[Elvis]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-s ... story.html

Examining Rams' biggest offseason moves: How they landed Ndamukong Suh

By GARY KLEIN
SEP 06, 2018 | 5:00 PM

Examining Rams' biggest offseason moves: How they landed Ndamukong Suh
Defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh practices with the Rams on May 29 in Thousand Oaks. (Michael Owen Baker / Associated Press)

Third in a series

After a flurry of offseason moves, the Rams begin the season with a remade roster that features newcomers in cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and receiver Brandin Cooks. Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how each was acquired, in the voices of the people involved. Part 3: Suh.

March 14, Miami Dolphins release Ndamukong Suh after the third year of six-year, $114-million contract. March 26, Rams agree to terms with Suh on a one-year, $14-million contract.

Kevin Demoff, VP of football operations: That’s one where you just didn’t see it coming to fruition.

Tony Pastoors, VP of football and business administration: When his [Miami] contract was done, it was such a landmark contract and deal for any player, let alone a defensive tackle. We’d done plenty of research on it [because Rams star Aaron Donald was seeking a new contract]. We kind of knew after the first three years it was kind of year to year. … But when an elite player like Ndamukong gets released it’s hard to project what the market actually looks like.

Coach Sean McVay: Ted Rath [Rams director of strength training and performance] had a relationship with Ndamukong from being with him in Detroit and Miami.

Ndamukong Suh: I watched [the Rams] from afar primarily because of Ted. I follow people I’m close with no matter where they’re at.

Ted Rath: When he did get released from Miami, I made a quick phone call and sent a quick text and just, “Hey, man, thinking about ya.” I know it’s never easy to go through something like that. We kind of went back and forth text-wise and then I jumped on a phone call with him: “Hey, what’s your next move? What are you thinking?” My concern was for him as an individual first and foremost, make sure he’s in a good mental state of mind, which I knew he would be. I ended up going, “Hey, we got some good things going here by the way.” Just told him a little bit about what we’ve got going on and talking to him about his steps. He said, “Yeah, I’ve had a couple teams reach out.” He mentioned Oakland and New Orleans and things like that. I just said, “We have a phenomenal structure here.” He said, “Well, if there’s interest there I would absolutely like to be considered to be a part of that.”

Suh: Being able to come join something of that nature was intriguing.

Rath: That morning or the next morning I just hit Sean with it. We’re in the middle of a workout, I say, “Hey, I was talking to Suh and there’s some interest there because I told him how great it is here.” Sean said, “Are you kidding me? Yeah, let’s talk about it.”

Suh: Who knows if that was even going to be a possibility? Everybody has [salary] caps, they have tremendous players they have to pay.

General manager Les Snead: We make contact with Jimmy [Sexton], his agent: “Hey Jimmy we’d love to explore this.” But we were very up front with Jimmy: “Just so you know we don’t want to waste anyone’s time, here’s the financial parameters we’re looking at, and if they don’t match what you’re looking for let’s discontinue so we don’t waste each other’s time.”

Linebackers coach Joe Barry: When Sean came in and told us I was like, “Well, God dang. There’s no way humanly possible we could afford Ndamukong Suh.” I was like, “Sean, don’t get our hopes up with telling us this B.S. There’s no way we can sign Ndamukong Suh.” He was like, “No, dude. We’re in on this.”

Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips: Sean says, “We think we can get Ndamukong Suh.” You kidding me? We took a look at him and he was the same as he’s always been: a dominant player. So I was all for it.

Pastoors: The first question you have to ask yourself internally goes back to how does he fit? What’s Aaron [Donald] say about this?

McVay: Obviously, Aaron was a guy that you want to make sure: How does he feel about it? He says, “Hey, he’s a great player. If he’s going to help us win, we’re all about that.”

Pastoors: Sean had the conversation with Aaron. OK, hey, maybe this can work.

Suh: I called [Donald]. I’ll keep that between us. It was a good conversation, though, to say the least.

McVay: So we reached out, felt like it would be a good fit and got a scheduled visit.

Defensive line coach Bill Johnson: I went into the D-line room with him and we just talked about how this thing could work out, a good football conversation. We left the door open and next thing you know we got me and him and Wade, just talking in there. And then Joe Barry comes in there. So we ended up sitting in there probably 2 1/2 or 3 hours just talking. Told him how the scheme worked and why we thought he would fit right. The reason it would work good with him and Aaron and [defensive lineman Michael Brockers]. It wasn’t anything but just a good conversation. We spent all day with him and then he went and had dinner with the upper echelon.

