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Below is a recap of what Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew had to say about outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy and center Travis Swanson on Friday night. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
On Kyle Van Noy
Opening statement: "Good to see everybody. We're excited about Kyle Van Noy. This guy is very versatile, very productive. When you put him on, he's going to be chasing down ball carriers. He's got a lot of range, makes plays on the ball in the passing game, sacks the quarterback. He's just really, really productive and versatile. I think he will be a great fit for our defense, and Teryl's (Austin) going to do some things with him and tell you a little bit about that in a second, but I'm excited to have him."
On how important it was to add to the team's linebacker corps: "Like I said a couple days ago, we just want to keep getting good football players. We want to improve our front seven, our secondary, our offensive line, our receiver corps. We want to keep adding good football players to this football team. That's what our goal is."
On if there were other teams looking to trade up for Van Noy: "There were a couple teams that we had a concern about. We started calling at the very top with Houston and worked our way all the way down until we got somebody where we had a good match as far as draft choices. But yeah, there were a couple teams that we thought were kind of hot spots for him."
On if he saw Van Noy while watching film on DE Ezekiel Ansah last season: "Yeah, we saw a lot of him playing last year and it was really kind of, ‘Who is this guy?' You're watching Ziggy and this guy's making all these plays. He and Ziggy are really great friends too. When I visited with him when he was here, he was telling me how they were roommates together on the road trips and stuff, so I think Ziggy's probably happy wherever he is right now. But this guy is going to really help our football team and is going to fit in well here too, now that he has somebody on the team he already knows. So, it's going to be a good situation for us."
On if he had a first-round grade on Van Noy: "I won't get into our grading or what we had on him, but we liked him enough to trade for him at the top of the second round."
On Van Noy's five career defensive touchdowns: "Five touchdowns, seven interceptions, 26 career sacks, the guy is very productive in every aspect of the game, so we liked everything about him."
On if he flagged Van Noy while scouting Ansah last year: "No, like I said, we noticed him and wanted to know who he was, but he had to go out and perform again this year, too. He did a good job with doing that, so it wasn't a situation where we saw him last year and decided we wanted to pick him this year."
On comparing Van Noy's game in college to Ansah's: "We always like guys who are multi-dimensional and versatile, and he fits into that mold, like I said."
On having cushion with compensatory picks to make a trade for Van Noy: "You always feel more comfortable when you've got other picks in the round moving one. We were able to get a fifth-round pick out of this deal, too. We weren't in the fifth-round before, so it was a good trade for us."
On if Van Noy was his No. 1 target in the second round: "There were about three or four guys that we targeted and said, ‘We've got to get one of these guys today.' He was at the top of that list."
On Travis Swanson
Opening statement: "Travis Swanson, a big smart, tough, versatile offensive lineman with position flexibility. We really like this guy. (He is a) very, very, very smart kid. He's 6-5, 312, he's got 50-straight starts in his career, so he's durable. I think he's going to be a great fit for us and probably play some guard in the preseason. Wash (Jeremiah Washburn) will work with him on that some, but we're excited about having him on our team."
On Swanson's valuable experience and durability: "Definitely. He's got a lot of starts against really good competition. That usually bodes well for guys early, gives those guys confidence when they get here, so that's definitely a factor."
On if Swanson is expected to replace C Dominic Raiola down the road: "Wash will talk about that a little bit about what his role is. His flexibility helps us, though, because as you know, on game day we have a guy who is dressed out to play center or guard. He's big enough to play guard and he can play center as well, so that really helps us out a lot."
On Swanson enduring through a tough 2013 season: "Yeah, that wasn't really a factor in our decision, but you like to see a kid that has the mental toughness to deal with some of those bad situations. Again, this kid's very smart, a very high-character kid. I think he'll do well for us and he'll fit in well here."