NFC Notes: Eagles, Giants, Washington

Eagles

• The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia, Bo Wulf and Zach Berman reported in-depth on the dysfunctional dynamics in the Eagles front office between owner Jeffrey Lurie, GM Howie Roseman, former HC Doug Pederson and others that led the franchise to where it is currently. 
• The Athletic notes Lurie held meetings with Pederson every Tuesday during the season where he regularly nitpicked his decisions, including whether they called too many run plays in a win. 
• The trio say after the 2019 season, Lurie wanted Pederson to fire then-OC Mike Groh and WR coach Carson Walch. Pederson refused but according to multiple sources he was given 24 hours to change his mind or he would be fired (Lurie denies giving an ultimatum). 
• The article mentions that some in the building thought Pederson was even on the hot seat in 2017 when they ended up winning the Super Bowl, as Lurie had a three-hour meeting with then-DC Jim Schwartz before the season.
• One source said the constant second-guessing just wore Pederson down: “The fact that Doug had the success he did with all the shit going on in the building, sometimes I look at our Super Bowl rings, and I’m like, ‘Holy cow, I don’t know how we did it.’”
• There were also divisions in the front office between the analytics department, the coaching staff, the scouting department and Roseman. One source described the analytics department as a “clandestine, Black Ops department that doesn’t answer to anybody except the owner.”
• Eagles VP of football operations and strategy Alec Halaby runs that department but a rift reportedly developed between him and some members of the coaching and scouting departments. In 2017, a source said Pederson chewed Halaby out within earshot of the rest of the office: “No coach wants somebody around who they think is undermining the perception of how well they’re doing.”
• Another issue is in how the team builds its draft board. Beyond the standard work the scouting department does, the Athletic reports Roseman keeps his own board and Lurie is also an “active participant” in the pre-draft process. Sometimes the team strays from what many in the building perceive as the established draft board and make selections that come out of the blue to the rest of the building, like the first three picks in 2020. 
• Multiple sources also tell the Athletic that Roseman has made himself “essential” to Lurie, which is how he survived and kept his job this past offseason. 
• As to how things deteriorated with Wentz, multiple sources told the Athletic losing OC Frank Reich to the Colts after 2017 was the beginning of the end. In 2020, one source said Wentz was smarter than most of the coaches, but his pre-snap calls confused the rest of the offense and Pederson couldn’t find a balance between empowering Wentz and making sure the offense ran smoothly.
• Another source believes the Eagles’ decision to go with QB Jalen Hurts as the starter in 2021 is largely driven by Lurie, per the Athletic. 

Giants

• Fansided’s Matt Lombardo says there is a feeling in NFL circles that Giants GM Dave Gettleman is enamored with Alabama WR DeVonta Smith.
• Auburn S Jamien Sherwood has met virtually with the Giants. (Justin Melo)

Washington

• Mike Sando of The Athletic writes that Washington will likely consider the facts that DT Daron Payne led NFL defensive tackles in snaps played as a 16-game starter last season and has missed only one game in three seasons. Sando believes this is enough to warrant picking up his $8,529,000 fifth-year option for the 2022 season. 
• Washington DEs Chase Young and Montez Sweat now share the same agent, as Sweat shifted to Klutch Sports and signed Damarius Bilbo as his representative. (Ben Standig)