McVay: We went to dinner that night at Nobu in Malibu.

Snead: Sushi is always good at Nobu, right?

Suh: It’s a great place. I’ve been there before and great views to say the least.

Snead: Stan and Josh [Kroenke], Sean and Kevin, Ndamukong and his girlfriend and Ted Rath and me and my wife Kara were there.

Owner Stan Kroenke: They even have me involved in the recruiting process from time to time.

Kara Snead (Snead’s wife): We walk in the front door and literally run into James Corden. He had done a great skit as a Rams cheerleader. We introduced ourselves and kind of explained why we were there. I could see the bubble over Les’ head and my head: “Should we bring him back?” David Spade and Chris Rock also were there. If I was ever going to recruit somebody to come to Los Angeles, I can’t imagine a more desirable scene if they cared about those types of things. You walk through there and you’re saying, “This is amazing.”

Les Snead: The best thing about the dinner, as a group and as an organization you get to know the, let’s call it, outside the nuts and bolts of football and who the human is and just who they are as people.

McVay: What I was really impressed with Ndamukong is his ability to talk on a variety of topics. You know, I’m a pretty simple-minded guy. I can talk about football but that’s about it. He knew about Screaming Eagle [winery and vineyards owned by Kroenke]. He knew about some of the real estate ventures he had gone in on, he knew about Arsenal [Premier League soccer club] and the [Denver] Nuggets and the [Colorado] Avalanche and some of the things I think were important to Mr. Kroenke.

Demoff: Stan was the closer.

Kroenke: I wasn’t a closer, but Ndamukong is a really intelligent young man.

Suh: I had a ton of fun.

McVay: We all left that dinner feeling like this is someone we would like to have in our organization.

Kara Snead: We walked out that night and I think all of us were: Who knows what he’s thinking? I would never play poker with Ndamukong Suh. He is as good at hiding and not showing his hand as anyone.

Pastoors: His agent was pretty transparent on, “Hey, I don’t think this happens like that [snaps his fingers]. He is a thoughtful-process person. This is going to take a couple days. I’ll keep you guys in the loop. Nothing will get done without you guys kind of knowing, but based on your offer you are not going to be the high bid.”

McVay: A few days passed after the dinner and then we came to the owners’ meetings [in Florida].

Pastoors: There’s no firm deadline because it’s the offseason, but at the same time there’s other opportunities we have to explore. You want to know.

Rath: During the owners’ meetings, we take that week and we go as a family back to Michigan. We’re at LAX, getting on the flight and I’m getting texts from Sean. I’m getting texts from Suh. Midflight I’m like, “OK, what’s going on?” We finally land and then, boom, boom, boom, I’m getting more texts. I talked to Sean at that point and I’m like, “OK, I’ll call him.” I said to Suh, “Hey, this is going to be mutually beneficial and I would never steer you wrong. I would never tell you anything dishonest. I’m going to be clear and transparent. I think this is a really good situation for you. ... This is a no-brainer for you from my side.”

McVay: It gets to the point where you respect his patience but you also want to have some finality to it. Where, “Hey, we would love to have you but if not we’ve got to explore avenues of addressing a need that we do have on our team.”

Pastoors: Jimmy [Sexton] kind of let us know, “Hey, I think this is coming to a head,” and so that’s where Sean wanted to get out in front of it and say, “OK, what’s going on? Does he want to be a Ram?”

McVay: We wanted to talk to Ndamukong one more time [on the phone].

Les Snead: I did a segment for NFL Films in the hotel on a Johnny Hekker story. And then me, Sean and Tony actually went to a room that said Nike on the door but nobody was in there. We closed the door.

Pastoors: Sean wanted to get from Ndamukong, “OK what’s going on? What’s your process? Explain to me. I’m not saying it should be a snap decision but at the same time why are we here now? We met a week ago, so where are we at? Talk me through it.”

McVay: We all wanted some closure to it. Good or bad. I said, “Hey, we want you on board. We want ya bad. I think the actions and the way that we’ve gone about this the last week demonstrate that. We would be a good fit. So hey, what are we waiting for? Let’s go ahead and do this.”

