BB: OK, kind of coming down the home stretch here for us this spring. Obviously, we have a ton to work to do. Got some done this spring. We have a lot more to do this year to get ready to get go. It will be on top of us quickly with training camp and then Jacksonville, Houston, Detroit games after that and working with those good organizations, but I'd say right now we just need to keep grinding it out. We all have got a lot of work to do. I don't think we're really close to where we need to be at, so just keep trying to close the gaps as much as we can between now and the opener with Kansas City.
Q: In a teaching camp, how do you assess whether or not it's been a success when you reach the wrap up?
BB: Yeah, like I said, we've got a long way to go. We've got a lot of things we need to coach better, do better, be better at. We've got a long way to go.
Q: Given the time constraints that you have, do you feel like this time has been as productive as you could have hoped for?
BB: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I know the other 31 teams are working hard, too, so where we are and where they are, I have no idea. We try to use the time the best that we can, but like I said, we've got a lot of things we need to work on. So when we get to training camp, that will be another chance to start working on it. We got a lot of things taught. How well we can do them or will be able to do them remains to be seen. That's obviously going to be a huge question for every team.
Q: Â How much does it help to be in New England and have the difference in the weather from one day to the next?
BB: Instant summer. Yeah, went from 45 to 90 last week. Look, whatever it is, it is. We can't control that, so whatever it is, we deal with it.
Q: Â How nice is it to have Julian Edelman signed for a few more years and how important has he been to this team?
BB: Right. Well, I mean, obviously, anytime you sign a contract, it's an agreement between two parties, so it got done. We're glad it's done or we wouldn't have done it. Hopefully he's glad it's done or he wouldn't have done it. So, just concentrate on playing football.Â
Q: Â It seems like you have a lot of experienced players and guys with different skill sets in that receiver group. Are you in the process already of figuring out who fits best where, or are you trying to move everybody around to sort of get a feel for what they can do together before you get to training camp?
BB: Yeah, again Phil [Perry], I think the big thing is to make sure that everybody understands the concept of the play, their particular assignment on the play. But, again, if you know what everybody else is doing, it makes it a lot easier to know what you should do or shouldn't do with adjustments and things like that. They'll compete in training camp and see what happens. I don't know how it's going to go. So, that's what training camp is for. That's what preseason is for. Let the players go out there and compete. Hopefully everybody knows what to do and they will be able to go out and play competitively and put their best effort out there and we'll see what it looks like.Â
Q: Â What have you seen from Brandin Cooks so far and what impresses you about him?
BB: Well, Brandin's worked hard. Definitely, he has some skill. [It is] a transition for him. He's working hard to make it. Again, we'll see how it goes when we get into a more competitive situation, but he learns well. It looks like he's been able to do some multiple things, but see how all of that transfers in training camp.
Q: Â How special was the ring ceremony on Friday night?
BB: It was a great night, but, really, we need to move on to 2017. You know, we've had enough parades, enough celebrations and enough everything. This '17 team hasn't done anything yet - none of us have. We really need to focus on what we're doing this year. There have been a lot of great moments in the past, which is great, but that isn't going to help us this year.
Q: Â You are going to have some time off in the next few weeks. Would you say you are good at relaxing?
BB: Yep.
Q: Â If you had to choose, would you go to the beach or play golf?
BB: Well, I'm not going to beach in 60 degrees and 20 mile an hour winds. I mean, you can go to the beach by yourself on that day. Call an audible. Make the decision.
Q: Â Jason Taylor will go into the Hall of Fame this summer. You saw a lot of him over his career. What can you say about him and what he did against you?
BB: Yeah, I mean, great player. Probably half the reason he's in the Hall of Fame is what he did against us. He had a lot of big games against us.
Q: Â What would your reaction have been in the 2009 draft if someone had told you Edelman would spend almost a decade with the team and be as productive as he's been?
BB: Julian's improved and done a lot of things that he never did in college, so that was not maybe something that he would have projected or anticipated. But at the same time, he had enough qualities that we drafted him, and he showed that even as a rookie, I think, in terms of his production. Not taking anything away from Julian, but I would have been a lot more surprised at Steve Neal's career than Edelman's, let's put it that way.
Q: Â It seems like Edelman is the kind of guy that practices as hard as he plays in a game. Does that set the tone for the rest of the players?
BB: Yeah, Julian's a tough player. He competes well.
Q: Â When OTAs wrap up and the team leaves for the summer, what's your message to them for their time off and what you expect from them when they return?
BB: Well, I think it's obvious we all have a lot of work to do - coaches, players, each individual, each unit. We need to, I'd say, make the gains that we can make in that timeframe and be ready to come together to put a good product on the field when we come back in July and through training camp and August. But we've got a long way to go. We all have a lot of work to do. There's some things we can do over the next month, there's some things we can't, and then when we regroup, then that will obviously be a key time for us. The better prepared we are for that, probably the better and the more production we'll have. If we're not prepared for it, then we'll miss another opportunity.
