Executive Vice President, Football Operations and General Manager, Andrew Berry and Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (4.26.25)
Opening Statement
Andrew Berry: “So before we get started talking about the draft, I actually wanted to take a little bit of time to really recognize the Terpening family and just really offer our organization’s condolences to, Matt (Terpening), Stella (Terpening), and Gwen (Terpening) for the passing of Coral (Terpening). Matt, I’ve known since 2009, he took me under his wing. He was a west coast scout for the Colts and took me under his wing when I was a scouting assistant. So, I love that family, love Matt, love those girls. We’re obviously really heartbroken for Coral’s passing about a week and a half ago. So I wanted to start off just by acknowledging that and just letting Matt know that our thoughts and prayers are really with you, man. So day three, obviously, made two selections today. Starting with Dylan (Sampson), someone we knew well from the University of Tennessee. Twenty-year old running back. I think he really compliments our room nicely. Runs a really tough and physical style despite being a little bit undersized. He’s a player who has A+ makeup and a player that we think has untapped potential in the passing game. And then, Shedeur (Sanders), we talk oftentimes about quarterback being the most important position in the sport. We obviously spend a lot of time with Shedeur throughout the process. He’s highly accurate, can play well from the pocket, very productive college career. We felt like it wasn’t necessarily the plan going into the weekend to select two quarterbacks, but as we talk about, we do believe in best player available, we do believe in positional value, and we didn’t necessarily expect him to be available in the fifth round. We love adding competition to every position room and adding him to compete with the guys that are already in there. We felt like that was the appropriate thing to do. So with that, I’ll open it up for questions.”
I mean this seems like sort of a blockbuster move for you guys to make at this point and then also when we saw your guys reaction in the war room, it just didn’t look necessarily exuberant. So I don’t know what we’re seeing but maybe you can explain that? And then also like how did this happen?
Berry: “Yeah, I think we’re probably just tired from the weekend.”
Kevin Stefanski: “Those clips… it’s not timed up to exactly the right time.”
Berry: “When we’re actually making the pick.”
Stefanski: “Don’t read too much into that.”
Can you just explain? This is a pretty big deal. After everything that happened with Shedeur (Sanders), this epic free fall that he had, how did this happen and what was the thinking behind it?
Berry: “I just say the biggest thing for us, you know, we live by our board. We felt like he was a good, solid prospect at the most important position. We felt like it got to a point where he was probably mispriced relative to the draft. Really, the acquisition cost was pretty light, and it’s a guy that we think can outproduce his draft slot. So, I wouldn’t say it’s any more than that. You know, Mary Kay (Cabot), I think obviously Shedeur has kind of grown up in the spotlight, but our expectation is for him to come in here and work and compete. Nothing’s been promised. Nothing will be given. So, I may hesitate to characterize it as a blockbuster. That’s not necessarily how we thought of the transaction, but we are excited to work with him.”
I heard what you just said about Shedeur, but isn’t a circus going to come along with this pick? Even if it’s not intentional, it seems everything follows him.
Stefanski: “You know, our guys understand Jeff (Schudel), when you’re in the building, we’re here to work. We don’t pay much attention to what’s on the outside. We know we’ve spent a lot of time with Shedeur. We know what he’s about. He’s coming in here to work just like all of our other players.”
What are the biggest, maybe misconceptions about Shedeur’s game in terms of the way he plays, the quarterback, position, traits, that sort of thing?
Berry: “I can’t, Chris (Easterling) – I can’t really speak on what other people think. I can describe how we view him. We view him as a highly accurate pocket passer. He does a really good job of protecting the ball. He has enough of the physical characteristics, whether it’s arm strength or mobility. Like all young players, there are things to improve. I think probably much has been said about the number of sacks he’s taken. Some of that is environment and some of that is improvement on his end, for sure. But he has probably a little bit more of a, call it retro or classic style of play. Again, I can’t speak to how others view him.”
Without divulging maybe too much of the conversations. When you did call him to tell him that you were picking him, just what was the message to him and what was maybe his message to you guys? Because I’m sure, again, it was a disappointing slide from somebody who expected to get picked early in the first round.
