NFL Scouting Combine: Bill Belichick, Jace Amaro Talk

Feb 20, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick speaks during a press conference during the 2014 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Even though the NFL Scouting Combine hasn’t officially kicked off, there was plenty of interesting stuff going on today in Indianapolis, including Bill Belichick stepping to the podium to address the media.

Here are a few quotes from the head man in Foxboro (via the always resourceful patriots.com):

Belichick opening statement detailed his first combine, and how he saw Refrigerator Perry do the vertical jump:

"I was walking over here just this afternoon and thinking about how far the whole combine has come. This is probably my 30th year. The first one I was at was, I think, the second one at Arizona State. Obviously it was held outdoors. One of the days ended, I would say not in total darkness, but certainly past dusk. And I still have the image of Refrigerator Perry doing the vertical jump out there on the vertex in the middle of the Arizona State field, in almost total darkness. Now we have the banners on the streets. NFL Network. This is a huge media event and fan event. It started, for me, about 30 years ago – 1985 would have been [Perry’s] rookie year. So it’s really come along the way."

On his coaching staff:

"I think our coaching staff is pretty well set right now, so we’ll go forward with it. I’m glad to have the people that we have. We’ll see how it all comes together."

On Michael Lombardi:

"Mike’s got a lot of experience. He’s done a lot of things in his career in the NFL. I’m sure he’ll be doing many of those things for us. We’ll see how it goes."

On what the 3-cone drill brings to the table in terms of evaluating players:

"I think it gives you some evaluation of a combination of his lateral movement and vertical movement. We can see the vertical movements in the 10s, the 40s – 10-20-40, that’s all one drill. The shuttle drill, for the skill players, which is a 60-yard test but it’s all vertical. The 20-yard 5-10-5 change-of-direction drill is really a lateral drill. The L drill or 3-cone drill combines a vertical and lateral element with it. Once again, I think you always want to keep in mind in those drills, whichever ones of those you’re talking about, ideal conditions, ideal start, nobody lining up across from you, nobody hitting you when you try to release and run ‘em. Nobody hitting you at the finish line. Nothing to think about — no play, no snap count, no defense, no offensive adjustment, no anything. It’s just a straight timed measurement, which is fine, because otherwise when you put all those other variables in it, it would be really hard to manage it. It is what it is. It is a time measurement that isn’t really a football-specific drill because of all the variables in football that are not a part of it."

Jace Amaro also gave the media a few words, saying New England would be an “ideal” place for him to land. The terrific Nick Underhill over at masslive.com has the full story here.