Denver Broncos assistant general manager Rick Smith interviewed for the general manager position with the Houston Texans on Friday. Following are his remarks to the Houston media.
(on being in Houston)"It feels very good. I'm excited about the organization, excited about the opportunity. It was good just to sit down and have a real good dialogue with Mr. McNair and some of the other people in the organization."
(on his message to the Texans) "I think my message is that I am from an organization that has experienced a little bit of success in the last few years and I've got some experience in various capacities in that organization and that is what I might bring here. I have some familiarity with what Gary Kubiak would like to implement here from a football operations standpoint and from a talent evaluation standpoint. So we're excited about maybe the possibility of joining forces and doing it the way that we think can make this organization successful."
(on having background in various areas) "I think it gives me a little bit of an advantage because I do understand what the coaches are looking for. There is some continuity there in terms of what will work in the system that we're trying to employ so I think that helps. I think that is a strong point in my background."
(on having coach Kubiak here and that helping him) "I think what it's an indicator of is that he knows that we can work well together. We've come from a successful system and we know how to implement the system. And I think the two of us, with our relationship in terms of I think Gary trusts me and I think he respects me and I respect and trust him as well, will work well together."
(on his involvement with the acquisition of Javon Walker) "We do things in Denver on a committee basis so there were different aspects of that whole scenario and situation that I was part of. Certainly everything that we've done over the last few years I've been an integral part of. That's just kind of how we've done it there and that's how I would do it here if I'm lucky enough to get the job."
(on the attractiveness of the job)"This is a very attractive job. The one thing that I've learned in my years in the NFL, the two most important things are the ownership and the people that you work with. And I'm coming from a place where we feel like we're pretty good in Denver and we have a great reputation in Denver. Mr. McNair has an impeccable reputation and if you look at the facilities here, I've been here and we've come and had training camp a couple times. I've spent time in the city. The excitement level of what we could do here and the opportunity to work with Gary and work for a guy like Mr. McNair is unbelievable."
(on what he can bring to the Texans) "I think number one I can evaluate talent and I think that is what you have
to have; you have to have an ability to recognize what a good football player
looks like. Also, I think I have a really good understanding of what Gary wants
to implement on both sides of the ball and I think I have a good eye in terms
of knowing what that player looks like and the ability to go out and find them."
(on if it's his first interview to be a GM) "No it isn't, I've interviewed a few times. I've interviewed for a few GM positions and had some opportunities to go to some other places and I've elected to stay in Denver because I just didn't feel like in some respects and similar situations that it was the right one. I feel like this particular job at this particular time is the right one for me."
(on it helping him having gone through the interview process already) "I think it helps a little bit. I think anytime you can do anything more than
once and you gain familiarity with it, I think you become better at it. From
that perspective I kind of know what to expect and kind of know how the format
is going to work. From that standpoint, I think it helps."
