NFC Notes: James Bradberry, Jayden Daniels, Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles

Commanders

Although he’s the favorite to win the job, Commanders first-round QB Jayden Daniels will have to earn his job against QB Marcus Mariota in camp. Daniels doesn’t mind competition and outlined his daily process for improvement. 

“I like competing,” Daniels said, via ESPN’s John Keim. “Regardless if I’m announced as the starter or not, I still have to compete. You can’t be content with your job or [be] comfortable. So for me, it’s not a problem at all. It’s up to DQ and AP for the decision, but for me, I can control how hard I practice and I compete.”

“It’s just playing football and knowing where I go, being decisive, and learning different coverages and teams. When the joint practices come, learning the different coverages. You get to go against other people and see where you stand as far as, ‘Maybe I can make this throw. … I could hold onto this a little longer or this window might be a little tighter than other ones I’ve seen before.’ It’s a learning curve. I’m excited to go out there and learn, and if I fail a little bit, I’ll learn from it.”

Cowboys

• Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson notes the Cowboys will eventually insert first-round OT Tyler Guyton into the starting lineup at left tackle, but they’re ramping him up a little more slowly to start camp. 
• Robinson writes he doesn’t get the sense the Cowboys view QB Trey Lance as a potential replacement for QB Dak Prescott at this time but Lance has the opportunity to change their minds. 
• Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer talked about losing DE Sam Williams to injury: “We had big plans for him. He was going to play an awful lot, probably I’m guessing, 70-75 percent of the time. … We’ll just have to move some chess pieces around and try to figure out other ways to do things. … With us moving (Micah) Parsons around a little bit, (Williams) was going to be out there with Parsons and (DeMarcus Lawrence). Marshawn Kneeland has done a really nice job. He would’ve played anyway … but I think he’s gonna end up having to play a lot now.” (Jon Machota)
• Williams will undergo surgery in August to repair his partially torn ACL and MCL on Sunday. Dallas is looking over the tape of veteran DEs but they don’t have any workouts scheduled at this time. (David Moore)
• Dallas EVP Stephen Jones is happy to have signed veteran RB Royce Freeman in the offseason: “We were just talking about it last night at the scout dinner, ‘What in the hell was he doing sitting around out there?’ An interesting guy to just have been sitting there. He’s a great 2-3 combination in terms of what he can do as a backup. He’s a big, thick guy. And he’s a hell of a special teams player as well. He’ll be a good addition and great complement to (Ezekiel Elliott). And then we’ll let these young guys between (Rico Dowdle and Malik Davis) and those guys battle it out.” (Machota)

Eagles

Eagles DB James Bradberry had a rough season in 2023 which prompted the team to be active in the draft regarding that position. Bradberry is fine with potentially moving to safety and is open to whatever the team needs from him. 

“After the season – of course, I didn’t have the best season – going into my ninth year, I know they signed Isaiah Rodgers… we had a lot of young guys in the room at cornerback already,” Bradberry said, via Jimmy Kempski of the Philly Voice. “I feel like we were a little lighter at safety. And I can still play corner. It’s not like I’m not going to play corner. My thought process was to just try to be a valuable piece to the team, and I feel like picking up safety, learning new roles – also at the end of the season I was playing a little bit of dime, already playing inside a little bit – safeties do that, they play dime from time to time, and I was also playing some nickel. So I was like, why not?”

“And then the draft came. I kinda figured they were going to draft corners because I didn’t play too well, so that was kind of my thought process. And now, I’m learning safety, and [the younger corners] are getting a lot more reps. And if the time comes and I’m still on the team and they still want me to play corner I’m going to be ready.”