Opening Remarks: "All right, a couple of injury things. Jason Babin has a calf strain; cannot have an MRI right now. So, we mentioned we were going to get him an MRI but he had swallowed one of those thermometers and you can't go through the MRI with that in your system so they're flushing that out. Then, Riley Cooper will have surgery on Monday to fix that collarbone. They'll plate the collarbone and we're thinking six weeks in that area.
"(Brent) Celek is making progress, doing well. Antonio Dixon is doing well. Everybody's good other than those three guys. So, again, it was good to get the pads on yesterday. I thought the guys worked hard. We got a lot of work done which I thought was important on both sides of the ball. Special teams, we were able to get some full-field work done; fast, which I thought was also important. These morning practices give the players an extra opportunity to get themselves loose after a tough day yesterday. Normally, they wake up that second and third day and you start getting the pulls that you don't like getting. This gives them an opportunity to get up and moving around, which is another plus to the afternoon practice."
On whether he expects WR Riley Cooper back by opening day: "He'll be close. I think he'll be close."
On how the team goes forward with the wide receiver position: "I'm going to just leave it the way it is. We're going to leave it and let the young guys get some work in and see what they can do."
On what he thought about WR Marvin McNutt in the spring and in camp so far: "Well, I thought he did well yesterday. He had a good day yesterday and that was good to see. He's a big, physical kid. You saw that. You saw him attack the football and he made some big plays. You saw him on a quick screen make some people miss and make a big play there."
On who has impressed him in camp so far: "It's too early. Too early. I mentioned McNutt; okay, he was one. (WR) Demaris (Johnson) looked like he did well if we're talking wide receivers."
On whether McNutt's speed off of the line is slowed because he is still learning the offense: "I think learning the offense. He's a big kid too. He's not going to look like DeSean (Jackson) coming off. So, he's a bigger body, but he's very physical to the ball. When you put the pads on, that's his game where you can have the physical of it in there."
On who in the wide receiver group has a similar game to Cooper: "Ron Johnson has decent size and he's got good speed. Little bit different than Riley, as far as the height goes, but McNutt would probably be the one that's most like him."
On whether McNutt has experience playing special teams: "He'll work on it. He'll work on it here to give him an opportunity."
On Cooper's special teams play: "Riley's a very good special teams player and everyone has confidence (in him). The quarterbacks have confidence, the coaches have confidence in him, so when he gets hurt, he's (not) in there and going when we go four wide."
On whether he has a timetable for TE Brent Celek's return: "I don't. We're just taking it day-by-day. He feels pretty good though. He's getting there."
On DE Jason Babin's calf injury: "He's got a strained calf. He made a move in the one-on-ones and tweaked it and I think he tweaked it pretty good. I wouldn't expect him back here this week. I think he's going to need some time on that. It's not an Achilles though. That was one of the questions. It was not an Achilles."
On whether Babin's absence gives additional opportunities to the other defensive ends like DE Brandon Graham: "l mean, you saw Brandon yesterday. Brandon had a good day yesterday with the opportunities that he had. That's a plus for Brandon."
On whether he was looking for anything specific on the first day of hitting: "Listen, yesterday was basically getting used to the pads and getting used to hitting again and going fast and furious. So, we were able to get through that. Was it all pretty? No, it wasn't pretty. We've got a lot of work to do. I would expect today to be a little better. You get through these first three days and they have a day off on Tuesday. That's a good thing. So, they'll pound through this, be able to back up a little bit and get their bodies back, minds back and get ready to go Wednesday."
On whether they will do live hitting in practice today: "We'll do some live hitting. Only because you want some (joking)."
On the latest on P Mat McBriar and how he is coming along: "McBriar is doing okay. He's got an issue with a visa that he's got to get taken care of, so he's able to come out here and work out. They have to do that when you're from a different country. But he's able to come out here and work out without the coaches, so that's what he does. He comes out and does his punting and then he's 'go get the visa'. He should be back out here probably by Wednesday."
