NFC East Notes: Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins

Cowboys

• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer says RB Mike Weber actually practiced Sunday after reportedly tweaking his knee and getting an MRI. 
• New Cowboys OC Kellen Moore says the plan this year is to be more diverse and creative with their formations: “I think the beauty of our current roster is we have a lot of versatility. Hopefully we can be multiple and present things in different ways, and…still have our foundation and our philosophy. You can run similar plays, just out of a lot of different looks.” (Jon Machota)

Eagles

• Mike Kaye mentions that the decision to sign C Stefen Wisniewski allows the Eagles to keep Isaac Seumalo at guard in the event of an injury at center, meaning only one change during a game instead of two. 

Redskins

Redskins HC Jay Gruden wasn’t ready to name QB Dwayne Haskins the starter, but did say it was exciting to have a young quarterback to build around.

“But it is exciting to have a quarterback here that you’re gonna have for at least five years that you know you can grow with,” Gruden said via Albert Breer of SI.com. “You can build your offense around his skill set. … It’s exciting, for sure.” 

Gruden also said the team still doesn’t know when QB Alex Smith might be able to play again, and with other quarterback injuries, the team was effectively starting from scratch. 

“The status of Alex was huge,” Gruden said. “We just don’t know the timetable on Alex. So [the quarterback position] had to be addressed. And with Colt having his injury, we had no healthy quarterbacks on our roster. Josh Johnson was hurt as well. We had nobody who could even throw in OTAs. So we had to get somebody.”

Gruden said Haskins reminded him of Cam Newton coming out of school in 2011, which was the last time he dove this deep into a quarterback class. 

“They’re all pretty confident kids, bright-eyed. I was impressed with the entire class,” Gruden said. “But [Haskins] has a demeanor and aura about him, kind of similar to Cam Newton coming out, just an aura of confidence. There’s something about him. When you’re around him, you feel like he’s got it, everything’s going to be O.K.—that he’s going to be successful, because he believes it. He believes in himself, and you can tell people rally around him, talking to other players like Terry [McLaurin] and Parris Campbell, and some other guys at Ohio State.”

• Gruden watched every single throw from every quarterback the Redskins considered picking, including Kyler Murray, Jarrett Stidham, Clayton Thorson and Will Grier. 
• Gruden said the trade for QB Case Keenum was to ensure the team didn’t have to take a quarterback in the first round if they didn’t like any of the ones available.