NFC Notes: Cowboys, Saints, Washington

Cowboys

Cowboys CB Anthony Brown said that he must earn a role in Dallas’ defense this offseason after they parted ways with Bengals CB Chidobe Awuzie. 

“There’s always competition,” Brown said, via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. “It’s the NFL. There’s always going to be competition. We lost [cornerback Chidobe Awuzie] so we got to replace him and somebody got to come in. So, there’s always going to be competition and you got to do your part and don’t worry about that. Like I said, make everybody better around you. At the end of the day, if we win, everybody win.”

Brown said suffering a punctured lung from broken ribs prior to Week 2 last season was unlike anything he’s deal with before. 

“That was my first time ever dealing with something like that,” Brown said. “I got injured on the last play of practice, right before the Atlanta game in Week 2. I fractured like five ribs and had to deal with that.”

Brown mentioned that his ribs and lung had to heal on their own and was required to play with extra padding when he returned. 

“The recovery process with that mainly was just let it heal on its own,” Brown said. “There was not much that we could really do to force that to heal faster. When I got in a game, I started playing with a pad. That was my first time playing with any extra protection or anything. I did that and just played through it really, and then in the offseason, let it heal on its own.”

Saints

Saints’ veteran DE Cameron Jordan explained that he feels fortunate to never have missed a game in his 10-year career, but is still hungry to win a Super Bowl. 

“I’ve been blessed enough to play in the NFL for 10 years,” Jordan said, via SiriusXM NFL Radio. “I’ve been blessed enough to never miss a game so far in my career. I started 159 games out of 160 games and No. 94 has 94.5 sacks. There’s not much to complain about, but, at the same time, there’s so much more to earn and I feel like we gotta go get it this year.”

Washington

The official reason given for why the Washington Football Team released veteran RT Morgan Moses was to clear a path for second-round OT Samuel Cosmi. However, the rookie still has to beat out veteran OT Cornelius Lucas, who moves over to the right side after holding down left tackle for Washington in 2020. That will be one of Washington’s top training camp battles. 

“We do want him on the field, but we will put him on the field when we get him there, when he earns that opportunity,” Washington HC Ron Rivera said via the Athletic’s Rhiannon Walker. “Lucas is a guy that we are taking a nice, hard look at. That’s going to be a very competitive position going into training camp. We are going to play the best guy — the guy that gives us the best chance to win.”