NFC Notes: Commanders, Eagles, A.J. Brown, Giants

Commanders

Commanders OC Scott Turner expects third-round RB Brian Robinson, Jr. to provide a good 1-2 punch with starting RB Antonio Gibson.

“He brings a little bit of an edge and physicality. He sat behind some really good players at Alabama, so there’s not as much wear on him as a normal back that has played for 4 years. Last year he got his opportunity and made the most of it,” he said via Hogshaven.com. “Physical runner, he makes guys tackle him. He’s elusive, can run away from you, but he has that edge and that ball carrier mentality where he wants the ball. I think he’s going to provide some good competition as well. Obviously, we’re really happy with Antonio being a 1,000 yard rusher for the first time last season. He’s growing into the position going into his third year playing RB. Robinson is a very serious guy too, so that will be good to add.”

Turner doesn’t envision Gibson’s role changing, though he does envision an opportunity to utilize him in different situations, taking advantage of his multi-faceted skillset.

“No, we’ve done a lot with Antonio. Maybe it just opens us up to do a little more moving him around. I think Antonio’s role was going to continue to grow anyway, as he matures in this league.”

Eagles

Eagles GM Howie Roseman spoke at length about the team’s decision to trade for WR A.J. Brown in what was one of the biggest moves during the 2022 NFL Draft.

“Three factors, when I think about why we made the trade,” Roseman said, via Pro Football Talk. “I think one was the player fit. The evaluation of the player. Tremendous player. We did a lot of work on him coming out of Ole Miss. Felt like this guy really made a difference whether playing inside or outside. How he complimented our young receivers. We drafted DeVonta [Smith]. We drafted Jalen Reagor. We have Quez Watkins. We signed Zach Pascal. We have a bunch of other guys here that have contributed to our football team. He was a different kind of player.”

“We had played for a long time against Anquan Boldin,” Roseman said. “The difference he made as a player and how physical he was and the toughness that he played with. He hated to be tackled. Then we had won a championship with Alshon [Jeffrey] and what he did on the outside. That’s kind of a piece, that we had different body types.”

“I think second is just where we were as a team,” Roseman said. “I think there are two parts of that. I think the first part is we have a quarterback on a rookie deal so you’re able to maybe be more aggressive in those modes. I’m sure that was — I don’t want to talk for [Titans G.M. Jon Robinson] but I’m sure that was part of his thinking, like, ‘I got a quarterback that I’m paying.’ The third part of it is that we had accumulated assets. We know this. The best guys in the draft are going to hit on 60 percent of their first-round picks. No matter how strongly you feel about a first-round pick, you still don’t know how that guy is going to transition. How is he going to transition to a new city? How is he going to transition with money in his pocket? How is he going to translate to new personalities? How is he going to translate living on his own for the first time? I’m not saying that’s a reason to be risk averse and not take draft picks, but because we had accumulated some of these draft picks and because of those other reasons, we felt like this made sense for us right now at this time.”

Roseman also added that he would still consider what type of impact the trade for Brown would have on the rest of the roster.

“When you bring free agents in and you pay free agents a lot of money or you trade for guys and pay them a lot of money . . . I think when you do that and you don’t take care of your own locker room, you’re basically telling your guys like maybe you’re not good enough,” Roseman said. “Maybe the guys that you drafted, and you’ve developed and have given blood, sweat, and tears in Eagles uniforms, they’re not good enough. Then you risk those guys becoming independent contractors, right? Because when you get to free agency, you’re probably going to the highest bidder or close to the highest bidder. When you do that to your team and say, ‘Hey we’re going to be aggressive in trying to improve our team, but our priority is always going to take care of our own.’ Guys we draft and develop that we know their day-to-day, the ins, and outs of their personalities. I think what it says to our younger guys is you do the right thing, you play well, and we’re going to try to take care of you.”

Giants

Giants HC Brian Daboll continues to praise WR Kadarius Toney, calling him a pleasure to be around.

“I told you I had a really good conversation with KT before. I really like him. He’s smart,” Daboll told reporters, via GiantsWire.com. “Again, you’re not really — you’re doing things. A lot of them are on air and stuff like that. But you can tell he’s got instinctive football. He was a really good (high school) quarterback down in Alabama. He’s been a pleasure to be around. Good teammate. Smart. It’s been great.”