**Did the first round go as well as you could have hoped for?**  

"It was good. We were hoping that Malcolm Jenkins would be there. He was and once we knew that, that was going to be our pick."

Did you not consider trading down once Jenkins was available?

"Yes, we had discussed this pretty extensively the last few days and regardless of how many guys who were there that we liked when we picked at 14, if Malcolm was one of those, we were going to take him."

What do you like about him and what position do you like him at?

"First of all we think he's the top corner in the draft. It's a position we have a need at and he has the versatility we think to play safety if we decide to move him there. But we're going to start him out at corner and see what we have."

Did you like his enthusiasm to play either safety or cornerback?

"I think that when we talk about the type of players we're looking for to play for the New Orleans Saints, we talk about character, intelligence and toughness along with athletic ability and he's got as high a grade as we can give in the areas of character, intelligence and toughness. We're excited to have him."

How close were you to making a trade?

"The trade that we were interested in and felt like we were getting close to a couple of times was to get back into the first round later in the draft. We thought we had a pretty good opportunity at a couple of points in the back half of the draft and it ended up not happening. That's kind of disappointing at the time, but we couldn't be happier than we are right now to have Malcolm on our team."

Was your only attempt at a trade one to be able to choose Beanie Wells?

"Our goal would have been to get in the draft and get Beanie Wells. That would have been our goal."

How soon did you try to get a pick to be able to choose him?

"We started about two minutes after we took Malcolm. We went through a lot of phone calls. That's just the way it is."

How close did you get?

"I don't know what that means other than that we had some interest and made several calls and it just didn't happen."

Who did you talk to besides New England?

"We talked to a bunch of teams, virtually every team there. Some had some interest and obviously several of them didn't. I'd rather not get into the specifics on who those other teams were."

Would you have had to give up next year's first round draft pick in any of those deals?

"Yes."
Was there ever a point above you where you thought Jenkins was going to go?

"There were three teams that we thought would have an interest in him and so we were kind of holding our collective breath hoping they didn't take him and they didn't, so it worked out well."

Did any moves that happened in the first 13 picks help things fall into place for you?

"I don't know that ultimately, but it felt like it. It must have because that's the way it worked out. It did help us. But what would have happened had they not made those trades, I don't know."

What do have left to do now?

"As soon as the second round ends we're going to regroup and talk about the guys that we think will be available to us when we pick in the fourth round. We'll talk about guys that maybe we would like to have if we can acquire a third-round pick, if anyone. We're going to talk about those guys that are left. That's really an examination of some of the guys that we have a really high grade on that haven't been taken yet that we expected to be taken. We'll do that as soon as this round ends."

Could you take those two fourths and get into the third round?

"I think that's a possibility."

Do you feel comfortable with roster now and don't necessarily feel like you need three, four or five extra players?

"We definitely feel comfortable with our roster; no question about it. That doesn't preclude us from targeting someone and going to get them. The thing about draft picks is that you want to have guys that have an opportunity to not only make your team, but also contribute. If there's someone like that that we have our eye on, we're not above trying to go and get them."

Some teams took the philosophy of compiling a lot of draft picks. Did your actions pre-draft put yourselves in a position where you didn't have that need?

"I don't think our strategy was to accumulate picks in this draft. We didn't feel like we were at that point with our roster this year. One thing we wanted to do as best we could was to maintain as many of our picks next year as we could."

Is it fair to say that if you had the number one pick in the draft that Jenkins is a guy you may have taken?

"That's some pretty good speculation. I don't know that I want to go there. I don't know that I can say that because you have to pay attention to value of the pick when you're picking. I don't know that we wouldn't but I'm awfully glad that we weren't in that position to make that pick. That contract is such an albatross that you have to pay a lot of attention to value for the pick and I think you see that in the draft each year."

Was he the number one defensive back on your board?

"Yes, he was the number one defensive back on our board. You go into this draft with a circle of guys that you've put in there that you think you may have an opportunity to draft. He was the top of that circle of guys that we thought we would have an opportunity to draft. We were excited that he got to us."

Could you have taken an offensive player or were you determined to take defense?

"We weren't determined to take a defensive player at that spot. We had a couple of offensive players in that circle of guys that we were going to be willing to take and would have been excited to take at that pick."

Did he emerge as the frontrunner in your eyes as far back as the Ohio State pro day?

"I think pretty early on he was a guy that we were going to be excited about. No question."