NFC Notes: Commanders, Cowboys, Giants

Commanders

Commanders HC Ron Rivera mentioned that Carson Wentz‘s former teammates on the Colts had high praise of the quarterback, including WR TY Hilton, RB Jonathan Taylor, and LB Darius Leonard.

“All those guys came out and said, ‘this guy was a good teammate, this was a guy that pulled us together, this was a guy that helped us get where we are, or headed toward,’” Rivera said, via CommandersWire. “You feel positive about that, you really do, and it’s an exciting thing to hear his teammates spoke of him in that fashion.”

Rivera added that there is no competition to start between Wentz and Taylor Heinicke. 

“No, it’s Wentz, and then it’s Taylor (Heinicke), and you know then obviously like I said, there’s no pressure on the young guy to develop or grow right away or immediately, although I know he will try, and he will work hard because that’s who Sam Howell is but again, we feel very positive, very comfortable in who Carson is for us going forward,” Rivera said.

Cowboys

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that the organization is doing a better job to position itself with necessary cap space in order to re-sign young players in contract years. 

“Certainly we feel like we’re going to get back in the mix of getting some of these players, these young players that we want to keep around here, get ahead of it, get ‘em signed, so you don’t have that type of free agency risk that we had this year,” Jones said, via ProFootballTalk.

Giants

Regarding the Giants declining QB Daniel Jones‘ fifth-year option of $22.3 million in 2023, GM Joe Schoen said that their decision was not an indictment against Jones and still wants to evaluate him throughout the season. 

“The $22 million, I mean that’s a large number, but again we’re excited about working with Daniel,” Schoen said, via ProFootballTalk. “We’re happy where he is. This isn’t an indictment on who Daniel is as a person or anything like that. We’re really happy with what Daniel’s done for us throughout the process when we’ve had him over the three months getting to know him and being in the building for four weeks now in the offseason program. We like everything he’s doing. We’re excited to work with him. We just thought that was the best decision right now for where we are moving forward. Again, we’re excited to work with him. We’ve upgraded the offensive line. We like some of the weapons that we have around him. And, again, we want to see Daniel be able to put his best foot forward, and I think we’ve done that this offseason. That decision was just what was best for us right now.”

Should Jones’ production improve in 2022, Schoen thinks it would be a “good problem to have” if their quarterback plays well enough to command an extension.  

“It’s a good problem to have,” Schoen said. “You’ve also got the franchise tag if you need it a year from now. That’s a gamble. I’d say that’s an $8 million gamble, or you’re talking to his representatives and you’re trying to get an extension. Patrick Collins represents him, and Jim Denton. Two agents I just worked with recently over there in Buffalo with Patrick Collins, who actually represents Josh Allen as well. Jim Denton, have a good relationship with him. Hopefully we’ve set Daniel up for success with again improving the offensive line, the weapons that are here, Saquon [Barkley] another year off the knee. He’ll be able to put his best foot forward. That’s a good problem to have if we’ve got to figure out how we’re going to pay [Jones], how we’re going to structure a contract, if it’s a franchise tag. That’ll be a good problem to have.”