NFL Draft 2015: Bill Belichick Discusses The Day Three Picks

Sep 27, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks receiver A.J. Derby (11) scores a third quarter touchdown against the Texas A&M Aggies at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Q: A.J. Derby mentioned his dad was in camp with you.

BB: That shows you how old I am. That’s a sad commentary. Yeah, we talked about that when he came in.

Q: Do you remember his dad?

BB: You know, he wasn’t there a long time.

Q: At Florida State, it was a lot of Tre’ Jackson at right guard. Was there anything with him playing the left side and is that a different transition? I know you’ve talked in the past about right tackle-left tackle; some guys can do it and some guys can’t. Matt Light was a guy that was more comfortable at left. Have you seen Tre’ play left guard and is that a different transition?

BB: Not much. If I have, it hasn’t been much. I think even in the Senior Bowl he played right guard. Yeah, I think I’m [remembering] him at right guard. It’s got to be in the high 90 percent at right guard. That’s always an interesting question. Some players – we’ve talked about this before –some players, right side, left side, it doesn’t even matter. The next guy – right side, left side, and he feels his footwork is backwards or the odd-even numbering or the wording, whatever it is, and they are a lot better at one spot than trying to flip back and forth. I’ve coached hundreds of players and some guys it’s seamless and other guys it’s monumental and there’s some in between, so we’ll just have to see. But he’s played that one spot for a long time, so I think until he actually did it, I don’t even know if he could answer that question. But there’s certainly a different stance, different footwork – you’re just seeing the game a little bit differently. But that’s tackles, guards – you know, I think tackle is a little bit different because of the type of player that plays on the offensive left compared to the offensive right. Not that you don’t eventually see them all, but there’s kind of a difference there. But inside it’s more consistent, but again, the footwork is different. Yeah, we’ll have to see. Same thing with Mason too, though – they both played right guard. He played right guard at Georgia Tech.

Q: He was just right guard?

BB: Yeah. Well, at least the last couple years. Maybe back in ’11 or whatever, but I mean he’s basically played that side too.

Q: How difficult is it for a guy like Shaq who comes from a system that’s not exactly a pro-style in college? Is it tough to project how he will be able to perform?

BB: I think every player is going to have a big adjustment. The thing I’ll say about Shaq is just watching him at the Senior Bowl, I mean it was only one week, but he made a huge improvement just in those, whatever it was four or five practices, whatever it was down there. His stance is different. You could see each day progressively how he was taking to the coaching down there and his footwork and his hand placement and his body position. I know it was basic. It wasn’t like it was a big scheme thing at the Senior Bowl, but just doing things on a daily basis better than the day before, looking more comfortable doing them. And it was different than what they did at Georgia Tech. Just relative to Tre’, I would say it probably wasn’t as big of an adjustment for him. With Shaq it was. But I thought in a few days he showed tremendous technique progress in that. But I mean look, Steve Neal, talk about adjustment. The guy went from not even knowing where the field was to starting at guard in a year and a half. It’s not that kind of adjustment. And this guy is a football player and from a run blocking standpoint, I’d say he’s probably ahead of every other player in the draft. Unless there was another one from Georgia Southern or Georgia Tech or whatever, but this guy ran blocked in one game more than some teams did all season. So I’d say he’s ahead in the run blocking, behind in the pass blocking. There may be other players that are in a two-point stance pass-block 50 times a game that in all honestly don’t run block very well. He’s kind of the flip of that which is a little bit unusual but it is what it is.

Q: What’s the next biggest challenge for all of these players?

BB: The biggest challenge for all these players is to get on our program. For the last six months, they’ve been a man without a country. They have no team, they have their own individual, whatever it is, situation, and they’re trying to figure out, ‘How do I best get ready for the NFL?’ And that is all 32 teams or however many it is showing interest in them and trying to figure out, ‘How do I prepare for that?’ Each guy has been an independent contractor; they’ve been on their own whatever it is: their own trainer, their own training system, their agent, whatever they’ve been doing. And right now, that’s all changed and they can forget about all that and they need to become New England Patriots. That’s what we’re going to start getting to work on. They’ve got to get out of that mentality of ‘I’ll get up when I feel like it. I’ll go to work when I feel like it. I’ll eat where [I feel like it]. All that. I’ll train the way I want to train.’ They’re done with that. That will be a huge adjustment for them. I don’t care where they came from, I don’t care what position they play. None of that makes any difference. They haven’t been doing it and they’re going to start doing it and they’re going to start doing a lot of it. They’re going to be doing it for day after day after day for a long time going forward – if they can, if they’re successful. That will be a big adjustment for them. It will be a big adjustment for every rookie because none of them have been doing that. Welcome to the NFL. That will start Thursday. They’ll get a big dose of New England Patriots football over the next whatever we’ve got, six weeks – however long it is. We’ll give them everything we can in heavy doses, try to get them ready for training camp and they’ll get even more then. The strong will survive. The other ones will fall off. And we’ll keep going.

Q: The train doesn’t stop.

BB: Sure doesn’t. Sure doesn’t. We’ve got 31 other teams competing just as hard as we are to do the same things. Yeah, we’re going to have to outwork people, out-hustle them and just do a better job. That’s what our business is. Beats working though.

Q: You going to watch this fight tonight?

BB: No, probably not. Let me know how it comes out.