Rams Head Coach Scott Linehan & Executive Vice President of Play= er Personnel Billy Devaney

Rams Head Coach S= cott Linehan & Executive Vice President of Player Pers= onnel Billy Devaney

Press Conference = No. 2

April 26, 2008

(On second round draft pick WR Donnie Avery)

Billy Devaney: “We j= ust want to announce we selected, with the 33rd pick, Donnie Avery, the wide receive= r, kick-off returner from the University of Houst= on. This is a guy we brought in on our top 30 visit last week. We spent time wi= th him also at the Combine. We have researched him thoroughly and we feel that, again, the characteristics we stress going into this. Scott and I and every= body involved kept saying if there is one thing we wanted to do is we wanted to = get faster on both sides of the ball. We wanted to add juice to our offense and defense and this guy is a legitimate speed guy. Better than that, he is not just a pure track-guy, so to speak. This guy is a legitimate wide receiver also. He’ll come in and challenge for playing time and challenge to be our kick-off return guy. There were some good receivers that were on = the board at that point but this is a guy that we obviously pin-pointed a while= ago and we knew he was going to get strong consideration in the second round.”

(On not having any wide receivers chosen in first roun= d)

Scott Linehan: “That= was my only concern today, that there was going to be a run on those. I didn’= ;t know the linemen were going to go the way they were. We were really hoping = we would have some choices. I didn’t think we would have all of the qual= ity that was there but we put a lot of time into Donnie. We met with him first = at the Combine and then he came here in our top 30 visit. He is just the combination that you’re looking for. He kept a great speed, which was really a big goal going into this that we were going to add a lot of speed = to our team, especially in the first couple of rounds if we possibly could. You have got to be able to play too. We are not just looking for the track guy.= His body work, from his freshman year all the way to his senior year, the way he played and performed and produced, its just what you are looking for in a receiver. You want to see that. He has got pretty good size for his positio= n. He is 5’11 a little over 190 so you don’t have to just project = him at the inside receiver and then maybe a little outside. This kid can legitimately go outside and compete to play full-time as a ‘Z’ = or whatever we are playing. I think right away, we can really put some thought into him playing slot because of the way he plays and the way he’s pl= ayed on film. I don’t want to over-blow the term but it is a perfect fit, = it really is, for what we needed. He fit that bill of making our team a lot fa= ster and I really believe that is going to be a big part of it.”

(On what position he played in <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Houston)

SL: “He moves around. In <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Houston, I don’t know if you see = them, but they really have wide-open offensive plays. A little inside there, catc= hes the bubble screens, does all that kind of stuff you see the college offenses do. We really noticed when he gets out there and gets behind people and tho= se big posts and 9-routes, so you can really see his ability to stretch the fi= eld. If you were going to pick a slot receiver, you want one that will still com= ply and I think sometimes it’s a negative connotation if they move you to slot, it means you are not fast enough to play outside and this isn’t= the case here. I think he would be very effective as a slot at times but I thin= k he is going to really develop and become a really great outside receiver as well.”

(On his ability to return kicks)

SL: “Kick returning is part of it so that is goi= ng to be something. We have Dante (Hall) but the kick returning department is something he might be able to contribute to. In any team, a guy like this w= ith his stature, he’s is going to be paying his rookie’s dues and be able to play special teams until he gets into the line-up a little bit more full-time.”

(On Avery’s hands and route-running)<= /p>

SL: “I think both look very good. He stood out i= n the Combine as far as catching the ball. His route running is a little bit different. You can translate some of the things he did on film to what we d= o in our system but he is just such a good athlete, good body build. But in our system, being able to stretch the field and run th= ose vertical type routes and be crisp in and out of cuts is really important. He showed us all of that and I think this guy is really the complete package.”

On character issues separating Avery from others)=

SL: Anybody that was disqualified was a long time ago. Really that wasn’t the issue or anything like that. What I will say a= bout Donnie is, no issues. It’s what you are lo= oking for, that great character guy that you build your team around, but the guy = has to be able to play. He has to flat out play. When you have both of them, th= at is the package so to speak and it is a really good feeling for your team to= get that kind of guy.