Berry: “I think our message to him, it’s really all this: It’s like, look, [you] got to come in and work, and you got to come in and compete. That’s the message. Nothing’s given. Given the nature of the weekend for him relative to, let’s say, external expectation versus what happened. We did tell him that it really doesn’t matter where you’re picked, it’s what you do from that point forward because that’s the reality for all the guys that we selected this weekend. In terms of his reaction, I just say it was probably a mixture of like, gratitude, relief, and determination. That would probably be the best way to characterize it. But he’s certainly ready to go.”
Andrew, because you guys were a big player in the quarterback market, so to speak, and you did take one in the third round. Why do you think he fell to the fifth round?
Berry: “I can’t speak to why the market priced him the way it did – we had our own internal valuation in terms of how we viewed the skill set, you know, and the quality of the player. And once it got to a point where it felt like it was at a pretty steep discount, we just felt like, hey, especially relative to the alternative ways that we could use the selection, this made the most sense.”
And obviously he has an all time great football player as a father and coach, so you could see the pros of that. You know, also he’s got, you know, Deion’s (Sanders) got a larger than life personality, a huge platform and a lot of influence. So how do you view those, you know, kind of, you know, dynamics, father, son, and do you think that had anything to do with him being available in the fifth round?
Berry: “Our personal relationship and interactions with Deion (Sanders), that’s really been all positive from our perspective. And I mean that organizationally, not just me and Kevin, but really all of us who have interacted with Deion and the people out in Colorado. We don’t typically penalize prospects for, you know, their parents, you know, so to speak, so I can’t say if that was a factor or not for other teams, but that was not a significant factor for us.”
You said it became where you could get your dirt, a steep discount. So, did the decision to trade for him and make that pick come together pretty quick?
Berry: “It did.”
At some point you go, okay, now is the time to make a move?
Berry: “Yeah, I’ll be honest. We typically go into day three with a number of names, because that’s usually where the boards across the league, they kind of disperse. You know, we did get an early run on some of the players that were targeting. And, you know, as we thought, like the distance that our last two picks were apart and the way, you know, we could just kind of maximize those resources between the position and how we graded the prospect, we felt like this was it. It’s maybe a little bit like what I talked about at the top of the draft, that when people think of a singular pick, it’s oftentimes, ‘okay, well, like, who are you going to select?’ But there are just so many different ways that you can use that resource to improve your team. And so we just try and think of it broadly.”
Kevin, you evaluated Dillon (Gabriel) and Shedeur (Sanders), are there similarities and their strengths that you saw in both those guys?
Stefanski: “Yeah, I’d say for sure. I think, you know, what do we talk about all pre-draft? Accuracy, decision making. So, I think that’s the strength of both of those young men.”
Andrew, do you find anything odd with the fact that you traded away Travis Hunter and traded for Shedeur Sanders?
Berry: “I guess I never really thought of it that way, Tony (Grossi), until you mentioned it. So, I’ll be honest, I had not really given any thought.”
We saw Jimmy (Haslam) right behind you guys. Were you encouraged by the owner to make this move?
Berry: “Jimmy lets us do our jobs. Yeah, Jimmy lets us do our jobs.”
I got to go back to the Dillon Gabriel pick here. When you say that you didn’t expect to take two quarterbacks in this draft, what was it about? We get the chador thing, but what was it about him and then ultimately Shedeur here that compelled you to alter your plan in what feels like a pretty dramatic way here?
Berry: “I guess we wouldn’t necessarily characterize it as dramatic, Daryl (Ruiter). I think just like I could probably say the plan wasn’t necessary to take two running backs. Like, you envision how the draft could possibly play out, and then you just really adjust to what’s on the board. And like I said, like we don’t really go into the draft saying okay, like, ‘hey, here are our needs and we’re just going to pick players at need positions.’ If you do that’s typically how you make mistakes. So, there is a little bit of a flow to the weekend because the board does take different twists and turns as you go. Some expected, some unexpected and ultimately we try and do everything in our power to maximize the impact of the picks we have in aggregate. And part of the reason you have to do that is being flexible.”
And then for Kevin, the rep chart in training camp I think just got divided again. So now it’s four. How much are you looking forward to navigating, trying to get four guys not only a fair shake at it, but also at the same time you’re going to be trying to get ready for a football season?
Stefanski: “Yeah, we’ve talked about it. I mean there’s ways to do both I think, Daryl (Ruiter). Obviously you may not divide them 25, 25, 25, but we feel really confident that we’ll have a plan that is fair to each player and fair to the team as well.”
