Tom Heckert Interview

[PhillyPhreak54]

From PE.com:

On being named the team's general manager: "It really doesn't change. It was a great gesture on the Eagles part. I'm happy to be here. (This is) something I wanted to do, which was stay here and see this thing through."

On being constantly named around the league as the favorite for other general manager positions: "I knew things were going on. I thought that was going to happen even last year when I decided to stay as well. It puts it finally to rest that I'm going to be here for a while."

On whether he listens to the praise and criticism from others in the field: "I am aware of it. I try not to listen to too much of what goes on. People tell me and that's fine. That's part of the job. Especially in a city like this where the fans love the Eagles and they want us to do well. You have to take the good with the bad."
 
On why does the relationship with the Eagles work so well: "It's a great organization and I think we're going to win. I think a lot of people have the opportunity to go somewhere for the money or whatever, but if you're not winning, things are tough to deal with on a day-to-day basis and that's why I decided to stay here. That's the biggest reason I decided to stay here, I know we are going to be successful."

On the process for determining which players to pursue: "With our pro scouts, our college scouts and all of the information we have in our computer system, I'll come up with a guy and I'll watch him myself and if I think that guy is better than somebody we have on our team, then I'll go to Andy (Reid) and say we should take a look at this guy...if he wants to watch the tape, we'll watch the tape and we'll make that decision.

"It's usually pretty cut and dry. If I want to bring someone in, he'll take a look at him and either agree or disagree and we'll move on."

On how he spends his time during the off-season: "We've pretty much got the free agency stuff done now. We've put a game plan together on what we're going to do. Right now, I'm going back to more of the college end of it. There are guys we hear that might not get signed back to a team, so I'm still updating the reports but I've pretty much looked at all of the free agents."

On whether there is a network of info shared throughout the league on other players: "There's a little of that, but we've become fans to the other 31 teams.

"We'll read an article in the paper where a player says, 'It doesn't look like I'll be back,' so until the actual day when we can start talking to players and agents we just have to assume what teams are going to do. When you talk about what we are going to do in free agency, we don't know because we don't know who is going to be out there. They still have a month to get guys signed and the same with us. We can sign our free agents. It's kind of an unknown.

"We have different scenarios. If this guy is available, we're going to go after him. If not, we go to Plan B."

On what impact does the pending labor situation and salary cap has on his job: "It's obviously important, but we're in a situation where it's not going to be much of a problem as much as it is for other teams.

"That's the situation we like to be in, where we're not forced to do something. We've said all along that we don't want to be forced to have to cut a player or not sign a player back if we want him or not be able to go after a good player.

"It's a situation where Joe (Banner) and Howie (Roseman) do a great job with the salary cap. This is the reason why we do it, so we can do whatever we want to do. There are obviously consequences for everything you do, either down the road or right now. We're in a position we can do whatever we want."

On the amount of research that goes into looking at a player: "We'll watch every tape on him, every tape that we have. If he's a junior, it's going to be a little different. You can never watch enough tape, the tape tells the story. As they say, the tape doesn't lie.

"I think an aspect the fans don't really realize is that you have to know the player. Things change. Once you talk about the money they are getting and the people surrounding them, everything about their character comes into play. It's magnified at this level. You have to be really special when you talk about the money and the pick you are going to spend on these guys."

On the current roster: "We've had some time to sit back and look at the big picture. It was an extremely disappointing season for everyone, but I do think we have a very good football team. You can say whatever you want, but last year is last year. We just have to get the guys back healthy that we're counting on and we have to improve some positions on our football team."

On Mike Patterson: "For us, we didn't learn a lot. We thought he would be a good football player and he turned out to be a good football player. I think Mike's going to help us, hopefully for the next 10 years.

"He's going to be a very good defensive tackle for us. He played a lot more than he probably thought, especially at the end when we got a little nicked up. He did a good job for us and that's what we expected."

On Reggie Brown: "I think Reggie's going to be a No. 1 in this league. That's one guy we knew was going to be a good player, but we just didn't know it was going to be this quick. If things didn't turn out the way they did, he might not have played nearly as much.
 
"To Reggie's credit and this is why we liked him, his work ethic, maturity, effort - we knew he was going to be successful and for any young guy to come in and play and play the way he did is a credit to him."

On what does Trent Cole have to do to take it to the next level: "I think we do have to give him some help. We had so many injuries throughout the year with N.D. (Kalu) being nicked up, he just had to play too much. He played well, but playing 70 snaps a game you just start wearing down. We have to give him some more help and hopefully with Jerome coming back, we do get that."

On what was it that made the Eagles trade up for Todd Herremans: "We really made a concentrated effort to get bigger and tougher and we wanted smart, intelligent football players. He's 6-6, 340 pounds, he's got an unbelievable Wunderlic score. We did make a concentrated effort to get those guys."

On what is Herremans' role in 2006: "I think he is somewhere on the line, I'm just not sure exactly where. I think we're going to move him around this year to find out where that is."

On Matt McCoy: "I think so. Matt was another guy that we drafted to get more physical and a little more speed. Matt is a tough, son-of-a-gun. I think he was behind two guys who were here for a long time and played well for us. He didn't get an opportunity much this year, but I think he will next year and I think we will be happy to see what we get out of him."

On Jamaal Jackson: "Hopefully, a lot of good things. We went into last season thinking he had a chance to play either center or guard for us. Unfortunately, he got hurt in training camp early and we didn't get to see much of him. He finally did come back and we needed him to step in he did a heck of a job. Experience is only going to help him. He's a big center, so we'll see what happens."

