Anytime you don't have a deal when free agency begins, you have to assume that a player is gone. Sometimes you are wrong, and the player decides to stay. But at this point, the chances of re-signing them are not very good. |
Apparently he hurt the foot the same play as he hurt the knee; he showed a lot of toughness going back and playing on it, |
Apparently he hurt the foot the same play as he hurt the knee; he showed a lot of toughness going back and playing on it. He was obviously disappointed because he wanted to get out there and play, and we'd have liked to seen that as well. |
But it's something he didn't realize he did. He was focused on the knee, when the injury occurred. He didn't realize it until Friday morning when he woke up and couldn't walk on it. |
Dan is a very valuable asset to our defense and he's a difference-maker for us. We felt it was very important to get him extended. |
Draft picks today are your currency, your life blood. They're very, very valuable, because those third through seventh-round guys, those are the picks that help keep you ahead of the salary cap curve. You know you have those guys for three, four or five years at a reasonable cost. Especially anybody after the first round. That's why drafting in the cap era is even more important. |
Everyone we talked to at all of his clubs had nothing but positive things to say about him. The perception is out there on him, but if you spend any amount of time with him you realize he just wants to win. |
For us, he was never a problem. There was never any reason for us to believe otherwise. |
He made it very clear from [team owner] Mr. [Jerry] Richardson and below that he wanted to be here. He never indicated to us otherwise. And that's very important to us, a guy who wants to be here. |
He obviously is very disappointed because he wants to get out and play and we would have liked to have seen that as well. It was something that he didn't realize he did when the injury occurred. |
He's a first-round draft pick and we wanted to him to be here and finish his career here, if possible. That is something we think is very important if you can get your first-round picks or very good players who make a difference, to stick around. |
He's an extremely talented player. We feel pretty fortunate to get him in here. |
He's been a tremendous fit for us from the day he first came in to interview with us. He's a tremendous person for us. He's fun to work with and he has a great feel for the game, the players and our current system. |
He's got an incredible feel for people, players, the game. He's got great instincts and a great gut for when to do it. |
He's was a veteran guy we feel can come in and compete for a starting job. |