General Manager Joe Schoen and Head Coach Brian Daboll

JOE SCHOEN: Darius Alexander, a 3-technique that we did a lot of work on. He came in on a 30 visit as well, was down at the Senior Bowl, and just where we are, we felt we needed to add some youth to the defensive line, and this kid is just under 6'4", 315 pounds, 34-inch arms and freaky athletic. Down at the Senior Bowl and he had a really good week, and (defensive line coach) Dre Patterson, thinks the world of him and (assistant defensive line coach) Bryan Cox and getting a guy like this that can come in and develop with the depth that we have. Again, a high ceiling for this player, so we're excited to add another player to our front seven.

Q. How important was that week at the Senior Bowl for especially guys coming from a small school?

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, he was at Toledo, he's an older kid, he's 24, a little bit of a late bloomer. But it was really important, and the schemes that they play, too. Some of these guys, the defensive linemen are asked to read and react. They're not always taught to get on edges. It's somewhat of a selfless job at times in there in terms of the scheme that you're asked to play.

When you see him get in a stagger stance, line up as a 3-technique and get up field and use his length, you can really see what this kid would be able to potentially do. We're excited to work with him.

Q. What do you make of your front seven now?

JOE SCHOEN: There's a lot of depth. There's a lot of depth there. I'm excited about the group. Again, we've got to do a better job stopping the run this year, and I think we helped that with some of the depth. If we can get to 3rd down we've got a lot of options in terms of where guys can line up in terms of versatility. (Defensive lineman) Chauncey (Golston) has got some versatility. Darius has got some versatility. Obviously with (linebacker Abdul) Carter, there's some versatile pieces in there that can move around, and that can be difficult for offenses.

I'm excited about the group. We'll see how they all come together, but we've got Andre Patterson and Bryan Cox I think a lot of, and we're going to have some really good depth and competition in the front seven.

Q. When you go for a guy at this particular position, you know you have (defensive lineman) Dexter (Lawrence) there, so do you guys start thinking who is going to complement him because you know he's going to be there?

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, exactly. We always talk about four hands. Oftentimes there are four hands on Dexter Lawrence, so if you can get somebody on the opposite side of Dexter that can win one-on-ones, that's going to see a lot of one-on-ones, and has the ability to win those match-ups consistently, that makes it difficult, as well.

Q. You added a lot to the front seven. You've got Abdul, you're talking about (defensive lineman) Roy Robertson-Harris, (defensive lineman Jeremiah) Ledbetter, Golston. How important is that to you to sort of rebuild that unit as a whole this off-season?

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, it was important, and we didn't come into today saying, hey, we have to have a 3 technique, but we went with the board. We went with how we saw it. But it was important. Not just stopping the run but getting after the passer. We talked about identity a little bit last night with Carter. Again, I like what we've done on defense.

I can't say we went into today saying this is what we're looking for, we let the board talk to us.

Q. Going into the off-season you said this is something we have to just rebuild --

JOE SCHOEN: Especially our depth because late in the season when injuries occurred, outside backer and inside we had some guys in there that were battling and did a really good job for us, but we just thought upgrading the depth, adding some youth would be really beneficial.

Q. The biggest story in the league right now is that (Colorado quarterback) Shedeur Sanders is still available. There was a report from (analyst) Todd McShay that specifically you and he had a meeting that did not go very well. Anything you want to clear up on that?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I'd say we had good meetings with all the guys that came in here on 30 visits. Quarterback meetings were productive, and we're happy with (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart).

Just to go back on Darius, though, that Senior Bowl is important for us. Some of the coaches go down, I go down every year with Joe. It's something that kind of gets the process going.

We met with some quarterbacks down there. We met with a variety of people, and you're able to get some guys ahead of say the combine and see them do some different things, and he did a nice job there with some of the things that they asked him to do. So, it's a very helpful part of the process.

Q. Is it important for a smaller school guys at the Senior Bowl to show that they can measure up and get into that next group of players that you're considering when the evaluation moves along?

BRIAN DABOLL: Again, for me, I always like going down. You'd like not to go down, you'd like to be playing at that time, but if not, be I think it's just -- for me, it's a good introductory phase, and the players that do participate in that bowl game, it's very helpful for them, I think, but it's really helpful for me. But small school, maybe a guy that they haven't seen as much, it's a good start to the process.

JOE SCHOEN: A good example was that North Dakota State kid. I think he was in the top 15, the (Seahawks offensive lineman Grey) Zabel kid. That really helped him down there. He showed versatility and went against better competition and held his own, did a good job.

Q. Did Alexander look like a guy that if you didn't know where he was from that he would be in a power conference?

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, he really did, and you can talk to him about it, but he had chances to leave Toledo and he was loyal to them. That says something, too.

Q. Do you think Shedeur is a better player than his slide suggests so far?

JOE SCHOEN: I'm not going to get into -- this is Darius's press conference and the New York Giants, so we can talk about that if you want, but I don't want to talk about any other players.

Q. Obviously yesterday you guys were thrilled to trade up to get Jaxson, knowing that today you'd have a wait. For both of you, you get here at a normal time, and the draft starts at normal time and you know you have to wait until 65, -- as much as you liked yesterday, is it hard to watch them come off the board?

