On whether he was concerned that the deal might not get done before training camp: "Not with me because I talked to my agent a lot and he said that the deal would get done way before training camp. I trusted him to know that he would get it done and he got it done."

On whether he has a mindset shift now that his contract is taken care of: "First off, I want to thank (head) coach (Andy) Reid, (owner Jeffrey) Lurie and (general manager) Howie Roseman. My mindset is going in and just doing what I'm coached to do, what (defensive line) coach (Jim) Washburn wants me to do, and that's play hard and be relentless."

On whether he is happy with the new CBA because it gives first round picks more of an opportunity to get into camp early and avoid holdouts: "Yes. You don't want to miss a few days of training camp because if you miss three days, then you're three days behind and somebody else is ahead of you. With the new CBA, it makes a lot of stuff easy and helps us get this out the way. I know my agent did a great job of negotiating. I think he did a good job in getting it out of the way so I can play football."

On how he thinks he has progressed from rookie mini-camp until today: "My biggest improvement has been getting off the ball, and just learning how to practice with the whole team and those guys (on the d-line)."

On whether he expects to compete for an important role on the defensive line: "Yes sir. That's basically what football is all about, competing, and I'm always up for competition."

On what he can do for his family now that he signed his first NFL contract: "My biggest thing is just going in and playing. I'll do something really special for my mom and my siblings. Other than that, me playing football is the most important thing right now."

On his range of emotions after losing his cousin in a car accident to now signing his NFL contract: "Dealing with the death in my family was a really bad time for me, and I kind of struggled a little bit. To get the contract signed is just a blessing. Melvin is in a better place right now and he'll be watching down on me on Sundays and every day, even during practice, he'll be looking down on me. He would've wanted nothing but the best."