NFC East Notes: Cowboys, Giants, Redskins

Cowboys

Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones says they expect DT Maliek Collins to be ready for the season opener.

“At the end of the day, we do feel really good about Maliek being ready to play in that first game,” Jones said, via the Dallas Morning News. “We’ve still got a couple weeks here. And he’s really doing well. Might be on a pitch count, but short of a set back here, we think we’re going to have him available for Carolina.”

Jones says they’ll likely keep 5-6 receivers on their 53-man roster.

“Traditionally we’ve kept 5 or 6 receivers,” Jones said, per Jon Machota. “But if I’m a betting man, I think that ends up being more than 5 or 6.”

Giants

• Jordan Raanan mentions that Giants veteran RB Jonathan Stewart is going to be on the team’s 53-man roster, given that he’s owed close to $3 million guaranteed for the 2018 season.
• Stewart has put together a terrible preseason in which he’s rushed for -5 yards on 10 carries with a fumble up to this point. Even so, Raanan says that the Giants will hope he can turn it on in the regular season and fill a short-yardage/blocking role.
• Regarding Stewart’s struggles, Giants HC Pat Shurmur said: “If you look at the raw production you say ‘Oh my goodness’ … I know he can play football and play at a high level. We’re counting on that.” (Ralph Vacchiano)
• Shurmur mentioned that TE Evan Engram is in the concussion protocol and “we’re just moving him along.” (Art Stapleton)
• As for TE Rhett Ellison, Shurmur says he’s been diagnosed with migraines, which has caused the blurred vision.

Redskins

Redskins HC Jay Gruden told reporters after Friday’s preseason game that he came away “impressed” with RB Adrian Peterson.

“I saw a big guy running pretty hard really,” Gruden said, via Pro Football Talk. “He had a five-yard average I believe, had a couple good bounces, and, you know, the thing I like about some of his runs is they look like they’re like gains of ones [yard] and he’d fall forward for a gain of three. The first run of the day I thought it was a three-yard gain and he ends up second and three. . . . I was impressed with Adrian and the way he ran.”

Gruden mentioned that he hasn’t decided whether Peterson will see more work during the team’s preseason finale.

“We’ll see,” Gruden said. “I’m going to check out the tape and see how he’s feeling body wise and we’ll go from there. I think Samaje [Perine] should be OK by Thursday. We’ll get some good looks at them and we’ve got some other guys to look at. We’ve still got a lot of work to do as far as Thursday’s concerned; we’re looking at players.”

Peterson admitted that there’s a little rust to knock off, but overall he feels good right now.

“My body feels good right now,” Peterson said. “I will see how it feels in the morning. But I feel like it responded well. It felt good, didn’t get tired, so cardio is where it needs to be and right now I’m looking at it as knocking a little rust off.”