NFC Notes: Ezekiel Elliott, Commanders, Cowboys, Giants

Commanders

Commanders OC Eric Bieniemy seems happy with the team’s current tight end group, despite losing TE Armani Rogers for the season due to injury.

“You know what the tight end room is doing a heck of a job,” Bieniemy said, via CommandersWire.com. “Coach Todd Storm has done a hell of a job with those guys. I mean, Logan [Thomas], [John] Bates, Cole [Turner], Curtis [Hodges]. Those guys are doing a heck of a job. In fact, those guys have stood out for all the right reasons.”

“Obviously, in this offense, it’s always been a tight end-friendly offense,” Bieniemy added. “Those guys, they show up, they’re making plays, and the quarterbacks have been doing a great job of locating them in the passing game. So far, so good. Like I said, these guys are hardworking, and got a lot of veterans in that group. I think from top down, the depth is pretty good, and I’m just proud of where we are at this particular point in time.”

Cowboys

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn’t eliminate the possibility of adding RB Ezekiel Elliott back to the roster or any free agent that could help improve their depth.

“There’s an active free agent market, relative to some pretty talented people out there. We want to keep a close eye on that,” Jones said via the Athletic’s Jon Machota. “I never shut the door. Never, relative to the potential to smartly add to our team for this year. And I emphasize that. For this year. Mainly, I would tell you that 99 percent of my thinking is for this year. Now you’ve got to think about the impact on other years when you make these decisions. You name it. Whether it be (Ezekiel Elliott), where we are with the guys we worked out here today, we’re all the time looking to add depth, not just for training camp, but also to that 53. So it’s all wide open for me.” 

Giants

Giants QB Daniel Jones doesn’t seem concerned by rookie C John Michael Schmitz wanting to use the “dead snap” technique to get him the ball, which is a style of snapping the ball that has been popular in college football and was used by Colts C Jeff Saturday and QB Peyton Manning. 

“As long as it gets back to me,” Jones told Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “It’s been good. Yeah, I’m good with it. He’s accurate. He’s been great too. He’s been great. He’s a smart guy. Been in here working hard. He’s on it every day, working to learn and understand what we’re doing in protections, what we’re doing in the run game. Obviously, this is more of a passing camp. So, a lot of that run stuff’s happening in meetings and then walkthroughs out here. But he’s doing a great job, and it’s been fun working with him.”

“Yeah, honestly I felt it was a lot more controllable with that position,” Schmitz said. “Just felt comfortable, kind of just came naturally when I kept doing it over and over again. Yeah, we’ll see if I stick with it or change it up. We’ll see what happens.”