Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel – April 29, 2023
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Saturday, April 29, 2023
General Manager Chris Grier and Head Coach Mike McDaniel
Mike McDaniel:
(Mike, can you tell us what you liked most about TE Elijah Higgins and the versatility that he brings as a big wide receiver?) – “First of all, I’m just excited to add the competitor. You see through his game tape that he’s a guy that strains with the ball in his hands. But specifically for the tight end position, drafting a guy that plays wide receiver and converting him to tight end – I think the first time in my career that I was a part of that was Niles Paul back in 2011 out of Nebraska. For me and my history, there’s a lot of traits that he resembled in his competitiveness, in his size and in his strength. And really, this day in age, converting a receiver to a tight end isn’t as abstract as it used to be only because half the teams are playing spread and two-points anyway. Even if they’re called a tight end, they’re playing receiver stuff anyway. So you get kind of used to projecting people to do things like that and we felt very comfortable and confident that he fit the bill for that, so we’re excited to have him.”
(What is it about the players that you all drafted in the past seven out of eight years have played in the Orange Bowl?) – “Finally, someone caught on. (laughter)”
Chris Grier:
“It’s a great coincidence.”
Mike McDaniel:
“We’re at a loss for words because we really thought that was our competitive advantage that you just exposed. (laughter) I think the Orange Bowl is a great bowl and I’m here to support it.”
Chris Grier:
(What did you guys think about T Ryan Hayes?) – “With him, he’s played a lot of football. Smart kid. Competitive. Tough. Came (to Michigan) as a tight end and converted (to offensive line) and worked. He’s been coached in a good program. Coach (Jim) Harbaugh has done a great job. Just watching him over the years develop and compete and play, so for us, we were excited at this point in the draft to add him into our group of guys coming in and competing.”
(The work doesn’t stop here of course. What would you say about the outlook heading into the undrafted free agent market?) – “Like you said, there’s still work to be done, so we’re going to bolt from here as soon as we can to go with the coaches and scouts and start preparing for the end of the draft and do it. But yeah, we’ll be trying to add the best players we can and hopefully we’ll find a couple undrafted gems or hidden gems for us to help the roster.”
(Last week you had mentioned that drafting for need is how you get yourself in trouble. Does that kind of same approach occur on Day 2 or Day 3 or does it change at all later in the draft?) – “I think when you get into the later rounds, you’re still always evaluating the roster and where potential holes could be – not just for this year but for the following year. But for us, it’s always still drafting the best player. We went by our board and the guys we picked today were the best players there for us, where we had them rated for what we were looking for. At the end of the day, you’re always still trying to add the best players because you never know where injuries and stuff will pop up on your roster from year to year.”
Mike McDaniel:
(A general roster question. There was some talk about you guys being interested in a veteran running back. Is that window still open or does RB Devon Achane kind of take that off the table so to speak?) – “Generally, nothing is off the table. But we’re really happy with the offseason we’ve had, the players that we were able to keep on this roster, the new ones that we’ve added, that we added in the draft and that we’re going to in free agency. There will always be stuff that we’ll investigate because that’s our job. So yes.”
Chris Grier:
(Just because this is the last time we’re going to see you guys for a couple weeks and for you, Chris, maybe a couple months, have you made decisions on fifth-year options on CB Noah Igbinoghene and OL Austin Jackson?) – “No, we’ll talk about that here after the draft when we finish up.”
(With only eight total draft picks in the last two years, maybe this is a great time to send a message out to some of the best undrafted free agent guys and why this would be a great place to sign?) – “I think with us, people have seen kind of what’s transpired here over the last year, and it speaks for the players that have wanted to come here and talked about it. From no recruiting or anything on our end, just kind of how we approach business, I think our players and the ones that have been in the building have talked about how they really like how Mike and the staff approach building a culture here and from Steve (Ross) and Tom (Garfinkel) support allowing us to do the things here that we do. South Florida is a great place to be, a great fan base, and we’re trying to build the best team we can to win games. I think people see and players see that we’re trying to win and doing things to win. So it’s an exciting time for us, but we know there’s a lot of work to be done still.”
Mike McDaniel:
“And on top of that, I think it’s one of the reasons it’s so important that you create competitive opportunities for players to play. One thing that is very important to Chris and I is that we’re a place where the best players play, and that’s something that I think is a draw for players as well, is we will give them an opportunity to compete. That’s really what all these guys want. They’re sitting through the draft watching so many people get taken over them, and really, you just say, ‘You know what? I’m good enough to play in the league. I just need an opportunity.’ We’ll provide that.”
(What have you all learned about each other during this process with four picks?) – “You learn – if you just open your eyes and ears, you learn so much about people every day. He’s very patient and tolerable of my personality, I’ve learned that. Four picks, the interesting thing about that is you’re very aware that you have a small opportunity to make your team better, but it’s a very real opportunity. So you don’t ever want to squander a draft pick, but the less you have to focus on, the less amount of draft picks. You have more attention on those parts of the draft and really what can you get out of it. So I think at this point, we probably know everything about each other, except for how sweaty my palms are going to get if we have a first-round draft pick. We don’t know that yet, but I won’t be that nervous.”
Chris Grier:
“I think the human communication part of it between the coaching staff, the scouts, has been really good. I think if you asked everyone in the building, a lot of work goes into drafts. As you know, it’s never a one-man show or a two-man – it’s a lot of people helping a lot of information done. I just think the environment of allowing everyone to have a voice in the process and really allowing people to have a say and really be free to speak on stuff has been really, really fun. It’s been a really good process. I think guys have really enjoyed it, and we felt we’ve had a good outcome.”
(In the end, how much was the loss of the first-round pick due to the tampering violations, how much did it affect this offseason, this draft? How much was felt?) – “For us, it was business as usual. You’re always going to have to deal with adversity in life, and when that happened, we just kind of moved on and go and adjust and just kind of be ready to react. It started from Bill Parcells years ago, ready to react because you never know what’s going to happen. So for us, once decisions were made, we just kind of moved on and said ‘OK,’ and looked at the roster and picks and free agency and kind of attacked it from there.”
Mike McDaniel:
“Honestly, since the pick was gone, I literally have not thought twice about it, just because it’s gone. So let’s worry about the stuff that we can actually control, like the draft picks we had.”
(Because he has a skillset for it, and because you guys selected CB Cam Smith, you guys had any conversations about possibly using CB Jalen Ramsey at safety?) – “No. Only because he’s really good at corner and so I try not to mess really good up. The cool thing about the defensive backfield in general, I think (Defensive Coordinator) Vic (Fangio) has hit this on the head a number of times, but five DBs on the field, it happens almost three-quarters of the time in the National Football League now. In Vic’s defense, in his system, if you understand it, there are a lot of different ways you can get on the field, there is some position versatility that if you go back to his history, there has been various people that have played in different spots. That has been in discussion but not with Jalen Ramsey. I would say I think he’s a good corner. What about you?”
Chris Grier:
“He’s not bad. (laughter)”
(T Taylor Lewan mentioned the Dolphins, is he a possibility?) – “When he was released, we reached out to his agent just to find out what was going on or what it was, and that’s the only conversation we’ve ever had. Whenever he got cut a month or so ago, that’s the only time I’ve ever talked to him. So I don’t if anyone else has, but that’s the only discussion we’ve had about him.
Mike McDaniel:
“It’s really par for the course on how Chris and his staff operate. You want to have all of the information. The second you have someone who is not on a team, are you fancying yourself to be on a team? Are you interested in playing? All of those things you have to dot your I’s and cross your T’s to make the right decisions. You’ve got to have all of the information available.”
