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Ravens draft press conference 4/15/00 (3rd Round)
Ozzie: Phil has tracked this guy for six months...well twelve months. When we got into the 3rd round we thought about trading back to get some additional picks in the 4th and 5th rounds and even some picks next year. But we felt if Chris Redman made it to us at that pick, then we would take him. Brian, Phil and myself feel that he fits what Brian wants to do. He is a strong-arm quarterback, who is very tough and very accurate. We are very happy to have him.
Brian: You haven't heard this all day, 'we really didn't think he would fall this far.' I know that is a new line. The thing that intrigues me the most, which I talked about at the draft luncheon, is that he is a coach's son who has talked about football every night at dinner for his entire life. You can see in his play that he has a sixth sense. The high regard that he is held, particular by coaches, both collegiate, NFL and those who know him, is also impressive. We are looking forward to working with this young man and are glad to have had the opportunity to get him in the third round. He will assimilate quickly to what we are trying to do.
Phil: I'll just tell a story. Last may, Chris Redman was the first player that I watched out of the whole 2000 draft. Friday night after our party at coach's (Billick) house I came back and the last player I watched (on film) for a half was Chris Redman. I've seen him play several times. I watched him practice. I had a whole week to watch him at the senior bowl. To be quite honest, if someone told me we were going to get him in the third round, I would have never believed it. I think myself, and also speaking for the scouts, we are very excited about having him here. There is not a lot of interest in third round picks, but we will see how it plays out. I think that if someone told me yesterday that following Easter weekend, at mini-camp, we would have Chris Redman handing the ball off the to Jamal or faking to Jamal and throwing to Travis Taylor, I'd have said you guys could run the draft without me. We are in pretty good shape and it's been a pretty exciting day for all of us up there.
Does it scare you a little bit, that maybe you missed something........?
Phil: We grade the films and the players for what we think they are. We will find out what he can do when he gets here. There is no sophisticated reason why Chris Redman fell in this draft. He ran a poor 40 (yard dash) time at the combine. But, I've never seen a quarterback go under center in a three-point stance. We'll see what he can do once he gets under center and does his drop. He has been in every quarterback camp that you can go to. He, and he came out with Tim Couch, quite frankly, coming out of high school was the national high school player of the year. We are very excited to have him as a Raven.
What type of offense did he play in college?
Phil: He played in two systems. Ron Cooper was the head coach at Louisville before and they played in a two back, traditional type offense. Then John L. Smith brought a system in that is similar to Dennis Erickson, Washington State, and Idaho which is a one back, three receiver set with a lot of shotgun. They threw the ball quite a bit. He threw more passes than anyone did in the history of college football during his career at Louisville. I believe his statistics, in every category, would put him in the top ten of all the quarterbacks that have ever played.
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