Gaines Adams and Coach Gruden Quotes |
Quotes from Gaines Adams on his selection in first round by Tampa Bay Bucs
(On how he will fit in with the Buccaneers defense) "I feel like I'll fit in great. Being with Simeon Rice and those other guys who are there, they've got a tremendous record with that defense and I'm just ready to get started with them.'' (On the rumors he might be traded) "That was something I didn't have control of. I'm a Buc right now. I'm enjoying this day. I'm just ready to get down there and get this started." (On what he brings to this team) "I bring a hard worker. I'm willing to learn. I'm a dedicated guy that loves football." (On if he believes he's the best pass rusher in the draft) "I feel that way. That was one of my goals coming into this draft and I feel like my college career shows that, and now, I'm just trying to take it to the next level." (On if he had a sense that he would be a Buccaneer) "Yes. I talked with Coach Gruden and Coach Kiffin and they showed a lot of interest in me. We had a good time together. We talked football a lot and I told them that I would fit in great with them." (On if he was confident he would be a Buccaneer) "No, not at all. I came into the draft with an open mind, knowing I had no control over where I would end up. I just knew that at one certain pick, I was going to be at one team, and I'm glad it was Tampa." (On what the Buccaneers expect him to do) "We haven't talked about that yet. I'm going to go in and work hard, and hopefully, one day, I'll be starting." (On his impressions of DE Simeon Rice) "He's a tremendous pass rusher. They said the same things about him, and look at him. He's a great player, run stopper or pass rusher. That's a key example; they said the same things about him." (On his phone call from the Buccaneers) "Coach Gruden called me and said that they were going to send my name in and briefly told me about Tampa. He put me on the phone with Coach Kiffin and everybody just to say 'Congratulations.' (On what Coach Kiffin said to him) "He just told me congratulations and that he is ready for the season." HEAD COACH JON GRUDEN (Opening statement) "We're excited to have selected DE Gaines Adams. We said earlier, as the offseason began, that we wanted to upgrade our pass rush. We feel like we did that today. He is a fine football player. We're eager to put him in our colors and get him started. He's a good football player with a chance to be great and it certainly addresses an area that we want to improve at." (On if the Buccaneers would trade DE Gaines Adams to Detroit) "There's a lot of speculation, honestly, about us trading up or trying to trade our pick. We're happy to have Gaines Adams. Unless something drastically changes, we fully expect him to be a Buccaneer for a long time. There were a lot of rumors and speculation that weren't true, but there is a lot of hype at the top of the first round and obviously that is the case again this year." (On Gaines Adams) "I'll say that he is a guy we think is the number one defensive player in his draft. There were some other players, honestly, that we would have loved to have had. But you only get to pick once, unfortunately. We got a guy that we think is an outstanding player and he has a chance to be a great pro football player. He'll fit in our scheme nicely and I think he'll have the talent to update our pass rush immediately." (On which end of the defensive line DE Gaines Adams will play) "He can play right end." (On the temptation to draft QB Brady Quinn as an offensive-minded coach) "I'm a football coach. I want to win games. Obviously, you want to take what you think your football team needs. At the same time, we have to take a good look at who we think is the best football player on the board. We took Carnell Williams two years ago, I would have loved to have a rocket backfield with [Adrian] Peterson and Cadillac (Williams), no question about it. You look at Gaines Adams and the pass rush that he brings to our football team, we thought it was the best move for us at this point." (On Adams during the interview process and what impressed him above other players) "Gaines doesn't talk very much; he's a quiet guy. He's a man of few words, I think you'll sense that quickly. I think he just gets your attention when he hops over those bags and runs through the drills at the combine. If you watch his tape, he is a problem. He's a very good pass rusher and he's had some good training. To get Kevin Carter, a veteran player in free agency and then to add a guy like Gaines Adams, we've added two big men that will give us a lot more versatility in some of the things we want to do defensively." (On the situation at right end with DE Simeon Rice) "We're going to work that out. Obviously, when you draft and when you acquire free agents, you have to do some things with the depth chart. We're going to play the best player, whoever it is. Simeon is making a recovery from an injury. It's an injury that I think has proven to be healthy now. We'll address all of those things as time unfolds, but we did acquire a heck of a football player today." (On how Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin reacted to the selecting of Adams) "Monte is jumping through the ceiling right now. He said we haven't drafted a defensive player since 1974 or 1986 or something like that. I said, 'We haven't had a lot of number one picks around here, Monte, in the last seven or eight years.' The bottom line is, to go with Cadillac [Williams], to go with Davin Joseph, Gaines Adams - hoping Mike Clayton comes back healthy - I think the three or four first rounders that we have brought in are good people, good players and hopefully a couple of these guys can prove to be great at their position." (On if the team was content to sit at the fourth pick) "I was surprised that people really speculated that we would sacrifice a lot of picks and move up. Honestly, we feel like with the four picks that we do have here on the first day we're going to be able to acquire some players. We had a top five pick; we knew we were going to get an excellent player. Now we have a chance to get a couple more players here in the second round and an early pick in the third round, and we need to address some areas on this football team for the immediate future and for the long-term future, and I think that's perfectly obvious." (On the benefit to Adams of having veterans such as Simeon Rice around) "I think we've got a great room for him to really flourish in. You talked about Simeon Rice - the addition of Kevin Carter, who's one of the truly great pro football players in the league - he's in great shape, he plays every Sunday and he's a great leader. Chris Hovan, Greg Spires - there's a real good environment for him with good quality pro football players to learn from. And not just playing the game but how to prepare to play the game on and off the field. And I think from a role model standpoint he's in a great environment to really take off and flourish. Larry Coyer is going to do a great job with him, and as you all know, Monte Kiffin is one of the best in football." (On what separated Adams from the other defensive linemen) "It's tough. Amobi Okoye is a guy we coached in Mobile, and we liked him a lot. We certainly did, and to get a disruptive inside presence is something that you're always looking for when you're running a 4-3 defense. But the pure pass rush separated Gaines Adams just a little bit. And it was a tough call. But again, we got a guy we really think has a tremendous upside and a great future as a pass rusher. And we need to improve our pass rush. I think we all know that." (On the learning curve for a defensive end) "I'm never going to call being a defensive lineman easy. There are a lot of schemes and a lot of things that they have to see to really get a full feel for how it truly is on Sunday. He's going to see some different tackles that I don't think he ever dreamed existed. He's going to see a lot of different blocking schemes, ways of obviously neutralizing a great pass rusher. There are a lot of stunts, and there are a lot of different aspects of our defense where he'll be dropping in coverage. There will be stunts and things of that nature involved, a lot of checks and calls that we like to use that he's got to obviously learn. It's a difficult position, and when you're a very good pass rusher the opposition knows it and they try to make your life tough. There are some things that he's really going to have to learn on the run. Fortunately, we've got some veteran people in our building to help him."
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