Steve Burton: Joining us now is Director of Player Personnel Nick Caserio. We just saw a few of your former colleagues from the Combine, coming on the branches of the Belichick tree. Can you talk about the players that they are trying to re-sign. Does it make for more competition out there now? Is it harder to sign these guys?
Nick Caserio: I think the most important thing is that each team has their own philosophy. We're worried about the Patriots and what we're doing. Those people have been here; Thomas [Dimitroff] has been here, Josh [McDaniels] has been here, but as far as what they're doing and what they're exactly looking for, we're not really in the halls of the building. In the end, we're worried about the Patriots and trying to find the players that best fit our club and get us ready for the 2010 season, so that's the approach.
SB: And speaking of the 2010 season, the new league year started Friday and you guys started off by signing Vince Wilfork - big signing. How important was that to you?
NC: Yeah, you know, we had stated throughout the year that Vince was a priority for us and was something that we were conscious of getting done and it was a lot of work. A lot of people put a lot of time into it and we're excited and were happy to have Vince. I think he's looking forward to the 2010 season. He kind of knows where he's going to be and knows what to expect and we're expecting big things from Vince and a lot of other guys as well, but it's certainly good to have Vince in the fold.
SB: When free agency started, a lot of your guys were unsigned. How important was it and was that one of your priorities to start re-signing your own?
NC: Sure. I think we've been fortunate. We've had a lot of good players that have been with us for a long time and we sort of identified the players and we knew what we were dealing with and we're happy to have them back in the mix. Our goal is to have as many good players on the team as we can and we feel that those guys are good players for us and we're happy to have them. I think they're excited to be here as well.
SB: Between the draft and fee agency, is this the busiest time for you? Is this a crazy time?
NC: Yeah, this morning I was actually scheduling some college trips, some workouts, so you have the college trips, you still have the free agent process. The owners' meetings are coming up where there will be some dialogues and some topics that are discussed, so there are a number of things that are into play from now until the draft and then even after the draft there will be some other things we need to look at as well.
