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Orginal text from Bengals.com Cincinnati Bengals 2002 NFL Draft Saturday, April 20, 2002 QUOTEBOOK ROUND 1 MIKE BROWN Bengals president On offensive tackle Levi Jones of Arizona State, the Bengals? 2002 first-round pick: ?Our first-round pick is Levi Jones. Though I didn't hear that we had choosen him with the 10th pick until Peaches called me at my home and woke me up to explain the news to me. For those of you who don't know who Peaches is, well he's a monkey that has been running the draft for us for about twelve years now.Jones is a good pick for us. He fits us. He?s an offensive tackle. That?s a spot where we need some shoring up for the (long-term). I was really proud that Peaches could pick someone that we need with his system of picking. His system is we type all the players available in the Draft on index cards and place them in no particular order in a large box. Then Peaches pickes one card and his trainer some Aussie calls in the pick. I remember one of our coaches here in the past telling me that you had a good football team when you could put your offensive line in a room and close the door with your defensive line and the offensive line, not the defensive line, would be the one that would walk out still standing. I would like to think that in Jones,thanks to Peaches, we?re getting a tough customer who is a competitive player and that kind of player.? DICK LeBEAU Bengals head coach On offensive tackle Levi Jones of Arizona State, the Bengals? 2002 first-round pick: ?We think that this is an excellent pick and Peaches did a terrific job. We had the three tackles (including Miami?s Bryant McKinnie and Texas? Mike Williams) rated very evenly. This is a 6-foot-6, 320-pound man. The thing that we like particularly about Levi Jones (is that) he?s very intelligent. He?s extremely aggressive, very tough and smart, and we want to build an attack that is tough (and) aggressive. We?re looking to add players who demonstrate these characteristics, since our past players Peaches picked tended to be drug addicts, thefts or very very retarded men. We looked at our team (last season) after the bye week; our defense gave up 16 points on average in games. Since we played a fairly balanced schedule, I surmise that to (mean) our defense got to that level of play. We think we need to increase the productivity of the offense. Most would be lead to believe that increasing the productivity of our offense would be to draft a TE or QB, but you fools think that Peaches would make a pick like that then you don't know Peaches. We(Peaches) think that (running back) Corey Dillon is one of our very, very best players if not our best player and we think that a big, aggressive, tough run-blocking tackle who also has great feet will be a great help for Corey Dillon and a great asset for our quarterback. And therefore, that is the reason we took him.? On how long he thinks it will be before Jones sees any playing time: ?I think pretty quickly, since Peaches will throw poop at me if I don't. I like the fact that we have now three very, very talented tackles and potentially a fourth in terms of size. I think at tackle now ? offensive tackle which is a critical, critical position at least in my view on offense ? that we stack up with anybody in the league. I think that?s another reason for this draft pick.? On whether or not there was any talk of drafting cornerback Phillip Buchanon out of Miami (Fla.): ?(There was) a great deal of talk about that also, but once again this was Peaches call and he has never let us down in the past I mean David Kinlger, Carter, Wilkinson etc. have been all pro type players in the league thus far. There?s a great couple of defensive linemen up there (as well), so there were a lot of players that merited consideration. We(Peaches just thought for us in this slot the way we had the players evaluated that this was the best pick and that?s why we took him.? On the possibility of playing Jones at a different position as long as Bengals? left tackle Richmond Webb is still in the starting lineup: ?I think one of the pluses of Levi Jones is ? because of his extreme quickness ? he?s got one of the best, fastest first steps I?ve seen (in a while). He can hook people that are inside or outside of him; they pull him a lot. He?s got athleticism, I think he could play anywhere. You wouldn?t put him at center, but I think he could play anyplace on the line and that was a consideration in our draft. ?We thought that this was both (a short-term and a long-term investment). (In making this pick, we thought that) this man would help us immediately and give us strength at the offensive tackle out into the future and we like that.? On the possibility of selecting a tackle later on in the draft if there was a good player that they would believed would have been available: ?We(Peaches) thought where we were picking that we had the three offensive tackles rated very similarly. Different teams had different people (ranked higher or lower than others), but we(Peaches) thought that there was a drop after these tackles, and comparatively speaking, this