Hey guys, just to make it clear, I know we’ve asked you this basically some version of it with every new quarterback that’s come into this room, but Andrew, I know you said nothing’s going to be given to him, but will he have a chance to compete for the starting job here?
Berry: “We expect every player to compete. Simple as that.”
And then just the narrative with him, like the outside narrative. Seeing how people were talking about him throughout the draft process, people kept pointing out the interviews with him. What was your guys’ experience like with that?
Berry: “Yeah, it was positive actually. The interviews, they’re a small piece of it. We certainly do rely a lot more heavily on our reference work for people who have been with the prospect for two, three, four years at the schools. That’s better — I think James Gladstone commented on this a little bit in his pre-draft presser. Like the idea that in a singular interview session you can discern something that someone else would know from interacting with an individual for four years. We also do subscribe to that notion. Now quarterbacks are a little bit different as you push and prod on the mental aspect and that’s something that we really lean on our coaching staff to ascertain throughout the spring. But his interactions with us were positive.”
From Eugene to Boulder and back or even back here, did you ever entertain this scenario that these would be the two?
Berry: “I mean, honestly, Zac (Jackson), probably kept a pretty open mind. Like, I didn’t know exactly how it would go at that point. At that point, we were just really working through to make sure that we could get to know the players and the people as well as possible.”
Both of you guys have talked about the importance of the cultural fit of these guys. So, for Shedeur, how do you envision that going? What enticed you to come back and get him in terms that fit him as a person?
Berry: “I think Shedeur, you know, he is probably a little bit opposite in terms of his personality of his dad. You know, obviously a little bit quieter, a little bit more introverted. But, you know, we felt good with him as a person. He works hard. He’s a really good kid. He wants to be great. His teammates loved him in Colorado, and I know he’ll come in here ready to work, ready to try and put his best foot forward in all areas of competition.”
I know you guys are crazy busy in the war room, and you don’t have time to pay attention to a lot of the things that are going on, but were you aware that Shedeur received a really nasty prank call during the draft? I know you guys got to know him really well. You developed an affinity for him. Can you just address your reaction to that?
Stefanski: “I mean, it’s sad that these young men have to deal with this. That happened a lot in the green room in Green Bay, guys were getting calls. So it’s silly, but onward and upward.”
And knowing Shedeur, as well as you got to know him, do you feel like, you know, he’ll kind of be able to overcome or bounce back the adversity of what happened this draft weekend and kind of get his head back on and march forward?
Stefanski: “I think all of our guys – I think every player, when they come into the draft, knows what number they were picked or if they were unpicked, and you can use that as motivation. We don’t care once they walk in the doors. Don’t care – first round pick, seventh round pick, undrafted. Once you’re here and you’re on our football team, you’re a part of this culture, you’re a part of this family, and we’re just going to keep our head down and get to work.”
You said you didn’t necessarily expect him to be where he was, so did you come into the building today thinking if he’s available in round five, we’re going to make a move for him? Was it in real time? How did all that go down?
Berry: “You know, going into day three of the draft with him still on the board, it was a thought like, okay, well, depending on how far he goes, that’d be something that we would be interested in, potentially taking him off the board. So, you know, once, and in fairness, like, some of that is relative to what else is available to you from a prospect standpoint. And so, as the names kept coming off the board and we saw how we were positioned, you know, we just felt like the value was there.”
With Kenny Pickett, do you have to decide in May whether to pick up that fifth year option or how does that work?
Berry: “So that would have been last year with Philly (Philadelphia Eagles). You have to make that decision after year three, since he’s already in year four. That’s not a decision that we make.”
You take two running backs, Quinshon (Judkins) and Dylan (Sampson). Is it fair to assume, or would it be fair to assume that what that means to Nick’s potential future with the franchise as a potential resigning?
Berry: “I’d say not necessarily, but the complexion of our running back room has changed this weekend. And so, as we work through the undrafted free agency process, maybe take a breath on Sunday, we’ll reassess kind of where the roster is and what opportunities are available to us on the veteran market, and then we’ll operate from there.”
Andrew, I think there was at least some thought that you guys might target or try to find a wide receiver in this weekend during the draft? Would you sort of say at this point that’s an area you feel is still a work in progress in terms of maybe you’re going to address it in the weeks ahead?
Berry: “Whole roster is a work in progress, so any opportunity that we can use to improve it, we’ll look into.”
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