Les Snead: Sean asked him if he wanted to be a Ram.

McVay: He said, yeah, he wants to be a Ram. And I said, “Let’s do it!”

Pastoors: He was looking right at me [I was thinking], “Appreciate that. Sean.”

McVay: Pretty much right there we hung up the phone knowing that, hey, he was going to be a Ram. It was just a matter of getting the terms agreed on as far as the way it was written.

Pastoors: Probably within the hour Jimmy [Sexton] and I were, “All right, we’re good, let’s get this locked up and we’re good to go.”

Phillips: Sean called me and said, “Hey, we got him.” I said, “Great. Suh-per.” Get it? Suh-per.

Barry: Sean called me and was like, “Dude, we got it done.” And I was like, “Are you frickin’ kidding me?”

McVay: I sent all the defensive guys a mass text. I said, “Hey, we got our guy Suh.”

Johnson: I was down in Louisiana visiting my in-laws and was in Baton Rouge to see some buddies I have on the LSU staff. We were at a sports bar having lunch. I was drinking a Miller Lite and eating a bowl of gumbo, and it kept coming up on ESPN. Then I’m getting a text from Sean. It’s all happening simultaneously. I was, “Wooo! This is going after it!” I had Suh’s number so I texted him and he just said, “Man, I’m coming.”

Aaron Donald: [After Suh signed] we just had a little conversation. It went good, just talked about what we can do and our mind-set.

Kroenke: Ndamukong’s a heck of a guy. Really smart. And he will be a great addition to our team and a great addition to the L.A. community. I think L.A. is in for a real treat.

[Hacksaw]

Fun read. Thanks @Elvis ...

Kroenke has been great for LA too !!!

[RamsFanSince89]

I’m assuming these are a plethora of clips from multiple interviews (Aqib’s even has Elway passages). If so, it’s a remarkable job of creating a story from pure quotes. It makes it appear that everyone huddled up and reminisced about how each offseason move unfolded from each person’s perspective (like a movie almost).

[snackdaddy]

The more I see things like this the more I'm convinced the Rams are a first rate organization. The dumpster fire before Stan Kroenke almost made me embarrassed to say I'm a Rams fan.

[Elvis]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-s ... tory.html#

Examining Rams' biggest offseason moves: How they landed Brandin Cooks

By GARY KLEIN
SEP 08, 2018 | 5:00 AM

After a flurry of offseason moves, the Rams begin the season with a remade roster that features newcomers in cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and receiver Brandin Cooks. Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how each was acquired, in the voices of the people involved. Part 4: Cooks.

April 3, Rams acquire Brandin Cooks and a 2018 fourth-round draft pick from the New England Patriots for a first-round pick and a sixth-round pick.

Coach Sean McVay: Your interest in potentially acquiring him goes back to last year [2017], when you realize the Saints, I don’t know if they were shopping him, but you knew that you could potentially acquire him.

General manager Les Snead: It started at the [2017 NFL scouting] combine [in Indianapolis]. It was Sean’s first combine and we were at this point where we were flirting with New Orleans about [Rams cornerback] Trumaine [Johnson]. And it started with us trying to grab Cooks. Then New England beat us for Cooks.

VP of football and business administration Tony Pastoors: It was someone we explored prior to [trading with the Buffalo Bills for receiver] Sammy [Watkins].

Executive VP of football operations Kevin Demoff: Sammy was a big piece of our division championship team.

Pastoors: When we found out that he was going to leave in free agency [to sign a $48-million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs], it was “OK, let’s go on to what’s next.” First, in this draft, is there someone we can get at No. 23? Is there anyone in free agency?

Snead: I called the Patriots about Cooks probably the night that Sammy agreed to go to Kansas City [March 13].

McVay: When you end up losing Sammy, you’ve got some other avenues. You feel good about the guys in-house. But then when a player like [Cooks] is potentially available, and you look at the production he’s had playing in two different systems, and hearing the things you hear about the way he goes about his business, it was something we really felt good about if we were able to get it done.

Snead: It was really the only call I made because we needed a vertical threat. There’s a lot of good receivers out there. But in Sean’s orchestra we needed a certain instrument, and he fit. … With it being on his last year [in his contract] it might be viable.

