NFC Notes: Saquon Barkley, Ben Johnson, Commanders, Eagles, Giants

Commanders

• Jeremy Fowler reports that the Commanders or Seahawks haven’t shown an outward interest in former Patriots HC Bill Belichick and he is considered an outsider for the final two head coaching jobs, along with former Titans HC Mike Vrabel.
• Fowler says it would be considered a minor upset at this point if the Commanders did not hire Lions OC Ben Johnson as their new head coach under new GM Adam Peters.

Eagles

• Jeremy Fowler says his “antenna is up for Kliff Kingsbury in Philadelphia as the potential offensive coordinator hire.”
• Fowler notes that Kingsbury’s system is similar to what Nick Sirianni runs and a prime objective for the Eagles is to maximize QB Jalen Hurts moving forward.
• According to Dan Graziano, former Bills OC Ken Dorsey could be a candidate for the Eagles’ offensive coordinator job.

Giants

Giants RB Saquon Barkley is set to be an unrestricted free agent. Barkley said he always thought he’d spend his entire career in New York until being franchise-tagged last offseason. 

“Yeah, I mean it never crossed my mind until last year after I got tagged. Up until that moment, I really believe that I was gonna finish my career as a New York Giant. You know, that was a goal of mine. And that’s still in play. I have so much respect for the Mara family and the Tisch family and everyone in the Giants organization,” Barkley said, via Zion Olojede of Complex. “They know that but once you get to this point, you go to your contract negotiation and you go through the tag process, you realize how much of a business it is. And I remember vets always telling me this and you know I believed them, but you don’t really know something until you go through it. So could I see myself in another uniform? Yeah, it’s possible.”

Barkley disagrees with the stigma against paying running backs extensive contracts. 

“I don’t agree that running backs don’t deserve the money. The trend is you can get a running back in the third round, fourth round, fifth round to have the same production. Running backs don’t last long. They get injured but that’s any position in the NFL. It’s not a matter of if you’re gonna get injured. It’s when you get injured. So it’s just a trend. You look at the recent backs that got bigger deals, Todd Gurley‘s and Ezekiel Elliott‘s, the injuries histories that came with that. So now everybody is kind of like we can’t pay running back because you can get a guy like, De’Von Achane who’s a stud in the later rounds and come in and play really well, but they can do that for any position. That’s the problem.”