NFC Notes: Cowboys, Commanders, Carson Wentz, Giants

Cowboys

Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence said he is glad to get his three-year, $30 million fully guaranteed deal done after a “very stressful” negotiating process. 

“I’m glad to get my deal done,” Lawrence said, via Patrik Walker of CBS Sports. “Glad to be able to come back to the Dallas Cowboys and … go for a ring. To have the opportunity to finish and to do the deed in Dallas — that’s all anybody could ever ask for. … Just going through the last couple of weeks was very stressful, thinking I have to move my family and my kids have to be set up in new schools. All that mess. Being able to sit down with Stephen [Jones] and talk to him face to face, man to man to understand what they were having problems with [versus] what I needed out of the deal and what I was worth — being able to come to that understanding — and they agreed on it, shoot, that was the best news I could ever get.”

Lawrence said that Dallas initially tried to lowball him with an offer that felt so “disrespectful” that he requested to part ways. 

“[Stephen Jones] sent me over a number and I’m like, ‘What is this shit, bro’?” said Lawrence. “Why are y’all sitting here playing with me. You don’t want to know [the number] man, it’s disrespectful. … I feel like it was disrespectful. I told them like, ‘Hey man. The Cowboys have done a lot for me and I thank y’all for everything y’all done, but I think it’s time for us to part ways and I wish for y’all to cut me.'”

Lawrence explained that Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones felt that the defensive end was deserving of his three-year deal given he’s been a committed member of their defense over the last seven years. 

“Stephen was like, ‘Alright, I’m about to bring your offer to Jerry to see what he says, but I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be pissed about it because he just gave you $65 million,'” Lawrence said. “My response was, “He ain’t give me shit. I earned it. Feel me? So if Jerry wants to keep me here, he has to understand this is what I’m worth, and I’m actually showing love and helping y’all out by offering y’all the relief in cap space. ‘So let’s go out here and have a fruitful free agency and pick up the guys we need in order to win a Super Bowl. Because if I’m not getting this number, I won’t be here to help.’ Jerry was like, ‘Shoot, D-Law has been faithful to us for the last seven or eight years, give him his money. Jerry came in and got it straight.'”

Commanders

Commanders QB Carson Wentz opened up and said that it feels good to be wanted by his new team, which adds to his confidence level.

“Knowing that you’re wanted and feeling that support means a lot,” Wentz said, via ESPN. “It allows me to play confidently, freely, which will allow me to play my best ball.”

Wentz admitted he was surprised that he was traded from the Colts to Washington.

“Definitely surprised,” Wentz said. “Anytime you’re in a new place, you want it to work out. God willing, it works out for a long time. It didn’t [in Indianapolis]. God changed our plan and here we are.”

Wentz didn’t have a concrete answer for what went wrong in Indianapolis.

“It’s a great question,” he said. “And completely fair question. And sometimes I wonder the same, to be honest. The way we finished, the way I finished, was poor…We just kind of collapsed and I didn’t play well enough at the end.”

Commanders HC Ron Rivera said the team made the trade because he didn’t want to wait to see if the Colts were going to cut Wentz first.

“The biggest reason was the sense of urgency,” Rivera said. “When you have an opportunity to get a young man [with] that type of ability, you have to strike. We didn’t want to put ourselves in a position [where] we were going to have to outbid anybody. We wanted to make sure we got what we wanted.”

Rivera said he will get the criticism if the trade for Wentz doesn’t work out, and publicly committed to his quarterback long-term.

“He is our QB1 going forward, and I’d love to see this be a very long tenure,” Rivera said. “I really mean that.”

Rivera was able to sell Wentz on the team’s culture and vision moving forward.

“It’s a clear vision of where they want to go,” Wentz said. “It gives me chills. It gives me goosebumps.”

Wentz said he doesn’t want to use the fact that he’s on his third team in as many years as motivation to perform better.

“I try not to use that solely as motivation,” Wentz said. “Definitely it’s humbling without a doubt, to go from where I was in Philly to being benched and traded. I’m aware of what that does, and I try and just stay optimistic. I don’t hold a grudge, try not to walk around like there’s a chip on my shoulder. It definitely refuels my fire for the game.”

• Commanders HC Ron Rivera said that restructuring or extending QB Carson Wentz is under consideration: “That’s something we’re going to start talking about because as we go forward, we’ve got a couple of our own guys we want to take care of and get them on long-term deals as well.” (Nicki Jhabvala)
• Commanders G Andrew Norwell‘s two-year, $10 million deal includes $4.7 million guaranteed. (Ben Standig)

Giants

• Giants LB Blake Martinez reduced his salary from $8.4 million for 2022 down to $1.25 million, while he also received a $750,000 signing bonus. (Ralph Vacchiano)