Pastoors: You knew that number [$8.5 million] and how it would fit.

Snead: From [the Patriots’] standpoint, I don’t think it was something they were going to do right away. It probably kept us knocking on the door a little bit.

Demoff: After [receivers] Mike Evans [$82.5 million], Sammy Watkins [$48 million] and Allen Robinson [$42 million] signed [extensions or contracts with other teams], I think the Patriots’ calculus changed from “absolutely not” to “maybe” — based on some of those deals that came down and projecting what the price tag would be for Brandon if they were going to re-sign him.

Snead: When Sean went to Georgia for a clinic [that Patriots coach Bill Belichick also would be attending] it had tipped to where, “OK, maybe something could get done.” It had tipped to the stage of, “OK, this is a possibility.”

McVay: [At the clinic] it was really more of an exchange with coach Belichick of, “How you doing?” It was very quick because he was going somewhere after he finished speaking.

Snead: I had told Sean, “Y’all don’t just go talk football at the clinic. Make sure you get this thing pushed over the edge.”

McVay: We [McVay and Belichick] got a chance to connect and really talk on the phone and then we were able to kind of just go back and forth. It was pretty fun because you have so much respect and admiration for him as a coach.

Brandin Cooks: It’s one of those things until it gets serious, real serious, like a huge possibility, typically you don’t know about it because it might fall through.

Snead: The parameters of the deal were stuck between [Patriots director of player personnel] Nick [Caserio] and I. The closing of it, because Sean and Bill had struck up a relationship, I thought it was fitting they go close that deal. Let Sean get a little taste.

Demoff: The only fear you had, with Sean being the negotiator over a player he coveted, was that the Patriots were going to walk away with your next four first-round picks [laughing]. ... That was our fear. We didn’t tell Sean that he could sign the trade papers. He could negotiate the deal but he couldn’t sign the trade papers.

McVay: I wouldn’t say it was nerve-wracking. It was exciting.

Snead: He really just walked down the hall [to make the final call]. I told him, “OK, you’re going to talk to coach Belichick. We’d like to get it done for this but we know it’s going to take this.” The only thing we laughed about was the sixth-rounder we threw in there. There’s no way we’re telling coach Belichick we’re not [getting this done] because of a sixth-round pick, so just go ahead and give it to him.

McVay: It’s one of those moments where I think you feel so fortunate and blessed to be in this role. I am a fan of coaching, so when you get a chance to interact with coach Belichick, it was a pretty cool experience.

Cooks: It’s not like I found out on Twitter or something, which, you know, is huge. It seems so small but a lot of guys find out different ways. But such respect for coach Belichick for calling me. He didn’t have to do that, so I would say it was a couple hours, a little more than that, before it actually broke.

Snead: As soon as you get Cooks done, there is an element of relief. … Getting the veteran we initially sought, it takes a little bit of pressure off of the draft.

Pastoors: To complicate things, we were simultaneously working on finalizing Ndamukong Suh. So we had a lot of cap space and we suddenly have no cap space. You never want to say you can’t make it work because you can always make it work. It’s just, “OK, what are we willing to do? How do we actually do it?” For us that was parting ways with [cornerback] Kayvon [Webster].

Snead: The NFL’s a business … you don’t want to go through that. You have to do it sometimes and that’s what we had to do.

McVay: These are always tough decisions but ones that sometimes you have to be able to make.

Pastoors: That cleared some space. And then, the other thing to give us a little bit of breathing room … was going to the guy with the longest contract in the building, [punter] Johnny Hekker. He’s a captain for a reason. Just a call to his agent, “Hey I think we might be in a position where we might need to create some cap space. Would Johnny be willing to work with us and convert salary to signing bonus?” He said, “I’ll call Johnny, but I think we both know the answer to this if that helps you guys.”

Punter Johnny Hekker: I was at home and I got a call from my agent at about 8 o’clock at night. It sent me into a little bit of panic, but as soon as I picked up he reassured me it was for a good reason. He kind of told me what the intentions of the team were with the money freed up. It was really kind of a no-brainer.

Pastoors: It created enough space to get us to where we need to be to make all the corresponding moves and get everybody in and under the cap.

