Rockne's Roundtable

Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt:

On what it was that tilted the scale on the player they were going with:

(KW): “Well I think one of the things that was apparent this year, not just necessarily for our team but in the league, is how important field position has become with the new kickoff and the touchbacks and your starting field position. When you really look at it, you have a player that can change field position really quickly and when you couple that with the guys that we already have, Larry [Fitzgerald], Andre [Roberts] and Early [Doucet], we feel like it gives us a really good receiving core. There has been a lot of talk about us needing a number two and we have said all along that we felt like we have had some good young players and we have added another player to that mix who is physical, fast, big, can make some of those back shoulder catches and red zone plays. When you talk about needing a big play to change field position early, I think that puts pressure on a defense. In talking to our defense one of the things in this complete discussion about the positions that we are looking at, one of the things our defense said is that when you have a player like that it can create matchup problems and that’s really what you look for. We feel very good about the pick. We feel very good about the young man and we feel like we have a culture with our wide receivers about doing it the right way and being physical and making plays and certainly he can come in and adapt to that.”

On how much this is going to help WRs Larry Fitzgerald and Early Doucet:

(KW): “I think what we are going to be able to do with our tight ends and our receivers is going to be something that our coaches are excited about experimenting with this spring. It gives us another target, which we think will help take pressure off the quarterback. Obviously, we are excited about potentially taking more pressure off of Larry, which a lot of the defenses are scheming to try to do that. We felt good about our receivers as far as being able to make progress this spring and now we have added another weapon and a weapon that is very big, very fast, and very physical and I think that was important.”

On the decision making at that point and if there were teams wanting to move up:

(RG): “We did have calls throughout the morning in terms of moving up and when we were on the clock we received calls with offers to move back, but Michael Floyd was the highest rated player on that board at that time. We just didn’t feel like the offers that were made to us were of equivalent value or better. That certainly encouraged us to move forward with our feelings about the player.”

On how important it is to get another wide receiver with that size:

(KW): “Well there is no question that was one of the things that was attractive to us. As you see highlights of this young man over the next couple of days, or even today, you can see some of those catches in the red zone, down the sideline. Those are the type of catches that you have to make in the NFL. How many catches have we seen Larry make like that over the years that were big catches? If you have another player that can make some catches like that, not taking anything away from Andre [Roberts] or Early [Doucet], I want to be clear about that, but it certainly adds to your team. Like I said, this is a big kid who is fast and who is physical and those are qualities that we value as an offense, especially when we are talking about some of our sub packages. If we get Ryan Williams back healthy and Beanie [Wells] and LaRod [Stevens-Howling], those guys have to block, because you do have to run the ball a little bit once in a while in this game. That is important.”

On if it’s a lot of waiting now or are they going to try and move up:

(RG): “We are not going to sit idle. If there is an opportunity there we will certainly consider it. As it stands right now, we don’t have a second round pick so there is not a lot we can do but wait. But we will see what happens here between today and tomorrow.”

On if WR Michael Floyd was just too good to pass up even with their need at offensive line:

(RG): “He was too good to pass up. I think that’s just a simple way of putting it. As Coach indicated, he gives us the opportunity to do a lot of things offensively. When you have that kind of opportunity for a player like that, you’re better off taking him.”

On when WR Michael Floyd become the number one player on their board:

(RG): “We’ve talked historically about our 120 board. We line those guys up, and as it began to fall, he was the guy. So there wasn’t a lot of discussion about it. We’d had a lot of in-depth discussion in this building about that 120 board and coming to the process of how we ranked them. It was really a fairly smooth process. I think the only thing that we were weighing as we got closer to that pick was whether or not we were going to accept any trades, or a trade, to move out of that spot. As it turned out, we just didn’t feel like there was value there beyond taking the selection.”

On the importance of not only getting WR Michael Floyd but keeping him from being selected by the St. Louis Rams with the next pick:

(RG): “I have no idea what their plans were. We’re just happy with our selection. We’ll look forward to our next one.”