Quote Sheet: New York Red Bulls select Justin Bilyeu in 2016 MLS Draft

Jesse Marsch

How do you feel about the selection?

Yea, um, as you can see, there's been a lot of movement in this draft, so there's a lot of conversations flying around at the tables. You know, at the end, we kind of stayed put with our pick and this was the player we targeted. So we were happy he was still available. The one thing that we were just trying to survey was to you know, take the pick, whether there was a way of still thinking about move down and if he might still be available. We're happy to have him. He has flexibility, it adds to our defensive depth. So, you know, Justin Bilyeu will be a good addition to the Red Bulls this year.

Are the Red Bulls targeting the back line?

You know, we feel really good about our roster in general, we have depth at every position. Clearly, now with signing these homegrowns we've added even more depth. We like our team, we like our balance, it's just about trying to find one or two pieces that we think add a little bit more.

Does the draft change with now having 7 college players (homegrowns)?

Yea, it does change for us a little bit. It doesn't make it obsolete, because there's still the ability to pick up a good player, but I think there's less emphasis on figuring out exactly what the right fit is for a number of reasons. Certainly the fact we have the homegrowns coming through the system now, I think they are going to be big contributors.

Did you think about moving up?

A little bit, but not, you know, we didn't want to leverage too much within our resources and our roster because we feel really good about what we have. Again, we're glad Justin was available at this pick, and it's what we wanted.

Look to trade the 2nd round pick or focus on defensive midfield depth?

Well, we won't look at defensive midfield depth because we feel like we're really good there. We probably won't trade it, and probably would look to again bolster our defensive unit. So, we'll see, we have a couple of targets that we're hoping make it to the late stages of the next round and will be available at that point.

Does the 2nd year feel more comfortable than the 1st?

I feel like last year the combine and draft last year weren't so much about the combine and draft so much about the other work that had to be done. This year, it feels like we're much more in control of exactly what's happening in the moment, instead of the concern of a million other things on our mind. But still, we know we have a big task ahead of us and we're excited to get the year started.

Miazga's future

Right now, Matt's with our team and there's been some discussion about potential opportunities for Matt moving forward, but I don't think anything that's even close to concrete. So, as of right now, I'm counting on him being a Red Bull in 2016.

Tim Sebastian

We're always trying to figure out with our subsidiaries at Leipzig and Salzburg how to have a good relationship and share resources, and if that's players that would be great too. So, we had an interest in Tim Sebastian, I think he had an interest in coming here. In the end he found a situation for him at [SC] Paderborn that will be very good for him. I mean, we'll see, there's potential for there to be more sharing of players in the future.

Homegrown Players in Germany

The feedback is that Tyler Adams and Sean Davis have done really well there, which doesn't surprise us, we think very highly of them. It's a great experience for them to have to be over there and be exposed to the level of play there and you know again we'll find way to continue to share resources.

Ali Cutris

How did homegrowns change your direction and philosophy

Well, I think the good thing is we signed a lot of our homegrown players that otherwise would have been what we believe are top draft picks. So, a lot of them midfielders and forwards, so, with that you kind of look at an emphasis of potentially looking at the back line.

Talks with Seattle

Just going back and forth on a couple of different options. I want to be respectful of Seattle and not disclose what they shared with us, and I'm sure they'll reciprocate.

Difference of approach to draft given settled team in 2016

You know, every year is different, and every year you have unique challenges. Last year, we were in a situation where we needed to build the roster and build the team, acquire the players and things like that. This year, the challenge is just bringing the team back. You know, you still go out and push and drive to really get value out of the draft. You know, have the conversations you need to have in order to be able to select the best player available. This year we went out, and went out hard and at the end of the day we feel really good about our pick.

On the amount of homegrowns and how that'll work every year

Our commitment to youth development I think will only get stronger. But I do think this was a unique year. Not many clubs will go out and be able to sign the number of homegrown players, and we won't either, you know every off-season. We're still going to have the same approach of trying to embrace youth development, sign younger players from our academy and bring them in our system. But you know, gotta be honest, this was a pretty big year in that regards.

Will younger players have the opportunity to play on the senior team?

Everyone knows from the staff to the players, we want a competitive environment and we gotta bring youth into our system and so they're going to come into preseason, we start in Orlando, and compete. We expect a lot out of them as we expect out of all of our players. They'll get a fair shot, an equal opportunity, and we're looking forward to seeing how they kind of mesh in with the group we have now.

Miazga's current status

He's on our roster. He's on our roster and in national team camp. So, you know, that's where we are with that. He's under contract until the end of the year.

Tim Sebastian

I'm probably a little bit more open about this than I would with other players because he's a guy that's kind of within our family. But we did have an interest in Tim, a talented player that really wasn't playing as much with Leipzig right now and you know we have a really close relationship with all our teams. At the end of the day, I don't think it's going to be a situation that works out, and he's going to move on and we wish him the very best.

Do members of the Red Bull family reach out to RBNY, or is Sebastian a player RBNY targeted?

I talk regularly with the guys at Salzburg and all the guys in Leipzig and Brazil, so we talk about scouting, we talk about tactics, talk about best practices, coaches, players. So, as you think about, you look at the chemistry of our team, you look at the makeup, maybe strengthening the back line was an emphasis. So, looking at their team, looking at a couple of other teams, a couple of the targets, seemed like a situation that might make sense, at the end of the day, it did not work out.