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                    **                              <span style="">Opening Statement: </span>                       **                      

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**Q:

Can you discuss the importance of the Colston extension?*

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A:

Clearly he's been very productive, a nice surprise and a great story for us. When you have a chance to get a player of that caliber extended, even though it's early…I'm trying to remember if I signed a guy to an extension after his first two years and I can't remember that I've ever done that, so he's a special case. It's exciting for us, but at the same time, he's a younger player, it's a shorter term contract, it's four years. He's going to have another bite at the apple. I kind of look at this as a bridge between the deal he signed as a seventh round pick and his next deal. We're excited to have Marques and to know that he's going to be a part of the New Orleans Saints through 2011.*

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**Q:

Do you expect long holdouts with Sedrick Ellis and Tracey Porter?*

A:

Right now I do. There's been very little progress in the first round period and really at the top of the second round there has been very little progress. It's frustrating. I have to be honest with you. I feel like it's about the agents of these guys not wanting to look bad as opposed to any concern for getting the player in here, getting him acclimated and getting him going in the right way in their first year in the league. It's frustrating to be truthful.*

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**Q:

Is this about agents waiting to see what other players sign for first?*

A:

They're all just waiting, not wanting to be first, not wanting to be embarrassed by a deal that gets done after they do their deal and frankly, they're looking for some huge increases. Yes, they'll do a deal if you want to give them some outrageous increase. I just don't know any business where you hand out 20 percent, 30 percent increases every year. You're not going to be in business very long if you do that. It's frustrating.*

**Q:

Is there a key first round pick to get signed to maybe speed up the process?*

A:

I was hoping it was our guy, but that's not looking like that's going to happen in the near future.*

**Q:

Is this holdup among draft picks related to the eventual expansion of the salary cap?*

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A:

Frankly I haven't seen a theme. I'd like to have some logic to put to it. So far I haven't seen any logic. This is what we want and okay, great.*

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**Q:

It seems like this offseason more than any other, you guys have been really proactive in going out and making deals to acquire big names and profile players. Do you feel that way too in bringing in bigger names and more established players?*

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A:

We're not out there looking at names. We're just looking for players that can help our team. I think in the system that we're in; you can't go out every year and sign a bunch of players to new contracts. You just don't have that ability with the salary cap and the limitation on resources, so it becomes cyclical. You can do it once every three years or two or three years. It just happened that this year we had the opportunity to get a couple of guys and so we've been able to do that. I think the most important factor is being able to re-sign our own guys and we've had some success doing that this year.*

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**Q:

What was the difference in finally getting the Jeremy Shockey deal done?*

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A:

As you know, we had a lot of discussions with the Giants prior to the draft, at the draft and after the draft. We just couldn't make a deal. I understand that. When you're on the other side of that, if you're going to trade a player you want to make sure you get the value that you believe that guy's worth. It was dormant for a couple of months and we just wanted to make a call earlier this week and say we're still interested and Jerry Reese at that time said 'Let's make a deal'. We were able to get the compensation to both our liking and their liking and we were able to make that deal. I appreciate how professional the Giants were. It was a good experience dealing with their organization even during the times that we couldn't make the deal.*

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**Q:

There is a report out of New York for the Shockey trade and Jonathan Vilma trade saying that if Vilma meets certain criteria that the Shockey trade would trigger a first round pick for him. Can you address that?*

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A:

There is a contingency in Vilma's deal that could affect our ability to give a second round pick next year. It's unlikely, but it could happen, so consequently we had to have a contingency in our deal with the Giants to take care of the event that the other contingency took place. I think at the end of the day it will be the two and the five for what the Giants will receive. There are some contingencies.*

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**Q:

Would the contingencies trigger a first round pick?*

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A:

I'd rather not say what it triggers. Those terms are generally undisclosed.*

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**Q:

Is Vilma's deal based on some contingencies?*

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A:

There are some things that are under our control and some things that are based upon his play time.*

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**Q:

Can you discuss the decision to bring three quarterbacks into training camp?*

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A:

Usually you have a minimum of four, but now we have this 80 man roster. We had to make choices as to what positions we had players at. We have competition at kicker, punter and long snapper and I think it's probably unusual if you look at the teams that go into camp, that it's unusual to have six players at those three positions. We want to keep that competition at those three positions, so we have to cut someplace and we felt really good about the three quarterbacks we had so that's the area we went to.*

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**Q:

How much work will Tyler Palko receive?*

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A:

He's going to receive a lot of work with only three quarterbacks on our roster and he's ready for that. Tyler's a young guy with a lot of energy and he's eager to have reps and eager to play in the preseason. I think having three is going to work out fine for us.*

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**Q:

What players are you excited to see in action on the field?*

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A:

Sedrick Ellis and Tracey Porter. I'm excited to see him walk through the front door.*

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**Q:

Can you discuss your anticipation of watching Robert Meachem?*

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A:

What I would say is that we're excited about how hard Robert's worked this offseason and for me, here's a young player that does not live up to his expectations or our expectations last year and was able to look in the mirror and say I have to do something different and he sought out David Patten and asked him to mentor his offseason. That's exciting for me to see a player with some determination who says that he wants to show people he was worth a first round pick. I'm anxious to see the results of that this training camp.*

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**Q:

Where does your deal stand with Millsaps?*

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A:

We have a deal in place. I think we have two more years on the current deal. We've had two good years here at Millsaps and I'm anticipating another real good training camp. We're happy with the arrangement and I think they're happy with us as well. Hopefully it will be a long term relationship.*

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**Q:

Is it the next two years or two years after this?*

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A:

I think it's two more beyond this. I'm not 100 percent sure that it's the case.*

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**Q:

Was it a big deal to get the lower field in excellent condition?*

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A:

Absolutely. I think last year, we kind of felt that we were light one field and so, we were on that today for the conditioning test. It looks to be in really good shape, so we're real pleased with it.*

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**Q:

Are you looking to negotiate an extension with Jahri Evans in the future?*

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A:

Jahri's a very similar case to Marques (Colston) in that here's a young player that was a second day draft pick who has come in and performed at a high level and we're going to talk with Jahri and his people. I've had a conversation or two. I'd like nothing better than to get him extended and I think he'd like that as well.*

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**Q:

How do you evaluate the moves other teams made in your division?*

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A:

I think all three teams have done some good things. Obviously Tampa's the defending champion, so we have to pay a lot of attention to what they're doing. Carolina is getting Jake Delhomme back and they've probably been the most dangerous team over the last five seasons if you look at the entirety of it. Atlanta has an entire new staff. That always brings energy. We saw it for ourselves in 2006 when people didn't think we amount to anything and yet we had a new staff and a lot of new players, a lot of new energy and success. Any team in the National Football League can make that leap from a poor season to a good season. We have to be concerned about all of them.*

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**Q:

All three teams in the division have been speculated as landing spots for Brett Favre. How would that change the dynamics of the division?*

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A:

Obviously he's a great player. He's going to make any team he plays for a credible threat. I certainly hope that doesn't happen. If it does, we're going to have to play him.*

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**Q:

Are you glad you're not in Ted Thompson's shoes right now?*

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A:

I've been in tough situations before. We've all had to deal with tough things. It's always hard. You never want to get sideways with a player that has meant a lot to your organization. I don't know a lot of the details. I only know what I've read. I have a feeling that will work out for both sides.*

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