NFC East Notes: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Redskins

Cowboys

Cowboys WR Tavon Austin missed practice on Wednesday as concussion-like symptoms that started after Sunday’s game against the Giants lingered. Dallas could look to add another receiver this week.

“He had concussion symptoms coming out of the game, so we’ll just take his situation day by day,” Cowboys HC Jason Garrett said via Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams. “To be honest with you, he continued to feel some symptoms after the game. It wasn’t something that he needed to come out of the game for. So we just have to be mindful of that and take care of it.”

• According to Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson, the Cowboys have priced an insurance policy on QB Dak Prescott‘s extension, hinting that it might be coming soon.

Eagles

• Per NJ.com’s Zack Rosenblatt, Eagles HC Doug Pederson didn’t necessarily rule out DT Malik Jackson returning this year from a Lisfranc injury, though there’s a “good chance” Jackson won’t be back until 2020.
• To take his place, the Eagles signed DT Akeem Spence who as a former starter Pederson believes can bolster their depth at defensive tackle: “He can give us really good minutes as a fourth tackle.” (Jeff McLane)
• Pederson adds the team was looking specifically at defensive tackles and didn’t consider bringing back DE Chris Long. (McLane)
• The Eagles worked out LB Paul Worrilow on Tuesday. (Howard Balzer)
• Philadelphia plans to bring back recently waived TE Alex Ellis to the practice squad. (Mike Kaye)

Giants

• Per Pat Leonard of the NY Daily News, Giants HC Pat Shurmur said LB Kareem Martin would be out “weeks” with a knee sprain before the team placed him on injured reserve. 
• He also confirmed WR Sterling Shepard is in the concussion protocol. 
• According to the Athletic’s Dan Duggan, Martin is a glaring candidate to be a cap casualty following the season as he enters the final year of a three-year, $15 million deal he signed in 2018. 
• Art Stapleton reports that Giants’ recently released TE Scott Simonson‘s injury settlement was worth six weeks of pay after suffering a high ankle sprain in their preseason finale.
• Stapleton adds that the Giants would be eligible to re-sign Simonson by Week 10. 

Redskins

Redskins HC Jay Gruden said the team still has plenty of confidence in RB Adrian Peterson even after making him a healthy inactive for Sunday’s season opener for the first time in Peterson’s likely Hall of Fame career. With RB Derrius Guice out with a knee injury, Gruden said he won’t hesitate to turn to Peterson. 

“I’m very comfortable,” Gruden said via NBC Sports’ JP Finlay. “[Guice and Peterson] are 1 and 1a to me. They’re the same position. If something happens and Derrius can’t go, we’re happy to play AP and not even bat an eye. Hopefully Derrius will be fine, and eventually, there could be a situation we dress both of them and Chris Thompson. It’s just a matter of where we are special teams wise that given week.”

Gruden said the decision was made exclusively with special teams and roster construction in mind. NFL teams are only allowed to have 46 players active on gamedays and some of those spots are dedicated to players who can fill roles on special teams. Peterson is not one of those players, while the third running back Gruden activated, Wendell Smallwood, is. 

“It’s not easy,” Gruden said. “Adrian was on a couple of teams before we got him. It’s hard sometimes to dress two backs on first down, two first down backs. You have to have guys who different things. You have to have a third-down back. Sometimes it’s Chris Thompson, somebody else got to play third down. Somebody has to help on special teams. It’s hard to get everybody up on a 46-man roster. We just chose to dress [Wendell] Smallwood for a special teams sake and only dress three running backs, which is something we’ve done since I’ve been here pretty much.

“So it was a tough decision, something you never want to do, especially with Adrian Peterson. It’s one game. We could dress them all next week and the week after that. So we’ll just address it next week. But this week, with Darren Sproles back there on punts and on the road, we thought it was important to really have the coverage unit in place.”

• Kareem Copeland of the Washington Post reports that Redskins DL Jonathan Allen had a second opinion on his sprained MCL on Tuesday and received positive results.
• Although Copeland writes that Allen’s timeframe for recovery is “still in the air,” his MCL injury is not considered a long-term issue. 
• Gruden said Peterson would start next week, adding, “There is no (update). He’s just getting checked out,” regarding Guice. (Ian Rapoport)
• Redskins TE Jordan Reed remains in the concussion protocol. (Finlay)