NFC Notes: Eagles, Giants, Washington

Eagles

New Eagles S Will Parks grew up in Philadelphia but had to leave and go far from home to pursue his football dream. He ended up playing his college ball at Arizona and spent four years in Denver as a sixth-round pick. Parks had a strong market in free agency this year and could have gone to a number of different teams. But when the chance to come home to Philadelphia presented itself, he couldn’t pass it up. 

“Throughout the first couple days of free agency, I was talking to like 10-12 teams, then it kind of went down to 3-4, and the Eagles had always been in contact with us the whole time. Then looking deeper into the situation, and what is going on with the franchise, how they could use me, use they looked forward to using my skillsets, it was definitely a no-brainer. Especially to come back home and create an opportunity for yourself,” Parks said via 94 WIP’s Eliot Shorr-Parks. “I think I came to the best situation. I came to a winning team, I came to an organization that prides itself in winning, drives their players to work hard and to doing everything to contribute to W’s and to winning Super Bowls. The standard here is Super Bowl. I want to play with the best, I want to compete against the best and hopefully do everything I can to help this team win. That is my ultimate end goal and that is why I chose to come home.”

Parks is one of a few different options competing to replace veteran S Malcolm Jenkins for the Eagles. In addition to his own natural skillset, Parks has been learning from Jenkins himself this offseason, which has him optimistic about carving out a strong role. 

“I lined up in man coverage probably 80% of the time, that is one of my strong suits, being able to cover and run with guys. It isn’t just tight ends. I played nickel the last half of the season,” Parks said. “For a guy my size, being able to move like a corner, a nickel, twist your hips, being able to have feet as well as hands, being able to dissect plays faster than normal, that has been helpful as well. I feel like I can continue to do that.”

Giants

• Per NJ.com’s Matt Lombardo, out of all the veterans the Giants could choose to give an extension to, Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald believes they should prioritize DT Dalvin Tomlinson.
• Fitzgerald points out Tomlinson is pretty comparable to Bengals DT D.J. Reader who just signed in Cincinnati in free agency this year to a deal worth $13.25 million per year. If the Giants got out in front of things, they could extend Tomlinson for a lot less. 
• However, Fitzgerald believes that’s unlikely due to the trade for DL Leonard Williams, who has not been able to come to an agreement with the Giants on an extension: “Williams, I think, wants a fortune and there is no way the Giants can hand that over until he plays a year in their system and actually does something more than he has done in his career.”
• The Giants officially hired Dr. Dani Lawrence as their new director of wellness and clinical services. (Art Stapleton)

Washington

• John Keim reports that team owner Dan Snyder had been in contact with the NFL about this before this past week about changing the team’s name.
• Keim says it’s possible the team could make a change “sooner rather than later.”
• Keim explains that there are still issues that need to be worked through including how a possible change impacts the NFL, marketing and sales, cost incurred from having to change signage, merchandise, and marketing material.
• As now, there’s no specific timeline from the NFL and the team plans to talk with Native American groups, military, alumni and fans.
• Keim would be “real surprised” if the team changed their color scheme and says he knows sentiment from some was they would want to move forward with traditions that matter such as the band, colors and song.