DENVER BRONCOS
2008 NFL DRAFT QUOTES
BOISE STATE T RYAN CLADY PRESS CONFERENCE (ENGLEWOOD, COLO.)
(Rd. 1 – 12th overall)
SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2008
On his last 24 hours since being drafted by Denver
“I would probably say hectic. You know, not a lot of sleep. A lot of phone calls—my phone has been blowing up [with]
‘Congratulations’ and stuff like that. It’s been fun, though, especially my family with the party we had. It’s a good time.”
On the conversation he had with Denver when he was drafted
“It was exciting. It was fast—right when they got on the clock the call came. I really couldn’t talk at first. [There] was a lot of
screaming, so I had to wait a while before I could communicate back and forth.”
On his athleticism
“I can dunk. I like playing basketball, it’s fun. It’s something I’ve done a lot growing up.”
On his ideal playing weight
“I would say [I’m comfortable] around 320 [pounds]—in that range—maybe 318 [pounds]. I’m around there right now.”
On whether he had talked to QB Jay Cutler
“He texted me yesterday. He just said he was excited to have me back there [protecting his blind side], and I said I was,
too.”
On declaring for the draft after his junior season
“I feel good about my decision, and I had a great career up at Boise State. I felt that I pretty much accomplished everything
that I wanted to accomplish. I just thought it was time to take my talents to the next level.”
On why he wasn’t highly recruited out of high school
“I’m not sure exactly why I wasn’t [highly] recruited. I did play defensive line in high school, but most schools recruited me as
an offensive lineman. ‘Hawk’ [University of Colorado Head Coach and former Boise State Head Coach Dan Hawkins] just
recruited me—just took a chance on me because I never really played the position [and he] didn’t know if it would work out
or not. I went on my recruiting trip up there [to Boise State] and I just loved all of the coaches and the players, and it just felt
like a brotherhood up there. I felt the most comfortable there so I went with that decision.”
On whether he had talked to Dan Hawkins
“No, I haven’t heard from him, but I’ll probably give him a visit when I get back in town sometime.”
On continuing to wear blue and orange
“It looks like I’m going to be orange and blue for a while now. [I’ll] continue to be a Bronco.”
On how he developed confidence
“Just working on my game and [by] how hard I work. You develop some comfort and confidence playing the position I play.
You have to be confident.”
DENVER BRONCOS
2008 NFL DRAFT QUOTES
On whether he has room to grow
“Definitely, I’ve been growing. I’m just excited for the new techniques to learn and the new scheme—I’m definitely excited
for that.”
On why he quit playing football for a period during his youth
“I don’t really know. I just had to make weight every week, so it [was] kind of a challenge for me. I didn’t really want to have
to do that year-in and year-out. I had to be under 130 [pounds]…When I signed up I think I was around 140 [pounds], 145.”
BOISE STATE T RYAN CLADY CONFERENCE CALL
(Rd. 1 – 12th overall)
SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2008
On whether he expected the Broncos to select him
“Yeah, I knew the Broncos were interested in picking me up. I thought there was a good chance, and I wasn’t all that
surprised when they called.”
On his expectations as a rookie
“Right away, I just want to learn the system. I want to play well and I want to be a starter. Everyone wants to be a ProBowler and to win a couple Super Bowls.”
On being taken by the Broncos in the first round of the draft
“I came in and I visited. Being drafted in the first round is a terrific thing, and I should be able to make an immediate impact
right away.”
On the Broncos’ blocking system being similar to what he played in at Boise State
“I think it will help me a lot. It is the same type of system and I have been in the system for four years, and I have gotten to
know it well. I am on the fast track for learning and getting on the field a little faster because I know the system.”
On rookie tackles going through the “school of hard knocks”
“I definitely think so. It is definitely a hard position to play, but I am ready to go and I am up for the challenge.”
On his impression of the Broncos and their coaching staff when he visited
“I loved them. It was really mellow and they were all real good guys. I was very comfortable. I came there last Sunday, and I
was the only person there and it felt real cool. I remember feeling comfortable around the coaches.”
