Commanders

Commanders WR Terry McLaurin is entering his eighth NFL season with his fifth offensive coordinator and expects to continue to produce under new OC David Blough.

“I think Blough’s just done a great job of making things marry together, so there’s kind of little tidbits in the play calling that’ll kind of remind you of what you may have,” McLaurin said. via The Athletic. “So, if you could learn not only conceptually, OK, this is what we’re trying to get done, but then you’re hearing the play call, getting used to hearing the plays in the huddle, and it reminds you of what you studied the night before, then you’re gonna have success.”

“We believe in what we do and making the same things look different, and making different things look the same,” Blough said. “So, we know there are three games in the preseason, and maybe they’re watching other teams’ tape. But they don’t know who the ’26 version is yet. Call it, six weeks in, we will know what we’ve put on tape. We know that you know what we’ve put on tape. And how do we manipulate that and still put our players in the best position possible? I view it as chess, man. It really is the greatest chess match in the world. And the best chess players are always a couple steps ahead.”

Cowboys

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott said hopes are high again for the team after significant improvements on defense and retaining their offensive firepower, but this year feels different.

“I mean it’s definitely different,” Prescott said, via The Athletic. “I’m optimistic going into every season kind of with that mindset. It’s an NFL season; positive vibes and good energy doesn’t win you games. So understanding that we’ve put ourselves in a great position, we put ourselves right where we need to be to go and give ourselves the best chance to have a great week of practice and win Week 1 up there in New York. Right now, the energy and everything is great, but we got to make sure we’re doing everything to be accountable to each other and just continue on that trajectory. We’ve got to go do it. We’ve got to go win games.”

Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer said they’re not hiding their Super Bowl aspirations and the vibe in the facility is real.

“It’s easy to talk,” Schottenheimer said. “We put our (Super Bowl) goals out there for the world to see and hear and debate, and it’s OK. It’s the way we want to be, because we do believe in ourselves and we have a lot of confidence. … I think what Dak’s talking about with all the positive vibes is real.”

Eagles

Sean Mannion enters his first year as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator following one year as the Packers’ quarterbacks coach. Philadelphia OT Jordan Mailata said Mannion is one of the “smartest people” around the organization. 

“If I were to lock the three smartest people in the facility in one room, Sean would be there, and I think Sean will just be by himself,” Mailata said, via Zach Berman of The Athletic.

Mannion’s coach during his college career at Oregon State, Mike Riley, thinks his former quarterback does well at understanding different players’ strengths. 

“This is what I think is important in coaching — to have a diverse background in what people do,” Riley said. “And then you have to be selective in what you’re going to do. Through study, coaches come up with or select a group of things that they like. But you have to have an inventory behind them, and that’s what Sean was doing.”

Mannion was a third-round pick by the Rams in 2015. He said he learned a lot from HC Sean McVay, along with Cardinals HC Mike LaFleur and Bengals HC Zac Taylor, while they were on Los Angeles’ staff. 

“I just felt like I was learning so, so much,” Mannion said. “It was such an exciting way to match the run and pass. They had such a way about teaching the game where we could feel ourselves challenging a defense, but it felt simple to us. Those are the things that really stood out to me going through that experience that really resonated with me as a player and certainly resonated with me as a coach. That was a very exciting point in my football life, just the exposure to that type of teaching, that type of scheme.”