On Jerome McDougle: "He's been around and he looks and he feels good. The two unfortunate things were when he got shot and when he had the infection after the surgery. He's supposedly healthy and we'll see. He hasn't been here for a year and he hasn't been healthy his whole career. We still think he's a super-talented player. He should come in and help us."

On whether Donovan McNabb was ever healthy in 2005: "To be honest with you, no, he really wasn't. Donovan will be the first to tell you he was hurt at the beginning of the season. He was hurt, but he wasn't injured. He played through it. Donovan is one of the toughest guys we have on this football team. He played through it for the good of the team. It got to the point where he was injured."

On whether McNabb will be an elite quarterback again in '06: "I don't think there is any question. He has a great mindset. He's in great shape. It's the first time in a year that he feels really healthy. I think that's a good start and we expect good things out of him."

[PhillyPhreak54]

On whether if he could go back in time, would he acquire T.O. again: "From what I know now, no, I wouldn't do it. If we came across a similar situation where we talked to the player and got his word we were going to do things a certain way, I mean you can't have a negative outlook on everyone.

On where will T.O. end up: "He's going to end up somewhere. No one has ever questioned that he is a great, great football player. I think some teams are willing to overlook some things. It might work out somewhere else for him. It didn't work out here for whatever reason and if it works out for T.O., I'm happy for him."
 
On Todd Pinkston's status: "We hope he comes back and is big-time contributor for us. He's here everyday working out. He looks good, he feels good. He's excited about the season. Getting hurt early in the season, I think it's tough on those guys too. To witness what goes on during the season and they are not a part of it, they are on the outside looking in. I think he's excited to get back on the field."

On unrestricted free agent Jon Runyan: "Really there's nothing new. We just started meeting about that (two weeks ago) about all of that stuff. Coach Reid is going to come back and make that decision, but really there are no talks either way."

On restricted free agent Rod Hood: "I think the comparison (to Al Harris' contract situation) is very good. I consider Rod as a third starter. Rod did a great job for us when he had to step in for Lito last year. We'll see what happens. He is a restricted free agent. He will not be traded, I don't think. We want to keep him around here for as long as we can. We'll have him for this year at least, hopefully, and we'll see what happens down the road."

On which positions he wants to improve: "We'd like to improve all of the positions. We'll see what we can do."

On Thomas Tapeh: "We think he's going to compete for the starting job at fullback. He's a guy who had a bad, bad injury. He's really healthy, he can run. He looks great and he feels great. It was about a year-long injury and it's been over that. He's got a chance to be a good football player for us...He's a big guy who has carried the football a lot. That's an interesting situation for us."

On if the season ending early has been any sort of benefit: "It's less of a factor for myself and the scouts, but for the coaches it's a big help. They haven't been to the Senior Bowl since I've been here to see all of those players. Coach Reid can start looking at free agency now, before they're watching them with two weeks to go. It's helped the coaches out a lot."

[PhillyPhreak54]

A few interesting things in there...

1. They are still high on Tapeh, which will make GF happy in his pants. And I'm glad that they are going to give him a long look too. Anybody but that bum Josh Parry makes me happy. He sucks.

2. They love Reggie Brown. I think he could be a Chad Johnson type guy for the Birds.

3. They love Mike Patterson. He hit the rookie wall last year which is to me a little expected. But now that he has his rookie year behind him I think he'll only continue to get better.

4. Todd Herremans could very well be the LG as we talked about in another thread. It sounds as if they want him starting and I dig that. LIke I said earlier...

Thomas
Herremans
Jackson
Andrews
Runyan

I like that a lot. Then Hicks can be what he is...the 6th man off the bench. Mostly the backup tackle though with Clarke being the 7th guy and the backup guard.

[DH]

I actually wasnt thrilled when Heckert was asked about a big back, and he eluded to Tapeh. Why not give a big RB a look? Can the guy really recover from a broken hip?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Meh to that interview.  Is it draft weekend yet?

[Feva]

On what does Trent Cole have to do to take it to the next level: "I think we do have to give him some help. We had so many injuries throughout the year with N.D. (Kalu) being nicked up, he just had to play too much. He played well, but playing 70 snaps a game you just start wearing down. We have to give him some more help and hopefully with Jerome coming back, we do get that."

On Jerome McDougle: "He's been around and he looks and he feels good. The two unfortunate things were when he got shot and when he had the infection after the surgery. He's supposedly healthy and we'll see. He hasn't been here for a year and he hasn't been healthy his whole career. We still think he's a super-talented player. He should come in and help us."

I just don't want to see them relying on Cole/McDougle at RDE.  To me, we HAVE to have another consistent pass rusher over there.  Not only for a better rush from that side, but for Kearse as well.   We all saw last year that Kearse's best stretch of the year came during Cole's hot streak.  Kearse just can't consistently get it done against double teams anymore.  O-lines need to worry about the right side (or middle from a DT) as well.  If he has that, Kearse is all the more effective.  Bring in a FA (Brock, Howard, Kampman)... Cole and McDougle are situational/rotation guys...

[rjs246]

If Tapeh is healthy and actually knows how to block/run/catch/do-anything-other-than-ruin-Sean-Springs'-life I would be psyched to have him back on the team.

[ice grillin you]

these eagle front office interviews are crap and i dont read them...including this one...but i will say about tapeh...he was a long shot to ever contribute much before his injury...anything they get out of him at this point has to be considered a major surprise

[Feva]

If Tapeh is healthy and actually knows how to block/run/catch/do-anything-other-than-ruin-Sean-Springs'-life I would be psyched to have him back on the team.

Josh Parry

[mussa]

who's thomas tapeh?

[PhillyPhanInDC]

who's thomas tapeh?

That should jog your memory.