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On whether he plans to sign a new cornerback:"We're just going to look around, [general manager] Scot [McCloughan] and I have talked about it. We'll address it as it comes. We want to bring someone in here who can compete and make us better, help us win football games, and that's really all we're looking at, at that position."
On whether he likes what he sees from CB Tarell Brown:
"Absolutely, the younger guys that we have, if we didn't feel comfortable about them, we'd be very nervous right now. But, Tarell Brown has really been working his tail off. I'm sure [CB] Shawntae [Spencer] will come back, and he will be fine. I know he's working his tail off. So, very excited about what we have. It's unfortunate that we lost [CB] Walt [Harris]. It's the nature of the game. Walt's a great guy, and, hopefully, if he decides to continue to play, we'll talk about that later. Really, it's unfortunate."
On whether Walt Harris' 2009 season is over:
"Yes. Unless something else comes up that I don't know. So, the information on that, I just have to continue to talk with Fergie (head athletic trainer Jeff Ferguson), and the trainers, and the doctors and we'll go from there."
On whether he expected Shawntae Spencer to be ready for training camp:
"Oh, he will be."
On whether Walt Harris' injury makes him rethink moving Reggie Smith to safety from cornerback:
"No. Absolutely not. No, although Reggie, when we drafted him, he's a guy that had the flexibility. There's some guys that you can get that can do both. And he can do both, but right now he's at safety, and he's making strides there and is doing a good job. Like I said, we're just going to try and find a guy to come in and compete and make us better at the corner position. We'll go from there."
On whether having experience at the cornerback position is important after losing Walt Harris' experience:
"You're looking for a guy who has talent, a guy who can come in and compete. There are a lot of veterans out there that I'm not really excited about. So, it's just a matter of finding the right guy that fits what we're trying to do, willing to come in and compete and work hard to get better. And that's really about, that's what we're looking for."
On confirming that there are not a lot of veterans out there who he is excited about:"Yeah. There are some guys out there that I'm not excited about. I mean, I'm not going to go into names, but there are some guys out there that I'm not excited about that I don't think fit what we're trying to do. But, it has nothing to do with the mature guys, the young guys, all this. We want a guy that has talent and willing to come in and work."
On what he thinks about the guy the team brought in today:
"We're just going to bring him in and see how it works. I'll have a conversation with him and tell him what we're about and see if they can fit. If they can, great. If they can't, then we continue to look."
On the number of guys being brought in:"There are a few."
On whether Brian Kelly is one of them:"Right now, we just want to – Scot [McCloughan] and I said: You know what? We're not going to go into who it is. We just know that there are different guys that'll be coming through. So, I don't want to get into names and all that."
On how he feels the team progressed from Monday through Thursday in OTAs:
"Monday, not very good, Tuesday, a little better. Wednesday, a lot better. It was good. I was hoping today would be great. It wasn't great. It was OK. But, the most important thing is the guys have a feeling and an understanding of what we're trying to accomplish. And it's about getting better, taking advantage of every opportunity that we have to come out here to get better. And that's what it's really about, and they're competing. I think they have a good feel for where we want to go, and we're just going to build on it."
On what he looks to improve in the next OTA session June 1-2:
"I think, first and foremost, just make sure the knowledge of the game, the detail of the game. Obviously, we don't have on pads, and it's kind of tough sometimes to keep the guys from getting emotionally charged. And, you get on them about, 'Hey, we've got to open up this hole. Hey, we've got to do this,' And, the next thing you know, 'OK, well I show you I can really do it and blow the guy off the ball and get someone hurt.' We don't want to do that. So, OTAs is a very fine line of balance between getting the guys out here and saying, 'Hey, I want you to go full speed, but at the same time, take care of each other.' And that's the thing that we have to do. We have to learn to practice and take care of each other and make sure that that guy on defense, if I'm an offensive lineman, that guy on defense, that's my teammate. And I love him, and I'm going to take care of him just like I'm going to take care of the guy next to me. And as we continue to get that across, I think we'll be fine."
On whether Walt Harris' injury gives him pause to reconsider the idea of football practice in May:"It's OTAs. Everybody's got to do them. I think the teams that learn how to do it — you can come out here and have practice on any given day and someone gets hurt. If you think about that too long, you'd be rethinking practice. But, I think it's just something that you have to have the guys continue to understand that we have to have practice, we have to get better, we have to have tempo. We just have to take care of each other, and they understand that."
On Michael Vick and his general thoughts on giving guys second chances:
"Obviously, I feel that everybody deserves a second chance. You look at guys around the league, there are some guys that you just don't know what they did. They just got lucky. No one knew it. No one turned it in. Obviously, I believe that guys should have a second chance. So, hopefully he gets that chance somewhere."
On whether that second chance could come with the 49ers:"Don't know right now. That's something going forward, you just never know. I don't want to say absolutely not, because I'm not there. But, I'm certainly not going to say yes. I'm just saying it's one of those things that Scot [McCloughan] and I will continue to talk about. But, we like the guys we have here. Very excited about Shaun [Hill], very excited about Alex [Smith] and we've got enough on that plate right now."
On whether he thinks that the team that brings Michael Vick back will experience backlash from fans or protest groups:
"In all honesty, I've thought very little about the whole Michael Vick (situation) — I know it's out there, but I've really been thinking so much about what we've got to do here. Whether or not that ever becomes an issue, I don't know. (I am) So focused on what we have to get done here and the vision we have in place and making sure we take care of the 49ers. The Michael Vick situation will take care of itself, someway, somehow. But, I just need to make sure that every bit of thought and time that we have goes into what we have here."
On the whether he would feel comfortable starting Tarell Brown:
"Absolutely. Tarell's been working his tail off. Very confident guy. That's why he's here. Very excited about Tarell Brown."
On whether Tarell Brown is ready to assume a starting position in general:
"Oh yeah. Yes indeed."
