Full transcript: Jordan Matthews on being selected by the Eagles

Wide receiver Jordan Matthews spoke to the media aftet beging selected by the Eagles with the 42nd overaall pick. Here's the full transcript:

On whether he had a sense that the Eagles were going to draft him:

"Yeah, I definitely had a feeling [it was going to be the Eagles]. I had a great interview and a great time up there meeting with the coaching staff and everybody. I got a really good vibe and it's great to be on board."

On whom he spent time with on his trip with the Eagles:

"I was actually able to spend time with coach [Chip] Kelly and the whole coaching staff. I also got to spend time with the [general manager Howie Roseman] and president [Don Smolenski]. I got to watch the players work out and I spent time with the strength coach. I had a great feeling going in, so I'm just really blessed and really excited to go ahead and get going with the team."

On what makes him think he can thrive out of the slot:

"I played a lot of slot in college. I played the 'X' and the 'Y' and I played the 'Y' predominantly in a lot of '10' personnel so I know how to run the seam and do the speed game and all those types of things. I can also play the outside, too. Whatever role they want me to play, I'm going to go there and do that to the best of my ability because I feel like the better I do with that role, the more roles I can get later on."

On any possible similarities between the scheme at Vanderbilt and Kelly's scheme:

"There are some similarities. We actually had four films from the Eagles in our office. Before I even got to go meet with them for my interview, I watched a couple of those films from last year to kind of get a taste for it. There's an answer for everything. If you want to go too high, [the Eagles] can run up the middle with a great running back, you can go one high and leave man-to-man coverage on the outside, you've got great receivers who can exploit man-to-man coverage. I definitely got a taste for it, but I can't wait to divulge into the playbook and really learn some stuff."

On whether there is any pressure with coming in as the first wide receiver since the team released DeSean Jackson:

"No, there is no pressure. I feel like when you have God on your side there is no pressure. I wish the best for DeSean and all of his future endeavors with the Washington Redskins but I have to go in and be the best Jordan Matthews I can be and not worry about all that."

On whether making plays in traffic is a strength in his game:

"Of course. My coaches always tell me, 'If you want to be a big receiver, you have to play big.' That was always the mindset I took into my game. I always made sure I watched big receivers and watched how they scored in coverage and got open and caught the ball. I try to apply that to my game and make sure I can be a top receiver."

On the relief of not being the focal point of the defense each and every week given the team's multitude of weapons:

"It's definitely going to be a little bit different than my time at Vanderbilt. Like I said, I'm going to go in and be the best teammate I can be. I want to definitely earn the respect from those guys so I'm going to go in, shut my mouth and get to work."

On how influential his cousin, NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, has been on his career:

"He was definitely influential. I think one of the most influential things was watching him as a young child and growing up and being able to study his game and trying to apply some of those things to my game. He has given me some advice and I really appreciate that. Hopefully our relationship can grow as time goes on."

On whether he has trained with Rice in the past:

"I've talked to him about it, but I haven't been able to train with him."

On why he thinks he slipped to the second round of the draft:

"I think that was just God's plan. I don't have the answers. I don't know how this whole process ultimately works. At the same time, I was blessed to be put in a great position. I'm not worried about anything ahead of me. I'm ready to go and work for the Eagles."

On the difficulty of being in New York City last night and not hear his name called:

"I was used to it coming out of high school because I was not a heavily recruited guy. I was made for this. I think God put me in that position and put that chip on my shoulder. I wasn't going to get complacent but now I'm definitely not going to. It's just part of it and I'm glad that I landed in a great situation."

On whether Kelly communicated to him how he ultimately wants to use the slot receiver position:

"Not too much. I know from some of the game films I watched you definitely have to be able to go across the middle and catch balls, but you also have to be able to help with the bubble screens and also block on those screen games, too. So I just have to get in, learn it and be the best I can be."

On why he thrives in the middle of the field:

"Because I'm hungry. Every opportunity I've ever had in football I had to go out and grind for it. Nothing was ever given to me, so when the ball is in the air, it's mine so that's my attitude whenever I go out on the field."

On graduating college in three and a half years:

"I graduated with an economics degree. That was really important to me because I wanted to make sure that I was completely done with school when I got to the NFL because I wanted to wake up as a professional athlete and go to bed as a professional athlete. I didn't want to have to worry about going back to school or any of that stuff. I want to be a complete football player so I didn't want any distractions off the field including school. I was glad I was able to finish that and also give that degree to my mom."

On looking forward to playing in an uptempo offense:

"I'm definitely looking forward to it. The one thing about me is that I always make sure I'm in shape. I'm big on cardio and trying to keep myself in tip-top shape. I can run forever so this is definitely a perfect situation for me."