«Our experiences aside, ... I still think it works. And I really believe it still works for both sides. With the money involved now, and the fact a player can guarantee those dollars immediately by signing the [one-year qualifying offer that accompanies the franchise tag], there aren't many players who haven't done OK for themselves. And let's remember the original intent of the franchise tag, to allow teams a mechanism for being able to keep players essential to them. You don't think the Indianapolis Colts wouldn't have been harmed if they had lost Peyton Manning last year? No, I still think it's fair.»

«Between the three things above, we always end up spending 100 percent of our salary-cap money. It will get spent on making us the best football team we can be. Our history is more proof of that than the words. We're sitting here right now with a football team we feel pretty good about.»

«He still wants to be here, we still want him to be here, and in the end we think it will have a positive (resolution).»

«It may not be acceptable to him, but it was a significant offer. I think the level of disrespect, if there is any, is pretty minor.»

«Whenever we have cap room, it is spent in these ways, in this priority. First, we spend it on anybody who can help this year's team in any way.»

«The next priority is to extend as many players as we can during the season.»

«After that, we push as much money into next year's salary cap. Our first priority with that money is that we want to sign our players, and the second priority is it allows us to be active in the free-agent market.»

«We've been clear that the choices are to play under this contract or not. I'm not sure he still believes that, but we've said from day one those were the choices on the table, and he had to make a choice between one of the two things. That's not going to change.»

«wanted to make sure there was no ambiguity regarding the things we weren't happy about.»

«This is an effort to set a positive tone as we move forward,»