — because there are so many different packages that bring the offense up. You’ve got your two wideouts and two tight ends Well, you have two backs, but then you start getting four-and-a-half and three tight ends. Our offense, geez, we can put three or four tight ends on the field. You have got to have versatility, and you have to adjust. You really don’t want to be subbing and matching every time. If you’re doing that, well, you’re playing another game between running in and out of the field. So, on defense It’s important to have the versatility of the position, and it’s important, and I think it can potentially lead to greater success. So, defense is definitely a matchup game, and if you have guys who Can fill different roles, depending on what aggressive formation is out there, I think it helps.”
Peter King’s article explains how the Steelers found the wide receiver [Calvin Austin III], How often does this happen, and how quickly do you get over it? (Pete Gilbert)
Horties: “You cross it really fast – you really do – and it happens enough. It doesn’t happen right before you choose… It happens, but it’s four picks away. You’re like , ‘I hope this guy gets there or I… well…’ And you’re sitting there saying, ‘I don’t know if he’s going to get there or not.’ In that specific case, you’re on the clock. There’s no time to worry about it; you just pick the next player, and that’s what we do. The best part is, as long as you don’t marry one of the players, until you marry yourself [No.] 1. This is the only time in the draft [when] You can marry a player by yourself. And if you do that, you get nervous, and you’re not ready, and we’ve never done that in my 24 drafts in Baltimore; I’ve never seen it done. There are people we want… it happens all the time – when we’re sitting there at 26; ‘Oh, I’d love to be there for him,’ [but] He’s gone at 14, or ‘Wow, I didn’t think he’d go that soon.’ But so we think about a group of people, [and] One of these people could be there.
“And in the end, it might just be one player. But you have to be prepared to move on. Yeah, can you freak out? ‘Damn.’ Yes, but there are 262 pics, and you won’t find every guy you want, and clearly, the guy you wanted before him was gone. The guy who just got taken was the next, But there was a man ahead of him who preceded him. So, it’s just the draft, and you have to accept it, and it’s going to happen. Some days they’re gonna be there; some days they’re not.”
I think there were three or four times during the draft where a team traded directly in front of you, and I think the Texans did it twice. Do you think it’s a coincidence sometimes, or do you think guys want to get ahead of you because they’re afraid you’re going to get the guy you want? (Jeff Jarebic)
Horties: “No, I think it’s probably more of a coincidence. I think that’s what happens when teams trade, especially once you pass … even in the first round … I’ve jo-dee ‘ Heard it. [Jets general manager] Joe Douglas on the phone the other day, and he was talking about trying to trade for Jermaine Johnson II, and he said he started [pick] 20 more started calling and calling and calling. Therefore, they are not trying to appear in front of anyone; They’re trying to get their guy when you trade. So, you have to find a business partner, [and] that’s all it happened [that] We had business partners before us. I don’t think it was one of those things where the teams were trying to get ahead of us.”
(Jeff Zerebick: “Houston did it twice, and both times they took on an Alabama player, leading to speculation that they know how much you guys like Alabama players, so ‘we’re gonna come up to them and Make sure he’s still going there.'”)
Horties: “Yes, we like Alabama players, but we also like Auburn players. (laughter), so I try to balance it out a bit. But no, I think it’s more a coincidence – I really do. From time to time, you might say, ‘Hey, if we want this guy, we’ve got to outrun that team,’ on the other end of it, because you guessed it. But we’ve had a lot of people trade ahead of us, and they might be thinking they need to get ahead of us to pick a player, and that’s good – ‘Glad you turned our player down. Glad you didn’t trade and pick our player.'”
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