Here’s what Eliot Wolf had to say following Friday night’s selections:<\/p>\n
(Note – the broadcast was cut off at the beginning, so I’ve included the available text based on what I could transcribe.)<\/em><\/p>\n On his thoughts on Wallace:<\/strong><\/p>\n “So, he was a guy that we felt was athletic enough to possibly make the switch over on the left side.\u00a0 Really good pass protector.\u00a0 Really took a big step forward this year as a four-year starter.\u00a0 Athletic, can bend, strong, powerful, tough, can possibly play guard.\u00a0 Think he can be a four position guy but definitely feel like he can play on the left side.”<\/p>\n On his thoughts on Polk:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Yeah, he’s a guy that we had our eye on for a while. Really good fit in our offense.\u00a0 He’s really tough.\u00a0 He’s strong\u00a0 He can run all the routes, play inside, outside, he’s a good blocker.\u00a0 Really competitive, both for the ball in the air and as a run after catch player.\u00a0 Really just kind of a versatile do-everything type guy.\u00a0 He ran a little bit faster than a lot of people expected, but when you turn the tape on, you see him running by people.\u00a0 So definitely excited to add him to the mix.”<\/p>\n On if he sees Polk playing X receiver in the offense:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Yeah, that’s more of a question for coach Mayo and Van Pelt, but the system that I come from, we never really talk much about X, Z, slot.\u00a0 We just try to add really good receivers, and it would end up working out for us, so we feel like he’s a guy that can play all the positions.<\/p>\n On the influence Tyler Hughes may have had on the Polk pick:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Yeah, definitely didn’t hurt.\u00a0 Tyler knew him well.\u00a0 All those Washington guys, it was a good hire for us. Tyler’s wealth of knowledge as a former head coach, and also being able to provide info on one of the best teams in the country last year at the University of Washington.\u00a0 We spent time with Ja’Lynn at the Senior Bowl, at the Combine, didn’t bring him in for a visit because there were really no other questions that we had about him.\u00a0 But obviously, Tyler was a proponent of all those guys, and it just kind of helps having that familiarity.”<\/p>\n On his mention of shoring up the offensive line and adding weapons and how happy he is in being able to do that:<\/strong><\/p>\n “It fell really nicely for us.\u00a0 Polk was a guy we had targeted.\u00a0 Wallace was a guy we had targeted.\u00a0 We had some exploratory conversations about possibly moving back from 68 and then it was just kind of like, ‘Well, why?\u00a0 This is the guy we had wanted all along.’\u00a0 So, sometimes it doesn’t fall for you.\u00a0 It fell pretty nicely for us today.”<\/p>\n On what his experience has been when he’s talking to a team that’s close to him, whether it’s in the Division or the Conference in terms of if it can be an additional challenge when trying to execute something:<\/strong><\/p>\n “I think it can be at times.\u00a0 It depends on your relationship with the people that you’re talking to and we feel like we have, actually, good relationships with all our division teams.\u00a0 Have a lot of respect for Brandon Beane (Bills), Chris Grier (Dolphins) and Joe Douglas (Jets) , so that hasn’t been a roadblock for us so far.”<\/p>\n On from a competitive standpoint if it’s a situation where he’s found he doesn’t want to help them, or if teams don’t want to help them out:<\/strong><\/p>\n “I think that’s something that can happen.\u00a0 Again, that hasn’t happened yet for us so far.\u00a0 So hopefully that doesn’t happen tomorrow.”<\/p>\n On if he can walk them through the trade with the Chargers and if he’s surprised at the run of tackles at the end of the second round:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Yeah, so we felt like Polk was the player that we were going to pick at #34, and we felt based on some of the info we had from other teams, that we would be able to trade back a little bit and still get him.\u00a0 So we made that deal and were able to move up to the fifth to the fourth with the Chargers.\u00a0 And then your point about the run at tackles is a good one.\u00a0 That’s part of the reason we decided not to move back.\u00a0 it was just kind of like, ‘Well, let’s not chance it.\u00a0 This is the player we had targeted all along anyway, let’s just pick him.”<\/p>\n On if they’re done for the day, or if they’re exploring coming back into the third:<\/strong><\/p>\n “We’re still going to do some exploration depending on how the board holds up.\u00a0 Obviously not keeping track of that right now, which has me pretty antsy, but we’ll see how it goes.”<\/p>\n On the fact they have both Mike Onwenu and Caeden Wallace and if they’re looking to flip either player to the left:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Yeah, we feel like Caedan has the athleticism to play over on the left side.\u00a0 Really, his teammate, Olu Fashanu that the Jets drafted was the reason that he played on the right.\u00a0 So, athletically there’s no reason why he couldn’t make the switch over there. He’s a really smart dedicated kid that we feel like can handle that.”<\/p>\n On what stood out about Wallace from an intangible standpoint to him:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Just from the intangibles, we brought him in for a pre-draft visit, and he’s a really impressive kid.\u00a0 He comes from a great family, brother is, I think one of his brothers is a oyster scientist or something like that?\u00a0 But he was someone that we just got really comfortable throughout the process.\u00a0 He’s kind of a low key guy.\u00a0 Not real high energy until he gets in between those white lines and he goes after people.”<\/p>\n Here’s the full video:<\/p>\n