The moment seemed at the time like a fleeting interaction between a team that had already traded its top pick for Carson Palmer and a prospect whose NFL potential appeared uncertain.
But in that 2012 exchange in Indianapolis, 33-year-old Raiders quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo matched wits with 23-year-old Michigan State passer Kirk Cousins, and something clicked.
DeFilippo had been impressed by Cousins' stirring speech at the 2011 Big Ten kickoff luncheon; Cousins was struck by the preparedness of an athletic director's son who vowed at 10 years old he'd be coaching in the NFL. The meeting yielded no immediate fruit — the Raiders took Utah tackle Tony Bergstrom 95th overall, while the Redskins took Cousins seven picks later to be Robert Griffin III's backup.