NFC Notes: Adam Peters, Dan Quinn, Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles

Commanders

• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer laid out the timeline of the Washington Commanders’ head coaching search that ended up settling on Cowboys DC Dan Quinn as the guy. He notes new GM Adam Peters was hired on January 12 but missed the first round of virtual interviews with then-Ravens assistants Mike Macdonald and Anthony Weaver on January 11. 
• Peters was available for the rest of the first round of interviews, however, and Breer notes the search committee graded all candidates in several areas including leadership, intelligence, communication, ability to build a staff, honesty and integrity, and consistency of personality.
• Quinn stood out in all of those, along with other candidates, but Breer adds his previous head coaching experience and his self-awareness of where things went wrong in Atlanta helped differentiate him. Quinn actually hired outside observers to break down what happened with the Falcons and how he could avoid it in the future. 
• Washington moved on to second interviews with seven candidates, and Breer says former Rams DC Raheem Morris knocked his interview out of the park. However, Atlanta later offered him their head coaching position before Washington was done with its search, and Peters told Morris he wanted to go through the whole process. 
• The Commanders continued Tuesday, interviewing Quinn that morning before flying to Detroit to interview Lions DC Aaron Glenn, with Lions OC Ben Johnson withdrawing his name while they were in the air. They then flew to the Senior Bowl and on Wednesday the Seahawks hired Macdonald, per Breer. 
• After a call from Peters to former Patriots HC Bill Belichick to touch base, the Commanders offered the job to Quinn on Wednesday night. 
• Commanders owner Josh Harris on the staff: “We got together Friday and over the weekend and Kliff Kingsbury … and Joe Whitt joined our franchise. Obviously, we’re very excited about those two individuals. .. But that’s what it takes … It takes being able to attract the best people. … When you get the best people off the field, you get the best people on the field.” (Nicki Jhabvala)
• Harris added that Quinn still has some tricks up his sleeve when it comes to adding coaches to his staff. (Jhabvala)
• Jeremy Fowler reports that the Raiders granted the Commanders permission to speak with defensive pass-game coordinator Jason Simmons.
• Quinn told reporters that DC Joe Whitt would be calling the defensive plays. (John Keim)
• Quinn on the state of the team: “You will not hear me say the word rebuild at all. The focus is on accelerating this process. “There is no timeline on that, but we will push it hard.” (Finlay)
• NorthJersey.com’s Art Stapleton reports the Commanders have requested to interview Giants assistant special teams coach Mike Adams for their defensive backs coach job. 

Cowboys

• The Athletic’s Jon Machota notes while Cowboys LT Tyron Smith will have a constant battle to stay healthy at this point in his career, he’s good enough when he’s on the field that Dallas likely will want to re-sign him, preferably on a team-friendly deal to some degree. However, re-signing Smith would not take offensive line off the table in the first round. 
• Machota outlines a similar rationale for bringing back C Tyler Biadasz, as Dallas’ options behind him aren’t good and he’d likely be better than a rookie in 2024. 
• Machota doesn’t expect the Cowboys to get into a bidding war to keep RB Tony Pollard and expects them to try and add another running back in the middle of the draft, but doesn’t rule out Pollard coming back on a short, team-friendly deal. He adds RB Rico Dowdle could likely be back on a cheap deal to compete with a rookie in that scenario. 
• Cowboys DE Dorance Armstrong is a good player but Machota writes he will likely get a better deal and bigger role in free agency than Dallas can offer. Cowboys CB Stephon Gilmore is in the same bucket, as Machota notes he could be the No. 3 corner behind a healthy Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland in 2024. 
• Other players Machota thinks are more likely than not to sign elsewhere include DE Dante Fowler and S Jayron Kearse. 

Eagles

• Jimmy Kempski of the Philly Voice identifies Eagles S Kevin Byard as a pretty obvious cap cut candidate, as it would save $13 million. Kempski also calls CB James Bradberry a “likely” release candidate. 
• Kempski expects the Eagles to address the contracts of CB Avonte Maddox and DE Haason Reddick. He thinks Maddox could be asked to take a pay cut or be cut, while Philadelphia has more options with Reddick, including restructuring his deal, signing him to an extension or exploring a trade. 
• He also notes he heard the Eagles had some interest in Panthers S Jeremy Chinn at the trade deadline this past season but Chinn got hurt. Carolina isn’t expected to re-sign him so Kempski says it’d be logical to expect the Eagles to have some interest. 
• Chiefs TE Travis Kelce on if he thinks brother C Jason Kelce will play for the Eagles in Brazil next season: “I think so. I don’t know — I’m not a betting man, but I think he’s got some football left if he wants it. …I’m going to leave that up to him.” (Zach Berman)