Snead: When [the offseason] was all said and done, we were like, “OK, we accomplished what we set out to do.” The sketch was, “Here’s what we need to do at certain positions,” but at no point were all of those names [on the list]. Because Brandin Cooks was a New England Patriot, Marcus Peters was a Kansas City Chief, Aqib Talib was a Denver Bronco, Ndamukong Suh was a Miami Dolphin. When you look back, I don’t think we could have ever predicted we’d end up with these players.

Demoff: With Sean and Les and Tony and, certainly [owner] Stan [Kroenke’s] mind-set, we’re never done. … You’re always looking at the big picture. As long as we keep doing that, you’re going to throw yourself into lots of different situations. I don’t think this team is ever done.

[ramsman34]

This stuff is just awesome.

[Turtle]

This stuff is just awesome.

I agree.

Thanks for sharing these "fly on the wall" snoopshots.

[Elvis]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-s ... story.html

Examining Rams' biggest offseason moves: How they landed Marcus Peters

By GARY KLEIN
SEP 05, 2018 | 5:00 AM

Examining Rams' biggest offseason moves: How they landed Marcus Peters
Rams corner back Marcus Peters signs autographs for fans during the Los Angeles Rams training camp at UC-Irvine on Aug. 13. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

First in a four-part series

After a flurry of offseason moves, the Rams begin the season with a remade roster that features newcomers in cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and receiver Brandin Cooks. Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how each was acquired, in the voices of the people involved. Part 1: Peters.

Feb. 24, Rams acquire Marcus Peters from the Kansas City Chiefs for a fourth-round draft pick in 2018 and a second-round pick in 2019. The trade could not become official until March 14.

General manager Les Snead: The first call came in and I remember I was working out at the facility in our weight room. I saw Brett Veach, their GM, pops up, so I let it go to voicemail and called him back on the way home. ... They say, ‘We think it’s going to be best for us to move him. Are you in the mix?’

Coach Sean McVay: Les calls me, he says, ‘Why don’t you and the defensive staff take a look and see if you’d be interested in Marcus Peters.’

Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips: Sean comes in to my office and says, ‘Hey, we got a chance to get this guy.’ I said, ‘Well, yeah.’ This time of year a lot of those things come up. Even Odell Beckham came up.

Tony Pastoors
Rams vice-president football & business administration Tony Pastoors Los Angeles Rams
Vice-president football & business administration Tony Pastoors: The first question you have to answer in any trade is, why? Why are they willing to trade this guy? It doesn’t matter who the player is, it’s, OK, why? And it could be a scheme change, a regime change. ... Sometimes it’s pretty simple and sometimes it’s more complicated. … Sean is huge on culture. You saw it firsthand: 2016 and 2017 felt a lot different. Not just wins and losses, just the vibe around our building, how our players were. And so I think one of the biggest things we all thought with any offseason move we were considering was, ‘Don’t mess that up. We got a good thing going. Let’s continue to add to it and supplement but let’s not mess that up.’

Executive vice-president for football operations Kevin Demoff: You realize, for two years at $10 million, certainly it fit very well into where you’re able to add a very talented player at a cost that would not affect our ability to keep our core intact.

Snead: You ultimately get permission to talk to their agent. ‘Hey, are you thinking of holding out?’ You clear all that up and you do your vetting, and you feel like, ‘You know what? This is an opportunity for us to get a corner that has skill set, and if Wade had his druthers, we’d take that type of skill set.’

Phillips: I still went ahead and looked at him because I would go back and say, ‘Hey, I’m not sure about that,’ if I thought he wasn’t going to be the kind of player I thought he was going to be.

McVay: You see a really smart football player show up on tape that affects the game from a cornerback spot, which is really rare. … We were all in agreement as a staff. You say, ‘Hey, let’s go get this guy’ and basically, ‘Let’s go get it done, Les.’

Kevin Demoff: On Thursday night … I got a call from Les when I landed in Boston [for the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at MIT]. He’s in Hawaii. He says, ‘Hey, this may happen tomorrow, it may happen in two weeks.’

McVay: I called [soon-to-be free agent cornerback] Trumaine [Johnson]. … You say, ‘I don’t know if something is going to happen but there’s potential that we’re getting ready to acquire a high-profile corner.’ If I’m going to sit there and look you in the eye and preach clear and open and honest communication, I want to at least make sure that I’m following through with my end of the bargain.

