NFC Notes: Cowboys, Eagles, 49ers

Cowboys

Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz took advantage of a season-ending injury to Blake Jarwin to step up with a career year. He had 63 receptions for 615 yards and four touchdowns. Jarwin should be back in 2021 but Schultz is looking to continue to ascend as he enters the final year of his rookie contract. 

“Whether it’s a contract year or not, I got to improve regardless,” he said via the Athletic’s Jon Machota. “I don’t treat this as like, ‘OK, this is the one year that I got to ball out.’ No, I treat it like I treated last year, I got to get better day to day. I got to do the same things. We have this saying that I learned in college, it’s called the law of the price tag. You got to make deposits on it day to day. The price never decreases. It only increases. And it has to be paid in full at all times. I’m continuing to do that. You got to be better than you were the day before and you got to put more in than you did the day before. I think that’s one of the keys to having a long career, and that’s something that I hope to do. So I continue to approach each year like that.”

Part of Schultz’s program to get better involves attending the inaugural Tight End University, a summit hosted by stars like Greg Olsen and George Kittle in Nashville to share knowledge across the position. 

“I love it,” he said. “I talked to George last week. I think that’s going to be a great opportunity to just get some general knowledge and some feel on certain techniques that some different tight ends across the league use. Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of talent there. I’m excited to just learn and sit back and take as much information and knowledge as I can from that and learn to apply it to my day-to-day. I’m excited. That’s going to be a good time.”

Eagles

• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer expects Eagles GM Howie Roseman to continue to hold out for more value to trade TE Zach Ertz, given he was one of the league’s top tight ends at this time last year.
• Breer says mandatory minicamp and training camp are two key inflection points if Ertz continues to stay away from the team, as he’s still under contract. 
• Bo Wulf of The Athletic writes that the biggest competition for the Eagles this offseason appears to be between Jordan Mailata and Andre Dillard for the left tackle job. 
• Wulf notes that Mailata was featured as the first-team left tackle in individual drills, while Dillard appeared with the second unit. 
• As for second-round G Landon Dickerson, Wulf writes that the lineman played as the third-team left guard in individual drills. 
• Eagles DB Avonte Maddox said he’s willing to play anywhere asked of him: “Wherever I’m needed, I’m always willing to play. Outside, inside, back end. I got my pen and notebook out. I’m taking notes everywhere. Because you never know if a lot of guys go down, people move around the secondary. I pride myself on knowing all positions.” 

49ers

49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo said he initially thought about the possibility of demanding a trade after the team trade up to draft Trey Lance, but felt committed to earning the starting job. 

“When it initially happened, there’s a million emotions that go on throughout your head and you think of all the possible scenarios and things like that,” Garoppolo said, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports. “But at the end of the day, I want to play football. I want to go out there and win games. That’s what I do. And so it wasn’t anything too crazy. It took a little while to process everything. But once I did, it was just, ‘Go out there and ball.’ You got to go out and attack it. The NFL is a crazy business. Things happen, but you have to attack it day by day. And make the best of it.”

Garoppolo mentioned that he’s focused on staying healthy after being limited to six games last season due to a high-ankle sprain. 

“I just focus on the same things I always have, really,” Garoppolo said. “The offseason is a time for me to grow, for our team to grow and you try to improve on the things you didn’t do so well the year before. This offseason I had a list of things I wanted to improve on. First of all, get the back healthy, and everything and it’s been going really well. The body feels great. There are some little things throughout the offense we’re trying to work on, and I’ve been trying to critique myself as much as I can, just fix the little things.”

Garoppolo feels that the criticism he’s faced is pushing him to improve. 

“When you hear those critiques and you hear those little things out there, it pushes you to take your game to the next level. We’re all competitors out there. We all want to go (play) the perfect game, and at the end of the day, that’s what we’re trying to do. I’ll keep pushing myself.”

• ESPN held a mock trade exercise involving Falcons WR Julio Jones with beat reporters standing in for GMs. Atlanta received four offers from the Ravens, Patriots, 49ers and Titans. 
• San Francisco’s offer was a 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick. 
• Tennessee’s offer was a 2022 third-round pick and LB Rashaan Evans, who played for Falcons DC Dean Pees when the latter was with the Titans. 
• Out of that group, ESPN’s Falcons beat reporter Michael Rothstein gave the 49ers’ offer a slight edge over the Titans’ package.