NFC Notes: Eagles, Giants, Washington

Eagles

Eagles C Jason Kelce has heard fans pushing for younger players to play and that the best thing the Eagles can do is make sure their upcoming first-round pick is as high as possible. Respectfully, he disagrees. 

“I think at all times in the NFL, the focus should be winning the football game. Nothing else takes precedence. No player evaluation, no amount of curiosity from anybody within the organization — everything is focused, in my opinion in this league, upon winning games,” Kelce said via ESPN’s Tim McManus. “You see a lot of losing teams sustain losses for a number of years when they have bad cultures. They have cultures where you don’t try and win every week. Where you’re trying to think, ‘What are we going to do in the draft? What are we doing in free agency? What can we do over here?’”

“In football — this isn’t basketball — one draft pick isn’t going to make us a Super Bowl champion,” he continued. “It might be a big start to a Super Bowl championship. But it’s always going to be about the team. That’s the greatest thing about this sport. And in culture, and the way guys fight, and the way guys go to prepare, and the way guys go about their business is a huge reason for success in this league and in this sport.

“So, nothing takes precedence over trying to win a football game. I don’t care who you’re trying to evaluate. I don’t care if you’ve lost every game, you’re 0-15 and it’s the last one you’ve got — everything is about winning in this league.”

Giants

Regarding Giants QB Daniel Jones‘ hamstring injury, HC Joe Judge said the quarterback is “optimistic” about playing in Week 15. 

“I can tell you that he’s optimistic, but I’m going to tell you right now if his left arm was attached by a rubber band, he’d tell us he’d figure out a way to get it done, so we’ll have to see him through practice this week,” Judge said, via Steve Serby of the New York Post. 

Jones said he is preparing as if he is going to play in Sunday night’s game against the Browns and that his hamstring “feels good.” 

“My job is to play, my job is to prepare to play and to play when I can play,” Jones said. “Hamstring feels good. I’ll work to get that healthy as well.”

• Giants QB Joe Webb is in meetings for quarterbacks, receivers and special teams. (Zack Rosenblatt)

Washington

• Per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, Washington C Chase Roullier says he would love to be back in 2021 but he leaves all contract discussions to his agent.