Former Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson: He just wanted me to stay in the loop with everything. He respected me as a player on and off the field and as a person also and I appreciate him for that.

Kara Snead (GM Snead’s wife): We’re in Maui. We were zip-lining one day, we’re off in the trees somewhere and the next day we’re snorkeling, and he was laughing. He’s like, ‘I probably look like I’m playing hard to get.’

McVay: It was a lot of back and forth. Les and I probably talked, called each other, back and forth probably 10 to 15 times over a 12-hour period.

Les Snead: I went to bed that Friday night knowing that we’re going to talk to Kansas City on Saturday morning and they were maybe going to talk to other teams as well. But I knew there was going to be some sort of resolution. ‘OK, look, you’re on Central time. We’re in Hawaii. I don’t even know what time zone that is, so basically I said, ‘I’ll get up as early as you need me to for the 7 a.m. Hawaii call.’

Kara Snead: We would be in the lobby and in our pajamas drinking coffee. He’s on the phone trying to work through the trade.

Pastoors: They were very straightforward in what their compensation should be. It really wasn’t too far off from what we viewed.

Les Snead: When [Veach] finally gets to me at 7 a.m. it’s down to, if we’re still in there, only a few i’s to dot and t’s to cross.

Demoff: Les called and said, ‘Hey, it’s done.’ I was watching another panel [at the conference]. I think it was when President Obama was about to go to talk that I got the call.

Marcus Peters: You get the calls because family is going to watch all the unnecessary sportswriting and all that other stuff and you hear it. But you don’t know it’s real till you get call from your agent.

Pastoors: I don’t want to say you’re a little nervous but you’re maybe slightly uneasy until you actually know this thing is done and the paperwork is in and Marcus shows up for his physical and [Rams director of sports medicine and performance] Reggie Scott gives you one of these [thumbs up]. … and Marcus shows up for a press conference. Then you feel good about it all. That’s when you go, ‘OK, I feel really good now.’ You’re excited until then but you just need to make sure this all goes through and the league actually approves the trade.

Peters: When it was done I was happy to come home [to California]. I wasn’t worried about nothing else.

Kara Snead: That’s the way it goes. You get vacation time and you’re going through the biggest trades of the season.

Les Snead: You have the coffee, the open air and the scenery in Hawaii. I don’t know if there’s a better place to make a trade.

[Elvis]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-s ... story.html

Examining Rams' biggest offseason moves: How they landed Aqib Talib

By GARY KLEIN
SEP 06, 2018 | 5:00 AM

Second in a four-part series

After a flurry of offseason moves, the Rams begin the season with a remade roster that features newcomers in cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and receiver Brandin Cooks. Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how each was acquired, in the voices of the people involved. Part 2: Talib.

March 8, Rams acquire Aqib Talib from the Denver Broncos for a fifth-round draft pick in 2018. The trade could not become official until March 14.

General manager Les Snead: You always read, in terms of headlines, what’s going on around the league. You knew they were willing to trade Aqib through the media reports.

VP football & business administration Tony Pastoors: Like anyone else, you can turn on “SportsCenter” or NFL Network and hear what everyone’s saying, so you try to keep tabs on some of those things.

Executive VP of football operations Kevin Demoff: Denver was looking to clear salary-cap space to go acquire a quarterback.

Denver Broncos general manager John Elway: If rumors get out there, then teams call.

Snead: So what you do is check in with Denver and John [Elway]. “Is this true?” He says, “Yeah.” At that point you begin to flirt.

Pastoors: Our pro department is ahead on all that stuff. They watched everybody and they have grades on people. I’ll work with [director of pro personnel] Ray Agnew and his staff for potential cap casualties with high salaries, or that may have lost favor with the coaching staff, or the staff has changed. He’s got two years left on his contract, it’s $11 million and $8 million, nothing’s guaranteed. You know that stuff so when Les or Sean [coach Sean McVay] brings it up in a discussion you can say, “Hey, this is what it is.”

Demoff: This was different from Marcus [Peters trade], which came up quickly and you were trying to figure out, “How do we piece this together?” Aqib’s situation was a scenario we had discussed in January and February and were much more prepared for.

Coach Sean McVay: I was with him in Tampa, and [defensive coordinator] Wade [Phillips] obviously has a great history with him.