On being a defensive lineman in high school and moving to the offensive line in college
“Both of the schools recruiting me recruited me as an offensive lineman. I was expecting to play there, and a lot of people
said I had a bright future as an offensive lineman so I went with it and it turned out to be a good fit for me. It worked out for
the best.”
DENVER BRONCOS
2008 NFL DRAFT QUOTES
On playing for a team named the Broncos in college and a team named the Broncos in the NFL
“I have been saying for the past few weeks that it would be nice to still be a Bronco.”
On developing good feet
“I played a lot of basketball when I was younger and growing up, and that may of helped me out. In high school we did a lot
of footwork drills. When I was there for the visit, (Head) Coach (Mike) Shanahan asked me that and I told him I didn’t know.”
On his health
“I feel good right now, I feel 100 percent.”
HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN
RE: BOISE STATE T RYAN CLADY (RD. 1-12)
SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2008
On selecting T Ryan Clady with the 12th overall pick in the draft
“I don’t think we really surprised anybody by taking an offensive tackle. We had Ryan Clady in here for a couple of days,
and we were really impressed with him as a person. [He is] obviously a left tackle that we think is an excellent athlete that
will fit into our scheme extremely well. We felt very fortunate that he was there.”
On whether Clady will start as a rookie
“He will start at left offensive tackle the day he comes in. There will be some competition, obviously. We’ve got [T] Ryan
Harris that can play both sides. We’ve got [G Chris] Kuper that can play inside and outside. So we have a little more depth
at the offensive line position.
“We really felt going into this draft, when you take a look at our tackle position, you have Ryan Harris who had surgery on
his back last year and came back very good, very quickly. So he’s got a big upside there. We felt like we needed more
depth on the right side along with [T] Erik Pears and a guy like Kuper who has the ability to play both inside and outside.
The one thing about the offensive line—it’s hard to get people in the later rounds and expect them to come in and play.
Every once in a while, you get lucky like we did last year with Kuper who came in and played extremely well for our fifth
round draft choice a couple years ago [fifth round out of North Dakota in 2006]. I’m very pleased with him. To get a guy like
this who we had as the top tackle after [Jake] Long, we felt pretty lucky for him to be there.”
DENVER BRONCOS
2008 NFL DRAFT QUOTES
On evaluating Clady
“You obviously go through everything. You go through football; You sit down with him and get a feel for what type of guy he
is. You get an idea of how he reacts to certain situations, how he understands pass protections, running schemes. [He is] a
guy that that was very impressive.
“The thing that impresses you is his feet. I haven’t been around a tackle that has that type of feet. He’s got the longest arms
in the draft. Here is a guy that is 6’6, 315 pounds, 320 pounds. He’s got excellent, excellent feet and you don’t find that very
often. That’s why he was predicted to go as high as [No.] 5 and the average was [No.] 8. We really didn’t think he was going
to be there. There are a few excellent tackles in this draft—I’ll be surprised if six guys don’t go in the first round, obviously
because they are needed. It’s hard to play this game without protection and I think there will be at least six guys that go.”
On whether he talked to Colorado Head Coach and former Boise State Head Coach Dan Hawkins about Clady
“I didn’t, but we’ve got our scouts that talk to everybody. We spend a lot of time investigating these guys and going over
character and obviously what they think about this guy, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that this guy had great feet
and we’re happy to have him.”
On whether Clady is better at run blocking or pass blocking
“With a person who has feet like, that it’s hard to change people’s quickness and their ability to react. He can do both. That’s
one of the reasons why we were going to put him in the left tackle position to start with and see if he can keep it. We are
going to have some competition with guys like Ryan Harris who can play either way. Ryan might be on the right side
competing with Erik [Pears] and [Chris] Kuper.”
On whether the Broncos were going to select an offensive tackle no matter what transpired on draft day
“No, we weren’t. There are a lot of different directions you could go because you’re not really sure what’s going to happen.
We could have had our three top tackles off the board and we would have went in a different direction. But we had three
guys in there that we felt were legitimate left tackles that could play, and play well.”