I'm gonna go with the bulletpoints here since I don't want to spend too much time slacking off and missing interviews:
- Smith said that they were "evaluating" LaDainian Tomlinson, aka the normal stock answer, but when pressed by McClain, also said that "we do want young players," but that there are cases where "a veteran adds value." In other words, we're going around in circles.
- The Texans will meet with Owen Daniels' and DeMeco Ryans' representatives tonight. Smith added that his team would be approaching contracts as "business as usual" and that the potential of uncapped years and lockouts would not alter the way they go about structuring the contracts.
- The decision to get rid of Dunta Robinson was made with "level of play, level of compensation," as well as "how (we) felt about other players at that position." He went on to praise Glover Quin as doing an excellent job, and said he was comfortable with him going forward at cornerback. He also repeated the Kubiak quote about Quin getting a lot more attention if not for Brian Cushing. "We are not depleted at the position," he added. Smith also said that with Jacques Reeves being a former starter and Fred Bennett being a former starter that they think they have the experience to not feel pressured to pick a cornerback.
-The Texans would like to have Kevin Walter back, but at the same time, "with the way free agency is, you can't keep everybody."
-Smith sounded like he fully expected free agency to slow down this year with how many more RFAs there are. "I don't know how much movement you'll see." He went on to say that picks are at a premium, and are valued moreso than they were five years ago. Obviously if a player is productive, he'll get the highest tender, therefore he "doesn't know whether teams will be forthcoming," about restricted free agency.
-After he just answered a question about not dealing with hypotheticals (what if Owen Daniels was healthy the whole season?), McClain asked him what kind of attributes his ideal back would have. Smith replied: "Jim Brown." McClain: "Would he fit in your system?" Smith: "Yes, he would."
-Asked about running backs in the draft, he gave a deflective answer and said that there were "elements of both power, bruising backs...as well as speed, edge runners," and that teams would have choices either way.
-On defensive improvement last year: "We thought that with (Antonio) Smith, (Brian) Cushing, and (Bernard) Pollard, we were able to improve on each level."