Snead: You say, “Hey Wade. Thumbs up or thumbs down on Talib?”

Wade Phillips: I just said, “Yeah, it would be great.” I mean, I kind of OK’d it.

Snead: Then you want to go watch Aqib and see what he’s done in the year that Wade didn’t coach him to make sure, “Hey, he’s still who you think he is” and things like that.

Elway: We had a deal [to trade Talib] with San Francisco.

Aqib Talib: I got a heads up that it really wasn’t a trade if I take no physical. I talked with [49ers general manager] John [Lynch] and coach [Kyle] Shanahan and I told them I have the utmost respect for John Lynch. I love that guy. Man, I’ve been around him a lot too, Tampa to Denver. I just told them like just going into year 11, I wanted to just be comfortable. I ain’t really want to learn a whole new defense. … Then I kind of told them, “‘Hey, I don’t know if I’m going to come out there and take no physical.” So they were kind of, “All right.”

Elway: San Francisco, I thought, would have been a good spot for him with John Lynch there. But that was not in his plan.

Talib: John Elway gave me a call back and it was like, well, I kind of told them, “Man, if I’m going to be uncomfortable then my contract needs to be comfortable.” They was like, “Well, we’ll see.” And they didn’t really want to do anything with the money, so John was like, “Where would you go with your contract as is?”

Elway: The two teams he had mentioned that he wanted to go to were the Rams or even the Patriots.

Snead: Once you do [the] Marcus [Peters trade in February] you’re like, “You know what? We’re never getting Aqib Talib.” But then everybody’s juggling all the balls and the dust settles and he’s still out there.

Talib: The next thing I know, coach McVay is giving me a call.

McVay: We were happy that he wanted to be a part of us.

Pastoors: [The Talib-to-49ers trade] was one of those, “Nothing’s done until the paperwork gets signed March 14.” That’s an example of it.

Snead: John [Elway] and I worked for however many days talking back and forth and there was a good possibility of getting something done.

Demoff: The main thing on Aqib was we had gotten Marcus and we’re trying to figure out, “OK, how do you absorb the salary?” Because it was pretty clear after the 49ers that Aqib was not intending to take a pay cut.

Pastoors: My role is to make sure it all works and adds up. One of the things you never want to have to say is, “No. We can’t do that because of cap space.” You never ever want that to be an excuse. You can always create cap space and do all these different things.

Snead: You have to make an internal decision on, “OK, if we can get Aqib we thought for the big picture we might have to move [linebacker] Alec [Ogletree].”

Demoff: That’s really where the [March 7] Ogletree trade [to the New York Giants] came into play with what were very similar salaries and costs.

McVay: To be able to take on some of these great players, unfortunately you have to give a little bit and that’s where you lose a great player in Alec Ogletree.

Demoff: One of the conversations all season last year was really focusing the offseason on rebuilding the defense for Wade the way he likes it. Alec Ogletree doesn’t get traded unless you’re trying to solve the corner position.

McVay: [Soon-to-be free agent cornerback] Trumaine [Johnson] and I had a good rapport. We had actually talked the day before in person because when the Ogletree thing went down, obviously he had a lot of loyalty to Alec, and I think there were some things he wanted to know as to the reason behind it. [As the trade for Talib was getting done] I was on the bus to the terminal at Burbank Airport to go to Vegas for my brother’s bachelor party. I called Trumaine. You tell him, “Hey, just want to let you know, so you hear it from us, we’re probably getting ready to get a deal finalized where [we] sign another high-profile corner like yourself. And that probably means you’ll be able to pursue some of the other options and opportunities out there.” He couldn’t have been more classy about that.

Trumaine Johnson: I understand. It’s a business at the end of the day, it really is.

Demoff: I’m in Vegas [at the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament] catching up on the Pac-12 and talking to them about the Pac-12 [football] championship game potentially coming to Hollywood Park and a bunch of other concepts. I was sitting courtside with Magic Johnson — one of our new suite holders — and I got a call that a deal is close.

Snead: You’re like, “All right, by the time you land in L.A. there’s a chance this is done.”

Kevin Demoff: Les called back when the deal was done, which was the first half of the UCLA-Stanford game. … I said to Magic, “Hey, we just traded for Aqib Talib.” Got a nice fist bump from Magic, and that was that.