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Chris Grier – April 26, 2019 (2nd Round) Download PDF version

Friday, April 26, 2019

General Manager Chris Grier (following second round)

(Opening Statement) – “We acquired Josh Rosen from the Cardinals tonight. It was an opportunity to add more competition and talent at a position that we’ve always talked about here, in terms of creating that competitive environment at every position. I want to thank the Cardinals for working with us. It’s been a grueling two days for both of us working through it. I’m sure they were talking to a bunch of teams. (Arizona Cardinals General Manager) Steve (Keim) and I had been in touch. It was very good. We’re happy that we could come to an agreement that benefitted both teams.”

(What do you like about QB Josh Rosen as a quarterback?) – “He was always a guy that’s had a ton of talent. He’s a smart guy, like everyone knows. He has arm talent. He can throw it. I think what everyone always liked about him was how cerebral he was as well. Again, it’s a young, talented guy at a premium position in this league.”

(The decision to move back from 48 to 62 – how did that come about, was there talk about using that pick to trade for QB Josh Rosen?) – “No. When you make a trade like that, a team has to come up wanting somebody. We were perfectly ready to just make the pick at 48 and we got a call. Literally, we were almost on the clock, and so we hashed out a deal with New Orleans.”

(How instrumental was Head Coach Brian Flores and Offensive Coordinator Chad O’Shea in the decision to acquire QB Josh Rosen?) – “Very involved. Like I said, this isn’t a one-man show. I know everyone is always like ‘Who does what?’ but it’s working in collaboration with Brian, the scouts, the coaching staff, the pro scouts. Everyone watched a lot of stuff. We talked and did a lot of background checks in terms of people in and around Arizona’s organization, UCLA’s staff that had him and we had the information on him last year too. Again, we felt comfortable for the value where he was and then added him to the roster.”

(You’ve talked before about last year and you liked two quarterbacks – Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen – obviously not Josh Rosen. What has changed?) – “I wouldn’t say we didn’t like Rosen. Again, working with different coaching staffs and what they’re looking for at the position. At that point, we were talking about a top-10 pick, and he just wasn’t in those top five or six guys we were comfortable taking at pick 11.”

(Do you see QB Josh Rosen being your starting quarterback this year?) – “I’ll leave that up to Brian (Flores). You know me, it’s always (up to) the coaching staff. Brian will make those decisions. Ryan Fitzpatrick has been great. His personality, as you guys know, he’s a character. (He’s) a great leader, so I think the two of them will be good in the room.”

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