(On Avery’s speed compared to other wide receive= rs)

BD: He is right up there in the top three, probably th= e top two, but certainly in the top three this year.

SL: He’s a 4.3 guy. I think it was a 4.4 combine= time, but going back to his Houston<= /st1:place> workout, I think he was in the low 4.3s. He is a guy that can fly. I don’t know how fast he is compared to maybe a couple of other guys th= at you’ve heard of or even who play for us, but all I know is that when = you watch the tape he flat out runs by people. That is something about him. He plays very big and he gets behind the defense and that is something that we really wanted to add to our team.

(On what happens tonight after the first two rounds)

BD: We restack the board. Obviously there has been surprises with the guys who have gone earlier and there are guys still= on the board that we didn’t expect to be there, so we will go back and restack the board, starting with round three right through the end.

(On tomorrow’s strategy)

SL: There are some issues. We still would like to help= our offensive line and would like to continue to address that. If we can contin= ue to make our team a lot faster and also fit the physical characteristics, it would really benefit us. We’ve got some really good football players on this team and to be able to add speed to a team that I think is pretty fast defensively. I think offensively we can maybe add another one. I’m voting for that right now, but we’ll see. I think that would really be a big boost for us.

(On Avery’s run after the catch ability)

SL: Excellent. That is a big part of that. I don’= ;t know exactly when we are bringing Donnie in and when you can meet him, but = what a great kid. It is going to be a lot of fun to see these guys who can play = and do the things we are talking about, like run fast, run after catch, stretch= the defense, all those things, come in here and really be a big spark. I know t= hey are going to be popular football players, not because of anything else other than that they are great human beings.

(On how important having a guy who can stretch the opp= osing defense is to the offense)

SL: It’s huge. In our system you have got to hav= e a compliment of speed in it or otherwise it seems like you always have to call another play. I think with a guy like this we know he is a threat. You̵= 7;ve got to account for him because he can stretch the field on the outside and = on the inside. With the receivers we’ve got coming back, it is something= we needed, but it will really help them as well. They know now that there̵= 7;s a guy who can really burn out there.

(On how fast the draft was moving)

SL: Last year we had the record. I think it was the lo= ngest first round in history. That was the whole plan, to shorten everything down= and move a little bit quicker.

BD: Wait until tomorrow. It becomes the Bataan death march. This is great on the= front end but tomorrow is going to be a bear.

(On taking Avery when you had the pick of the litter)<= o:p>

BD: When you talk about the run after the catch, Scott mentioned that with the offense that you really do get to see him run with = the ball a lot. The bubble screens, the quick screens out, he did a great job w= ith that and he becomes a runner with the ball in his hands, he’s looking= to score and he is looking for yards. He puts a lot of pressure on defenses. We kind of talked about this also, I knew coming in, receivers that have played here have set a pretty high standard and we really felt like we wanted to g= et a guy that could potentially get to that level and that’s how we view t= his guy Avery over the long haul.

(On whether they were surprised that no receivers were= taken in the first round)

BD: No, we were kind of talking about that.=

SL: We thought that one might go based on what we were hearing but we thought there was a chance that this could be the year, if t= here ever was one, that a wideou= t didn’t go in the first round.

(On comparing Avery to Isaac Bruce)

SL: I hope so. The one thing is, I think he is the exact same pick. I think Isaac Bruce was the 33rd pick. I don’t know if that was true or not, but someone told me that. That is= a good omen. That is a good place to start. This is Donnie Avery and we are g= oing to wait and see. He has his own style and all that stuff, but this guy is electric and he can really play. 200 catches in his career, almost thirty-two hundred yards and 19 touchdowns and every year he got made the increments that you want to see. Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior year, = he just improved and I think that is a good thing. You are looking for that ki= nd of guy. The consistency, the character and then the ability, it’s exa= ctly what we are looking for.