Quinton Dial talks about his new deal, the locker room, and the future

What was your motivation to get the deal done?

My motivation to get the deal done was I have a family to take care of. That's obviously part of the motivation, to show them that I'm a team player and I want to be here there was obviously a factor in it.

Navarro [Bowman] said that he's relishing the opportunity to play opposite Chip's [49ers head coach Chip Kelly] offense. Which obviously asks defensive players to play more plays than any other defense in the NFL. Do you have the same mindset? Are you looking forward to the opportunity?

It's give and take in that. Maybe some games we're on the field not as much, some games we are. That's we are here to do is play football. I'm ready for the challenge and i'm looking forward to it.

What are your impressions two days in?

Two days in, my impressions are pretty good. Two good days so far and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with the guys.

One thing Navarro mentioned was this defense is expected to be relentless.

Yes.

The players are here but they didn't see that last year. What are your impressions? Do you understand what they means by relentless with this defense.

It's the foundation laid before us. The guys before us that we gotta uphold the standard that's been laid for us and we just gotta get back to it.

What was Chip Kelly's main message to you guys the first time you met him?

The overturn and the roster just meant blank slate Little term, tabula rasa, which means blank slate. The thing I got from that is, everyone we got a fresh start. We're not too concerned on what happened last year, that's in the past. We just gotta focus on what's ahead.

Last year was a great year for you to build on. It was your first year as a full time starter. What do you take personally from last season that makes you a better player this year.

Well the thing I'm doing this offseason is going back and watching myself on film and seeing some of the stuff I've been working on to get better at. And I just try to continue to grow into the things I was pretty good at and just try to build on it.

Your teammates mentioned that the energy level is so high just after two days. like you said everyone wants to erase last year. Are you feeling that as well? Is there a little bit of surprise everyone is so focused early?

No it's not a bit of surprise. It's our job. It's been a good vibe around here which is good. It makes everyone enjoyable to be around. I'm just looking forward to continuing to work with the guys.

A lot of players have re-signed. There hasn't been a lot of free agents that have come in. Do you take that as a positive that they believe in you?

Yes.

Is it too early in the offseason with Ian's situation, has there been conversations with you playing more nose or working on more nose this offseason.

I haven't had any conversations. If they need me to, I will. I played it before.

Speaking of contracts Colin [Kaepernick] is a guy that's working with his deal and is in the news a lot lately. How do you see that situation playing out and is there any concern among any of hte veterans that it could be a distraction?

How do I see that? To be honest with you I don't make those decisions. I'm just here to play football and I'm going to let the front office do that. We understand that there's a business side to this thing, I'm going to let them make decisions and just play football.

Will this defense remain in a 3-4?

Yes.

What are your thoughts on [49ers defensive coordinator]Jim O'Neil?

He seems to be a pretty good guy. I can't give you a complete rundown two days in, but come back to me at later time and I can give you a better answer.

What are your impressions early of [Arik] Armstead at this point? This offseason now as opposed to when he came in as a rookie last offseason.

Armstead, he's definitely grown a lot as a young guy and has definitely helped us out a lot. We obviously had a lot of conversations throughout the offseason. Just stuff that we can learn from last year and get better at together as a unit. We're just going to continue to try to do that.

Is the goal for him to start this year?

I couldn't tell you that.

Do you envision you're on one side and he's on the other?

Could be, we'll see.