Mike Shanahan Players Quotations

I don't think along those terms until it happens. You've got an off-season to go through at the end of the season and you've got a procedure you go through every year. It's always nice to have a couple extra draft picks, and you're hoping when it's time, you get a couple good players out of it.

He can take some visitors, so that's a good sign. We'll have a number of players and coaches going over there this afternoon, but they still want him to rest. (The doctors) feel very good about his progress.

I watch a lot of college film, not only looking at what different colleges do from an offense and defensive standpoint, but also evaluating players, ... so we do that quite a bit during the off-season. Especially a team like LSU, who has a number of players (in draft consideration) year-in and year-out.

Our guys aren't as big as some. But they do have great speed. We really thrive on speed with our defense. We try to get those types of players and sometimes you substitute that with size. Our linebackers do have good speed.

What you try to do is get guys to understand their role. They may not like being second team, but when they do get an opportunity to play, they take advantage of that opportunity. . . . We've got a lot of players like that.

We are playing the best rush defense in the National Football League, so I hope we have that problem. You always want your players to achieve goals, but I don't think that is a game plan going in. We are just trying to play it as it comes on.

You're not really sure how much you're going to reshape your team. What you try to do is get the best players in to compete, and those players eventually separated themselves on who's starters, who's second team and who doesn't make the squad.

I am not sure how anybody treats a regular-season game like an exhibition game. The big difference is that when you play your last pre-season game, there are 65 players on your team. You have a chance to play your second unit.

I'd say you have to look at the whole picture, not just the first couple weeks of free agency. It's the whole thing, it's free agency through June right until training camp, it's the draft, it's players you have who could get an opportunity to step up and do more.