NFC Notes: Cowboys, Giants, Rams

Cowboys

Cowboys HC Jason Garrett told reporters that they’re “excited” about new DE Kony Ealy, who happened to be someone they put a lot of work into during the 2014 draft.

“We’re excited about Kony,” Garrett said, via Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.. “We spent a lot of time on him coming out in the draft. We visited with him a lot, and we worked him out. He was one of those players we had targeted. At the time, we traded up for DeMarcus Lawrence and that worked out well for us. Kony went to Carolina and had a good career, very impactful in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. We think he’s a good, young player with a lot of potential. We’re going to bring him in here.

“One of the things we try to do with our team is promote competition at every position. That really is the reason for the decisions that we made in the offseason, to create a competitive environment at every position across the position. We feel like that brings out the best in everybody.”

• Todd Archer reports that the Cowboys worked out QB Matt Davis, DE Jimmy Bean, DE Ryan Delaire, DB Julian Lewis, LS Scott Daly, LS Jimmy Landes, OL Dustin Stanton and WR Alonzo Russell last Friday.

Giants

On Monday, Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr officially reported for the start of voluntary workouts (NFLTR), as expected.

New Giants HC Pat Shurmur told reporters that believes Beckham “wants to be great” and he recognizes the importance of the offseason.

“I really believe Odell is a professional. He wants to be great,” Shurmur said. “He understands the importance of the offseason. He’s a competitive guy. Again, we had already started communicating before all that communication kind of got out there and was talked about to great deal. He’s a professional and I’m glad he’s here today.”

Eli Manning later told reporters that he wasn’t overly concerned about the trade rumors involving Beckham Jr the past few weeks.

“I never got too concerned with it,” Manning said. “We all know the talent Odell has and what he brings to the field. I look forward to playing with him this year and for years to come.”

• A high-ranking executive of an NFC team tells Mike Silver that the Giants asked for two first-round picks in return for WR Odell Beckham, but the team in question passed.
• Art Stapleton hears that OT Ereck Flowers was not in attendance for the start of offseason workouts on Monday.

Rams

Rams GM Les Snead tells Peter King of TheMMQB.com that their approach to this offseason was influenced by the Eagles’ Super Bowl run last year.

“I got a simple rule: You can’t be scared in this league,” Snead said. “Look at Doug Pederson this year and, it wasn’t reckless but it took courage and guess what? They won a Super Bowl on some of those fourth-down plays. So you try to do that as a general manager, but I also think, and this is long-winded answer, some of the analytics that you have now to really look at what historically draft picks bring you in reality over time.”