Chris Grier – April 28, 2017 (2nd Round)
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Friday, April 28, 2017
General Manager Chris Grier
(Following pick of LB Raekwon McMillan)
(Opening statement) – “We have added Raekwon McMillan, linebacker (from) Ohio State. He is a guy that we absolutely love. Again, talk about an alpha guy, you have heard that before. This guy is a two-time captain, came out as a junior at Ohio State. This is a guy who made all the calls there. (He is) highly intelligent. We love his football intellect. We loved talking with the kid. This guy really understands football. He has leadership skills and he is a tackling machine. He is a big body in the middle that can take on blocks. He is a good player. People want to talk about whether he can run or not; the guy ran a 4.61 (40-yard dash) at 240-plus pounds. The guy can run. He is a good football player. Again, this is a guy we feel very strongly about and we are really excited to have him here.”
(How does he fit into this defense? You re-signed LB Kiko Alonso, you added LB Lawrence Timmons, how exactly does he fit in considering he is an inside linebacker?) –. “The one good thing here is adding Timmons, re-signing Kiko and now adding Raekwon into the mix, I was talking with the coaches and we are going to let it play out. We have kind of an idea of where we think they are going to play; but again, we haven’t worked with Timmons yet as well here. In terms of getting them on the field all together, we kind of have an idea; but again on our part, I am going to let the coaches talk about that when you guys meet with (Head Coach) Adam (Gase) next week.”
(Is LB Raekwon McMillan a guy that can swing outside or is he pretty much an inside linebacker?) – “No, he can (swing outside). That is what we like about him because the guy is physical and he’s smart. Again, we think he can run. We like his play speed. It is evident when you watch him on tape. He makes a lot of plays to the outside too. We are comfortable playing him wherever he has to play for us.”
(Did Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke get up the table and lobby for him? Is this a guy he really wanted?) – “I think everybody in the room wanted him so there wasn’t a case on that. This is a guy we were all very high on.”
(Was that a position in the draft where you were looking for a linebacker? I know you said you try to stick to your board rather than go to need, but at some point in the draft you go to need. Was this looking for a linebacker or was it taking the best guy available?) – “He was (the best guy available). He was on the board. At that point in time, he was the No. 1 player on our board.”
(At any position?) – “Yes.”
(The fact that he was able to come into Ohio State and make an instant impact, do you feel like this is something he can do now, elevate his game and go up to the next level?) – “Yes. Again, it’s a guy that loves football, his passion, the intelligence – and that’s the one part when the rookies come in, the hard part is the playbook. When you talk to the guys at Ohio State, they talk about this guy’s intellect, how smart he is, how he can line up everybody. When we met with him at the Combine, it was easy. He’s talking football, telling where the corner (and) safety is, the front, moving the front … He understands it. This is a guy that, if you talk to him, he’s like flat-line and calm. He’s one of those. He gets into the playbook. He’ll learn this quickly and we do anticipate him making an impact.”
(Did you bring him for a pre-draft visit?) – “No, we did not.”
(Does he play any special teams?) – “He has earlier in his career. He’s not (now), but he’s a guy that if he had to, he could do it.”
(He was very emotional during his call with us. Obviously, a lot of things going through his head. What’s his story? What is this kid thinking about that today makes it such a victory for him?) – “I think as you get to know the kid, and like I said, he’s a very calm and flat-line person. Nothing’s ever too big for him. Which is what – when you talk to the coaches there, Urban Meyer absolutely loves this guy. He says it was one of his favorite players he’s ever coached. I think for him, it’s probably all this hard work. The culmination of everything probably hit him because when we talked to him, I was telling him, ‘Get excited, man.’ And he was like, ‘Yes, sir. I am really excited to come to Miami.’ I’m like, ‘Come on!’ It was one of those so … We all got off the phone and everyone was like, ‘Wow. He’s completely calm.’ To hear you guys say that is surprising because with us it was, ‘Okay, I’m ready to go. Good. Let’s go.’”
(Do you feel comfortable now with your linebacker position? Obviously, it was a position of priority this offseason.) – “We feel good about it. But again, if there are other opportunities throughout the draft or post-draft free agency, we’ll still look to add.”
(This is the second straight prospect who’s told us he didn’t have a whole lot of contact with you leading up to the draft. You told us last night with DE Charles Harris that was intentional. Was this a similar thing?) – “This was a kid that everything was so far – in terms of intangibles and character – that once we met with him at the Combine, and I was at the Pro Day, along with our area scout, Ron Brockington. Once you’re around the kid and see (him), we were like, ‘There’s no point in bringing him here. We’re just wasting a visit.’”
