On Andre Carter's (DE, #99) addition to the team:
"We think attitude wise and personality wise that he fits in exactly with the rest of that group. Athletically, I think he adds another rare guy in that group because he can do things, hopefully rushing the passer, that we've needed. He's a very conscientious, dedicated, detailed worker. You'll always see him out here way before practice gets started. We're getting ready to walk through and Andre will be out here ten or fifteen minutes before everybody else getting lathered up for a walk through. We're expecting big things out of him and he'll be another component that we're going to plug in to a lot of different packages. He's been everything we thought he was to date. We've liked what we've seen and I just think he needs to get more comfortable in the verbiage, the calls, and working with the teammates here at the Washington Redskins and he'll fit in fine."
On Secondary-Cornerbacks Coach Jerry Gray and his coming to the Redskins:
"I was fortunate enough to coach Jerry Gray and be his position coach and at the time we drafted Jerry Gray, Steve Jackson was a second year professional. I said to him midway through his first year, watching how he prepared as a pro, I said 'Jerry if you're dumb enough to coach I hope I get a chance to hire you.' When I was moved to coordinator at the Tennessee Titans, Jeff Fisher and I talked long and hard, and we went and got him. He had just retired recently and he was coaching defensive backs at SMU. We brought him in and started with the ground floor as a quality controls coach, entry-level coach, and moved up rapidly. I think he's one of the best secondary coach's in the National Football League. We're blessed here to have two of the best secondary coaches in the National Football League, Jerry and Steve. Jerry has been around me for 10 or 11 of the last 12 or 13 years. They have been through every single argument, every adjustment, and they understand that things are not personal when I get heated on game day. I am very comfortable because he's here. He's a very competitive guy and we're very fortunate to have him. Jerry understands his role as the corner coach, but he understands the big picture. And there's never a fight or sell job with me why we have to do it this way. He understands the whole scheme because he's been a coordinator and he understands how his guys fit in there. It's a great fit for this defensive staff for him to be here."
On Secondary-Cornerbacks Coach Jerry Gray accepting the Redskins job when he had offers at places with bigger titles:
"I'll tell you this, loyalty is a two way street. Jerry, Steve (Jackson), and all those guys have been loyal to me as players and I'm always going to be loyal to them. They're in my family. I'm always going to be looking out for those guys; they've looked out for me for a lot of years as a player and coaching with me. I do think it speaks a lot about the relationship because in this business it's tough enough as it is if you're not with the right kind of people. He wasn't willing to just jump out there and go do something. When he knew that he could come back here, he knew that he was going to be expected and he knew that his opinion was going to be listened to. I listen to him just like I do the rest of the coaches a lot. I'm really glad he's here."
On what he looks for in the first week of camp and has he seen it so far:
"Every year you have to get your feet under you and get used to carrying your pads. We had a tremendous off-season. We had 98 percent attendance. We had 15 really good practices, but when I talked to you guys in the spring, I said there's only so much you can see in your underwear. You have to get the pads back on and you've got to see that weight room development, the strike, and the toughness and the strength that you've tried to work on in the improvement areas are there. This first week is about getting back to the basics. You've got to get fundamentally back to the basics. They've got to get through the tough times. Usually the first three days are the toughest three days of camp. You'll see them start to rebound on the fourth day of camp and then the tenth or twelfth day of camp. They're going to lose their legs, they know that, and it's important for us to work them hard early so we can have them strong and fresh at the end of camp. (Head Coach) Joe Gibbs is real smart. I think he's done a tremendous job on how he scheduled this camp because the guys paid the price for us in the off-season on doing the things and being around here. So we brought them in late so that we don't wear them out, but what we do is we have to wear them down a little bit so that they come back stronger and that we're ready to be fresh at the end of training camp. We're not going to wear these guys out with two-a-day practices. We're going to adjust. We may not do the same things defensively we did last year. Every year is a different year because we've got to coach to the players we have. I'm anxious to get into the scrimmage at the end of this week."
On the addition of Associate Head Coach-Offense Al Saunders:
"We're very excited about Al Saunders. I said this before, I pulled a hamstring when we hired him back this winter. I think he's the best coordinator in football. I really do. I'm very happy that I don't have to go against him other then practice. Our players have to be energized and very excited that he's here. Our defensive guys cheer in practice when they see Al chase them down the field. Our defensive guys are starting to think there might be someone nuttier then me on the staff. We're really happy he's here. You can see how our offensive guys are practicing; they have a bounce in their step. They are doing a good job. It's going to be a highflying offense. I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to see the points we put on the board."
On the defensive line:
"The good thing about it is that you can never have too many good football players, especially in the defensive line. We typically dress seven on game day, sometimes six defensive linemen. We would love to have the flexibility to where we can say it's 50-50 on every single guy that plays because a defensive lineman has to treat every snap as if it's precious. We have two really good line coaches here. They do a great job in substituting and keeping a fresh guy in there."
On the weak-side linebackers position:
"Warrick (Holdman) (LB, #57) has done very well. Rocky (McIntosh) (LB, #52) is improving daily. Physically, Rocky can do some things some of the other linebackers can't even do. He's got to get some verbiage down and he's got to get some of the school studying down. In that position, we've had a lot of different people rotating through that spot and our packages and we'll continue to do that. Right now Warrick and Rocky have a good heated battle going on. Khary Campbell (LB, #50) is in the mix and so is Chris Clemons (LB, #58). We'll see. The guy who is playing the best will play the most, but we've got packages for every guy and the strength that he brings."