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, it is. At 34 today it would have been really hard, just looking at it, man, if we were picking, this would be really tough. This would be a tough decision if we still had the 34th pick because there were quite a few players up there that we liked and then as you went through the day there ended up being — there was a choice between a couple players that we liked. Now what we do is we go and hope that some of those guys that we liked continue to fall. It was a long couple hours waiting to pick. Yeah, it can be painful sometimes watching that.

Q. I think he came on a 30 visit, Darius?

JOE SCHOEN: He did.

Q. Is this another example of what you were able to gather from that visit?

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, and again, we met with him at the Senior Bowl initially, and they do a great job down there of allotting us time, and we have a good process at the Senior Bowl in terms of how we set up what we do, and I think, again, Dabs' staff, the fact those guys are willing to come down on an off week and help out when they do.

Maybe there's a trend with these 30 visits that we take, but I'd rather be accurate with the information that we have and really get to know the players and know if they fit or don't fit versus trying to play a game or not getting all the information and missing on character or something like that.

Q. How do you look at a guy at this position, when he's 24 years old? Do you look at age, does it matter, does it mean a ton to you?

JOE SCHOEN: Not really. Why is he that old, we're still coming out of the COVID stage and some of that stuff. You look at that, you look at the durability, what's the mileage on the player, and then if the medical is fine, there's really no concerns, then you're okay with him. At his age, coming from the school he's at with my faith in the coaches that he's going to come to and the veterans that are in that room, somebody like this can really flourish in that room.

Q. Do you look at it differently by position at all? (Saints quarterback) Tyler Shough was a guy that was drafted today, obviously older. Does it matter much? Do you look at it as maybe a 24-, 25-year-old guy should be dominating if he's playing against 19-year-olds?

JOE SCHOEN: I understand what you're saying. But that doesn't affect us, whether we draft him or not. They're that age, why are they that age. Again, coming out of COVID some people had six years. But yeah, you do look at that and you assess it, and that's where at the Senior Bowl versus different competition -- you have to look at the scheme, too. I think you have to really understand what the school and the staff is asking the player to do and how does that translate to what you're going to ask him to do.

Q. Abdul said he's ready to go and you said you guys are good with his foot, but do you have to manage that at all? Do you have a plan to -- I don't know what you heard from your doctors; how are you going to approach that with him?

JOE SCHOEN: Yeah, he's good to go. I asked him I think it was Sunday or Monday, I said, hey, if you're going to be working out, can you just send me something, let me know you can run or jump or something.

He was home in Philly, and he's running up a hill, the grass is probably this high but he's sprinting up this hill, and then he's doing linebacker drill shuffle, runs up the hill, and then the last video clip he looks at me and he points at me and then he does a standing backflip. I was like, foot looks good. Foot looks good.

I don't have any concern right now. We'll see when the volume picks up and the load. But he's good to go. He has zero pain in the foot. We feel good about it and our medical staff feels good about it.

BRIAN DABOLL: Whether it's Abdul or some of these other draft picks, I'd say we have conversations that account for that leading up to rookie mini-camp, and some of the draft picks will just do individual drills, not much team. They won't do team. They won't do 7-on-7. Quarterback will probably do it just because there's no rush, but the running – these guys that have been on visits, we've talked about this before, they're traveling and they're trying to get a workout in the hotel and they're not really properly working out for football. It's through no fault of their own.

We have, I'd say, significant conversations each year leading up to rookie mini-camp and then the plan for these guys to get them implemented into our program, we'll have a specific plan for those guys.

Q. Last year you had a lot of young players, rookies came in and had to take big roles early on. I'm curious, it seemed like they were going into rooms that were relatively young or some guys that were veterans, with Alexander, when you meet with him, is personality also part of it knowing you're putting him in a room where there are going to be a lot of big personalities, a lot of experienced guys, and how is he going to fit? You know how he's going to fit physically but also how is he going to fit emotionally, personality-wise?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, I think it's always important if you can have some veterans on the team that are good leaders that have played a lot of football and in the defensive line we certainly have that, and then add Dre and Cox to that, two veteran coaches that have a lot of intel to give those guys and information and technique and two very good football coaches, and then Dex and (defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches) Nacho and all those guys that are -- that's a good room in terms of leadership, veteran leadership on our team.

We don't have that at every spot, but we're working on some of that. We've got a tight end with (tight end Chris) Manhertz and (running back) Devin "Motor" Singletary at the running back spot, and our secondary is pretty young. They're pretty young there. Then (linebacker) Bobby (Okereke) is a vet, (linebacker Chris) Board, so we've got some guys. Then offensive line we've got some vets.

You get some vets that you know that can do a good job of showing those guys how to be pros and then try to infuse talent with young guys that are smart, that are tough, that are eager to learn, that love the game of football. That's kind of our approach.

Defensive tackle Darius Alexander

Q. What's tonight been like for you and what was it like to get the call?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: It was wonderful. I was stoked. I was excited. Just happy to see my friends and family here happy for me. I'm just enjoying the moment right now. It's big for me.

