Tom Condon Quotations

Last year we had (University of Utah quarterback) Alex Smith at the first pick (by San Francisco). It was a $24 million guarantee and he was averaging $8.5 million a year.

Only about one-third of the clubs could have participated in a meaningful way in free agency but now you now have a cap of around $102 million that lets about three-quarters of the teams be part of the process.

New Orleans was very comfortable with the risk-reward, based on his rehabilitation from the injury. Miami didn't have that same level of comfort, so New Orleans made a lot of sense for us.

I don't know that this sets a precedent. Sometimes, a player transcends the position of a transition tag by being an exceptional player.

Based on what he's accomplished and on his statistics, if you compare what he's done to what some of the other top quarterbacks have done, he certainly doesn't come anywhere near them in terms of compensation.

I expect to continue with a couple more teams after that.

I don't think it's a loophole as much as a utilization of the rules. The rule is that anything not prohibited is allowed.

He's going to dinner with club officials tonight and I'm sure I'll talk to Randy (Mueller) tomorrow.

He wasn't going to be satisfied being on a one-year transition tender. Obviously, Minnesota made a very strong offer for him.

I think we'll see some 400-pound offensive tackles.

I think he was disappointed he wasn't able to get resolution before he got to this point. On the other hand, I think he was looking for some finality.

We came within an eyelash of losing the whole crop last spring but we are sitting better right now,

Those are the two teams we have scheduled so far.

We're going to be like kids trying out a new toy.

There's nothing yet. We'll just have to wait and see what Dr. Andrews says after he gets a look at it.

There's not been any contact with them at all since the offer sheet was signed.

It might mean that no rookies get signed because no one is sure of the long-term ramifications.

The number in the first four years has basically been the same since 1998. Four years, $24, $25 million. So I assume they'd be very happy to keep that number there. The fifth and sixth years of a contract at that level are what would normally correspond to with a guy's free-agency contract. So that's why I don't think it's very unreasonable for the numbers to jump up then.

It's one of those things that's good for San Diego, good for Eli, a win all around.

It's hard to characterize negotiations, but there are issues that we have not agreed on. We're just going to move ahead and see if we can reach an agreement. If not, we'll analyze our options and move forward.

They basically informed us at breakfast this morning that we were hired. Obviously, we're excited about the opportunity.

I'm not going to talk to the Dolphins until (Monday).

I know that Drew told me that, but I've had no conversations with the Chargers .

In this instance, there was a team that felt awfully strongly about signing the player.

You want to be safe. And $2 million from San Diego certainly didn't make you feel safe.