On how he has improved the defense through the draft:
"I am excited that it looks like No. 30 (LaRon Landry) can play. He has moved around here very good. I think it is good that we do this rookie mini camp because it is always a shock to young guys. I don't care how high you pick them in the draft or how good of athletes they are, they find out they are not in as good a shape as pro-athletes are. He is a real highly-tuned athlete but once you start practicing at this pace and at this level, the talent gets narrowed and you find out you have to improve your conditioning even more. Yesterday, maybe from just the excitement after getting on a pro-field for the first time, he gassed early. Today he had a really good practice. I never saw him in a situation where he gasped out of breath. He is now more relaxed with the setting and a little more relaxed with the calls."
On the quality of the defensive personnel at Rookie Camp:
"We have had several guys on defense that, speaking at it in a defensive point of view, are promising young prospects. Outside of our other two draft choices, a few priority free agents; some guys that are in try-out basis have done very good jobs here. That was one of the things that we were talking about upstairs was trying to sort some of these things and that it is going to be a tough meeting tomorrow. It has been a very good two days. I think our personnel department has done a very good job identifying things that we want as a football team because it's amazing, each year we have gotten rid of a quite a few numbers from the Friday practice. We have had nobody in this entire camp who we have felt didn't belong here. We think all of them should be here all three days. Our emergency list for injuries going into training camp is better this year than any year I've been here."
On what it was about LaRon Landry that separated him from others in the draft:
"He plays with the style and the attitude that we like our defensive guys to play. We think he will do very well with what we will like him to do in the secondary, especially at a strong safety position. We are going to classify our safeties this year as free and strong. We are going to have Sean Taylor as our free and LaRon as our strong. It won't be long for LaRon to work his way in the lineup from what I have seen. We will have a lot more depth at that position because we were not very deep at that safety position. We like to play Pierson Prioleau in some of those other packages, Vernon Fox in some of those other packages, Reed Doughty in some of those packages and I'm really happy that Omar Soutmire is back and it will be fun to see how that position shakes up going into training camp."
On if Landry and Sean Taylor have the same motor as players:
"You do see that in his college film. That was one of the things that caught our eye. There was no game in the college level, and we watched them all, that he ever felt like he was out of place. Coach Sabin is a friend of mine and we discussed long and hard with him about LaRon coming in as a freshman and being able to handle all the things he could handle as a freshman. If you know anything about what Nick (Sabin) does on defense, he does more in some areas that what we do. He will be able to handle that as a mental standpoint, he did such a great job at that while he was in college. He fits in very, very well. At no time have I seen him in a game where he thinks the game is bigger than him. We have heard an awful lot about how Jemarcus (Nelson) stood out in that Sugar Bowl, and so did he (LaRon). You go back and watch his game film and how he played in that game, he was hunting people down. He wasn't just trying to win his match-up, he was trying to hunt you down. Those are the kinds of things you like from an attitude standpoint for defense."
On how Laron Landry and Sean Taylor will work together:
"We like to identify and maybe help him out a little bit more. Hopefully we can have a little bit more ball production this way. I think that with Sean Taylor's skills, he can go so far to get balls and we had to use him in a box an awful lot last year. He can do anything you want him to do. I would like to put Sean Taylor in a position to go and get the ball. I think LaRon is going to help us do that. LaRon has the versatility that you want the safety to have and really in any system we play defensively, he will be able to help us out with so many things."
On if Byron Westbrook is the type of guy that could make this team as an undrafted rookie:
"Maybe. He has caught our eye. My biggest worry right now is that the playbook doesn't end up with the Eagles. Those were the first words out of my mouth, while he had this big old grin on his face. He looks for that competitiveness for his brother anyway. He has caught our eye though and has done very well."
On if Byron Westbrook's height could be a factor for him in this league:
"I never have worried about that. We just spent a lot of money on London Fletcher, who vertically challenged. It doesn't make any difference. Height does not have a lot to do with it; it is what you do with it once you get out on the field. Byron has toughness. He has game instinct, and hopefully we will see how he does one more day. Hopefully, he can play inside on the nickel or the safety position because he has a good frame."
On comparing H.B. Blades to London Fletcher:
"I'm sure London wasn't the only one in the meeting room who needed a booster chair. We have H.B. and he does a very good job. He has a great personality too. With his family's history being comfortable in the National Football League, he knew that I was going to be on to him from the day he walked in the door. He has grown up around professional players, very good college players; he has a good college history, so he feels that he has something to prove every time he steps out onto the field. I can't wait for H.B. to see London's motor or intensity in the meeting room. That is something that you can't really teach as coach but being around players like that. This isn't college football anymore. He being around London will help us from a coaching standpoint. Blades is productive. He is good around the ball, and we have a better chance this year of being good around the ball. His production numbers stand out. He tackles well and he gets his hands on the ball. If he can get the jump mentally on those things at the professional level like he did at the college level, he will be able to get some jumps on plays."