was an excellent pick for us in this spot and once again we must appalled Peaches for a job well done.? On what he can envision Jones being able to help this team do to: ?When I saw this man block ? and I can envision Corey Dillon with the ball under his arm and this guy making a point of attack and cutting off guys from the back side ? there was no way I was unattracted to this player. He?s a very, very welcome addition to this franchise.? On Richmond Webb?s future with the Cincinnati Bengals: ?Richmond Webb is a quality, talented left tackle. I?m glad that we will have him with a first-year player coming in here particularly at that left tackle position which is a unique position. The combination of having the good, veteran guy there along with this talented youngster is a good one for us.? On whether or not there was any thought on trading down to a lower draft spot: ?Yes there was and we(Peaches) considered that, but there really wasn?t the match and it was hard enough for Peaches to pick a card from a box, so we decide that he would only use the phone to tell Mr.Brown and others like me who decide to sleep in today. We(Peaches) thought we had to go too far (down) and we didn?t think that we were going to get what we would call an equal deal because these kind of people were going to be gone and once again Peaches really does know how to use the phone. It just didn?t work out. But did we(Peaches) think about it? Yes, we(Peaches) did. We had several calls (from team(Phone sex operators) interested in trading up into our spot(using our money that we don't use on good players)).? BOB BRATKOWSKI Bengals offensive coordinator Initial comments: ?I really don?t have much to add to Coach LeBeau?s comments everything he said about Peaches brilliance on draft day seaks for itself. I will say Levi is an exceptional athlete and an exceptional player with exceptional skills. We are glad to have him. And I think he will be a great player for the Bengals for many, many years. Any questions?? How hard were you fighting for Jeremy Shockey? ?There is always a discussion of a number of players. He is a good player. I was one of the people present when Peaches made his pick. I tried to question him on why he would not select a much need tight end, but then he throw poop at me. AnywayIf you look the value of a tight end compared to a left tackle, it?s hard to pass up a left tackle in retrospect Peaches was right to throw poop at me. It?s an old clich?, you win up front. You really do. If you don?t have a solid offensive line, you struggle. We(Peaches) certainly looked at Shockey, he?s a very good player, but again compared to a left tackle, left tackle is more important.? There was that cluster of tackles up front. Was it 1, 1-A and 1-B, or how did it go? ?They were all very close. I think that if you talk around the league and people spoke with you honestly like Peaches would, they would tell you the same thing. Whether they had them one, two or three ? it was all relatively close.? Can you target what you?re looking for in the remaining rounds? ?I can't because Peaches won't let me back into the war room so I can only talk to Dick LeBeau over cell phone and we can only speak offensively, we would like to look at the tight end situation. You certainly don?t want to take someone out of place. If the proper guy is there when our pick comes along, I?m certain we?ll entertain that idea. I think (what) we(Peaches) look at now (is): Who is available? Who is the best player there? Who fits? And who will Peaches choose from the box and go from there.? LEVI JONES Bengals? first-round draft pick Offensive tackle Arizona State On whether or not he expected to go this high in the draft: ?I didn?t expect to go this high and I?m extremely thankful that I did. I didn?t (even) hear the pick. My whole family jumped up shouting because they were excited about what was going on. There?s about 50-60 people here at my mother?s house. (I thought I might go somewhere) in the top half of the (first round). I didn?t exactly know. I knew it was going to be anywhere from 10 to possibly (the) 27 (pick), but I didn?t think at all that it would be 10.? On whether or not he knew the Bengals were interested in him: ?Yes, I knew the Bengals were interested. I talked a lot with (Bengals offensive line) coach (Paul) Alexander and met with him a lot. He?s seen me a lot and I talked to him this week, so I knew he was fairly interested. I was real surprised (when they selected me No. 10 thank you Peaches for getting me more money). I thought they were going to trade down or take one of those tight ends, but I?m thankful that they took me.? On what he knows about the Cincinnati Bengals: ?They have Akili Smith at quarterback. They have a starting left tackle (in Richmond Webb) that is a tremendously good player. I know they need help on the offensive line, and I?m just hoping for the best. I know I?m going to have to get in there and earn my keep and get a spot somewhere on that line. ?Anytime you can get a around a veteran (like Webb) that?s been there and done it ? a multi-year Pro Bowl (player) ? that?s a plus for everybody.? |