NFC Notes: Micah Parsons, Dan Quinn, Commanders, Cowboys, Giants

Commanders

New Commanders HC Dan Quinn talked about the upcoming draft and his experience scouting quarterbacks. Quinn has complete faith in GM Adam Peters due to his rich track record of finding what exactly a team needs.

“Adam’s superpower is finding what the team needs,” Quinn said, via SI.com’s Albert Breer. “It’s not always the same, no matter where you’re at. He’s scouted at New England, which is different than Denver, which was different than San Francisco. Getting everybody together to know exactly what we’re looking for and how we want to play, that’s really important. This time right now between coaches and scouts is good to have discussions.”

“Mainly, you just want to see them compete there. What are the things you’ve been working on? Let me see if I see that today. I usually ask that as a question—what was the No. 1 thing, when you went away to train for these X amount of days or months, that you wanted to get to? Everybody’s got a little bit of something. If you and I went away to go to quarterback school, we’d both go into there with different things and hopefully leave there netting some of those goals. I would check in on that.”

Cowboys

Cowboys ST coordinator John Fassel spoke about the chance that LB Micah Parsons returns kicks, as Parsons had volunteered himself to be the team’s primary kick returner. While Fassel knows that it is unlikely, he noted that Parsons truly is a special athlete.

“You know Micah. So, he has lobbied me in the past to just be the primary kickoff returner,” Fassel said on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. “I’m like, Micah, that’s the question you got to go a little further up than me on that one. But would I love to see him back there? Absolutely, because he would be fantastic. He would catch it and he’d run wild and he’d probably get incredible yards. But that ain’t going to happen. I’m aware of that.”

“I remember watching Micah on kickoff coverage at Penn State as a freshman because I was scouting Nick Scott, a player we had drafted to the Rams,” Fassel added. “Then I was looking at Cam Brown also, but ‘Who’s that guy on kickoff’ when [Parsons] was a freshman. Then, you know, you look him up, I don’t know who he is, but he’ll probably be alright someday. But Micah has asked about being a primary kickoff returner, that hasn’t been allowed yet, probably not going to be allowed unless you say, ‘Hey, you know in the game we’re down by six and there’s eight seconds left in the game and we got to score a touchdown and kick return to win it?’ Maybe we put Micah back there as a second returner.”

“I mean there’s so much to dive into which is cool because the creative part of the game is going to go way up,” Fassel said in conclusion when asked about the new kickoff rules. “Last year, to be honest, we ran one kickoff return the entire season because we knew we were going to return one ball every two games. You know, Kavante Turpin had 10 returns on kickoffs the whole season. So, it’s changing the whole game for us as coaches and players, which is good.”

• British Colombia OT Giovanni Manu had an official 30 visit with the Cowboys, per Jordan Schultz. 
• According to Calvin Watkins, “it wouldn’t surprise” him if Dallas WR CeeDee Lamb attended minicamp and didn’t participate. Watkins adds that it isn’t “considered a big deal.”
• Watkins also mentions the Cowboys and Lamb’s agent haven’t had any “substantial talks” about a contract extension.

Giants

Dan Duggan of The Athletic projected the Giants’ starting lineup after the upcoming draft. Some draft picks will have to take on large roles from day one if New York wants to contend in 2024.

• Duggan believes QB Daniel Jones will be the starter “even if the Giants draft a quarterback in the first round” if he’s healthy, as Jones can get another shot while letting a rookie develop.
• At running back, Duggan thinks it would be “ideal to add a back in the middle rounds,” but the lack of picks and plethora of needs makes it seem unlikely.
• Duggan projects a first-round pick will start at receiver for the Giants and he believes they will draft one no later than round two even if they decide to take a QB in the first round.
• Using a Day 2 pick on a guard would be a “sound investment” according to Duggan, but they traded their second-round pick for DE Brian Burns which could factor into that decision.
• Duggan says “it would be surprising” if the Giants used anything more than a late-round pick on a linebacker.
• Finally, Duggan projects a Day 2 pick to start at cornerback this year as he believes “they need to invest in a player capable of stepping in immediately outside or in the slot.”