NFC East Notes: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Redskins

Cowboys

• According to Jon Machota, the Cowboys could look to WR Allen Hurns and WR Tavon Austin to replace WR Cole Beasley in the slot. 
• Clarence Hill reports the Cowboys were never in contention for S Earl Thomas, as they could not compete financially and Thomas had no interest in a hometown discount.
• Virginia S Juan Thornhill met with the Cowboys at the Combine and compared himself to Thomas: “When the ball is in the air, he’s always going to be around it and he’s going to make the play. That’s why I think we’re kind of alike.”  (Machota)

Eagles

New Eagles DT Malik Jackson told reporters on Wednesday that the Jaguars’ coaching staff benched last season for what they considered to be poor run defense. 

“You can ask the coaches, man,” Jackson said, per Tim McManus of ESPN. “They had told me I wasn’t playing the run too good. That’s all I really heard. To be honest, for me, coming off the Pro Bowl year the year before, I don’t think that’s a valid excuse, but like I said, I’m not the coach. I just play.”

Jackson did not, however, think he was bad in that department. 

“I think I played good against the run, to be honest with you, but like I said, I just play,” Jackson said. “I don’t make decisions, and it is what it is.”

Giants

• The Giants met with Oklahoma OL Cody Ford before his pro day on Wednesday.  (Ryan Dunleavy)
• Giants HC Pat Shurmur and senior vice president of player evaluation Chris Mara are in attendance for Oklahoma’s pro day, which includes QB Kyler Murray.  (Raanan)
• The Giants plan to meet with Murray after his pro day workout.  (Raanan)
• Art Stapleton believes the Giants have a better or comparable grade on Cardinals QB Josh Rosen than they do on any quarterback in this year’s draft.  
• Tom Pelissero mentioned on NFL Total Access that the Giants must find a successor for Eli Manning and now have enough capital to trade up in the 2019 NFL Draft given they have the No. 6 and No. 17 overall picks after trading Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns. 
• Pelissero believes the Giants have enough to potentially move up to No. 2 overall with the 49ers in order to select Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins or Duke’s Daniel Jones. 
• An under-the-radar free agent target for the Giants is Jets LB Brandon Copeland.  (Pat Leonard)
• Wisconsin OL Michael Deiter says he has visits with multiple teams set up, including the Giants.  (Jake Kocorowski)
• Wisconsin DT Olive Sagapolu says he has a visit set with the Giants. (Jason Galloway)

Redskins

Redskins HC Jay Gruden left the door open to possibly drafting a quarterback, even after trading for Case Keenum.

“We still may address it in the draft, who knows? But we have to have two quarterbacks in OTA’s and for someone to come in here and compete with Colt,” Gruden said. “We all feel great about Colt without a doubt but he’s had his injury history as well, and we anticipate a competitive camp with those two guys. And if we add a third guy via the draft or somewhere else, we’ll roll the ball out there and let them play, but I feel good about Colt and Case’s skillset; they are very similar so it’ll be easy to draw up plays for those two guys.”