Q. What were your exposures like with the Giants during the process? I know you came for a visit. How did all that go?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: The visit was great. The visit was awesome. When I got there I loved it. My teammate (inside linebacker) Diontae Johnson, he plays there, so me and him talked about it a little bit.

The meeting with Coach Dre (defensive line coach Andre Patterson) and Coach Cox (assistant defensive line coach Bryan Cox) was wonderful. I got to go in there and talk to them guys about ball and everything and just what I could do better as a player, and then after the meeting Coach Dre told me, 'hey, if you're still on that board and I can get my hands on you, I'm coming to get you' and he came and got me, so I'm excited.

Q. Did you come into today thinking that this was your most likely landing spot?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: No sir, I didn't, but I'm thankful and I'm blessed.

Q. Where did you think you might end up?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: It doesn't even matter to me no more. I'm happy to be here.

Q. You talked about things you need to get better at. How would you describe your strengths?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: I'd say a strength of my game is pass rushing. I feel like that's somewhere I excel at. And I have a willingness to keep going and playing this game every day, so I think that's something I do good in.

Q. What do you make of being paired with (defensive lineman) Dexter Lawrence?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: What I make of it, I think it's a great thing. I think they get two guys out there who want to go play hard, play balls to the wall, just be able to go in there and learn from him and be able to pick up things from him and install into my game to see how I can use it as a weapon on the field is what I'll be looking for. Just a chance to go out there and compete with another great guy, so I'm looking forward to that and I want to have fun.

Q. I had guys telling me down at the Senior Bowl that you were unblockable that week in practice. Did you go in there wanting to prove something because you were not coming necessarily from a power conference and show that you can hold up against the bigger guys?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: Yes, sir, I definitely wanted to get down there and show that. I feel like a lot of people had me underrated, thinking I couldn't play with the best of the best or go out there and compete. So that week I wanted to go out there, show I could dominate the game and dominate other players out there, as well, and show that I could compete against the best of the best, and I think I did that well.

Q. Darius, you spent six years at Toledo in the NIL era. Why? Did you have schools trying to poach you? Was it a loyalty thing? Were you a late bloomer? Why were you six years at a MAC school?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: I definitely had a lot of teams trying to come and get me, but it was a loyalty thing for me. (Toledo Head) Coach (Jason) Candle was my first offer out of high school coming out, and then for him to stay with me throughout the whole process when things weren't going my way in high school and signing me on national signing day was a blessing for me.

My last six years there, it means everything to me, everything in the world to me. I'd never trade it for anything in the world. I got to spend a great time with my players and my teammates and my brothers, and I made great bonds out there, and then to Coach Candle, I thank him for everything. He gave me a chance, and I appreciate that a lot.

(Toledo Defensive Coordinator) Coach Vince Kehres, a defensive coordinator that I had there my whole career since I've been there. Just to play under that guy, high-energy guy, high-savage guy. I just love how he approaches the game, how he coaches the game, how he teaches it. He helped me a long way.

A big shout-out to my old D-line coach Frank Okam. He helped me put my game together my last two years. So, staying there at Toledo for my last year was perfect for me, and I didn't want to be nowhere else.

Q. You started on the offensive line when you got there, right?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: No, sir, I started off on defense. I got switched to offense once I got there.

Q. Then how did you get back? How long did it take you to get back to defense?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: So the way I got back to defense, Coach Vince Kehres came in from Mount Union. He seen my tape from that summer before and he went to Coach Candle and said 'yeah, I need this guy.' He said, 'I don't know what we're doing with him on offense' he said, 'I need him over here on defense.' That's how I got back on defense, so I appreciate Coach Kehres a lot.

Q. Did you ever think of where you'd be if you never made the switch?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: No, sir, I don't know where I would be, but I'm glad I did and I'm happy to be here.

Q. Darius, how much did you know about Dexter Lawrence? Did you study his game at all, watch and see how he dominates at D-tackle?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: I definitely watched film here and there on Dexter Lawrence. I like to see how he plays with power. Even though he's a bigger guy, he's still got some quick twitch to him. He's able to be elusive out there and make plays in between every gap. I love watching how dominant he is and the force he uses to push guys back and they can't stop him.

Q. What does Diontae tell you about the Giants and being in New York?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: He told me being in New York, it's like home again. He loves it down there, and more than anything, we've got savages on that football team. We've got guys ready to go down there and play balls to the wall and play with their head on fire. So, he said when it's my turn and I come down there, I've got to be willing to do the same thing, and I'm ready to do that.

Q. Not only do you have the veterans here, but you add probably the best defensive player in this draft, no disrespect to you, but having (linebacker) Abdul Carter get here last night, what do you think of Abdul Carter being here and you coming in in the same rookie class?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: I think it's wonderful. I like to watch what he did on tape. (Inaudible). He's a wonderful and great player, so just pairing us two together, I think it's dangerous and I think they shouldn't have let that happen, we're going to tear it up, sir.

Q. Looking at your background, it seemed like you moved around a little bit on the D-line. Where do you think is your home? Where do you feel most comfortable?

DARIUS ALEXANDER: I feel most comfortable anywhere, but I love that 3-tech spot.