The following is an excerpt from an interview on the KNBR Morning Show with Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffrey:

Q:What can you tell us about the NFL labor situation?

A: Well, I don't know anything more than what you read in the paper and what I read in the paper, but I choose to be optimistic and prepared. Like Colin (Kaepernick) was talking about in the interview clip you just ran, I mean you gotta be prepared and that's what we're doing. We've organized, we're prepared for whatever scenario may occur. But the old adage, "You measure twice and cut once," we've measured about twelve times and haven't cut yet, so we're looking forward to that.

Q:What can you and (defensive coordinator) Vic Fangio and your whole staff do to occupy your time and get better during this wait?

A: Well, (we can) really organize and troubleshoot and comb through all our systems and our schemes, you know, that's been done. The playbook is ready to roll and has been since before the draft. After the draft, we turned to game planning and organizing training camp. Every minute of training camp has been organized.

Q:The recent workouts at San Jose State involving Niners players were dubbed by some reporters "Camp Alex," because Alex Smith was the guy who organized it. They had a playbook, right Jim? There was a window where you could give them a playbook, right?

A: Yes, yes; some of our players did come in and get playbooks during that window.

Tony Avelar/AP

Q:In a recent interview, you really praised Alex Smith's character. The worry 49er fans have is that, on the field, he has not performed at a consistently high level. Can you speak to the separation between praising a man's character and his performance?

A: Well, when it comes to performing on the field, you know, that will be determined when we get all our players in here and we practice and start playing games and we find out who our best players are. Right now, we don't know who our best players are. We're figuring that out and we'll figure that out when they get in here and start practicing.

Q:One of the players you never get asked about that much is Michael Crabtree. Can you speak to his character and its effect on the team?

A: Well, I've been around him a little bit, and Crab, to me, is a good guy and a good football player. ... I know he's a good guy. I know the other guys on our team are good guys and that's another interesting part of watching these guys figure it out. I know, personally, when it comes to me, and I got in quite a few scrapes growing up, most people ... have had some run-ins at some point in time, and usually you're better friends after, because of it. ... He's got the license and he's got the ability and from my experience being around him, I think he's a guy that's about us and about the team being successful.