NFC Notes: Saquon Barkley, Russell Wilson, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants

Cowboys

Cowboys RB Tony Pollard was injured by a hip-drop tackle but agreed with the NFL’s decision that it would be hard to enforce and take them out of the game completely. 

“It was an unfortunate tackle,” Pollard said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “Any tackle where a guy gets hurt, I saw they were trying to take it out. I feel like it will be hard to do that. I see where the league is going. It’s in the right direction. It’s looking out for the players. I like the idea of it, but I feel like it’ll be hard to actually stamp that and take it out.”

Eagles

Sports Illustrated’s Greg Bishop reports that the Eagles had serious interest in trading the Seahawks for QB Russell Wilson before he turned down the deal and was shipped to the Broncos instead.

“I think what I would say is that the Eagles really wanted him – I think they liked his style of play, and I think that makes sense, right, because he’s similar to Jalen Hurts, especially when he was in his prime and a little bit faster than now,” Bishop said. “My understanding is that at that point in time, Russ wanted to stay here [in Seattle].”

Wilson’s former QB coach Jake Heaps has also mentioned the prospect of the deal and why it didn’t go through.

“The reason why this [deal] happened so quickly and progressed quickly is because, one, Denver was working on this behind the scenes for a while now,” Heaps said. “The other reason is because the Seahawks were limited, guys. There’s not real leverage if there’s only a certain amount of teams that Russell Wilson’s actually interested in or be willing to waive his no-trade clause for. He turned down the Washington [Commanders] offer. He turned down an offer from Philly during the Combine. And the Denver situation was the clear-cut, number one choice for him going into all these other teams.”

Giants

• The Athletic’s Dan Duggan thinks there’s still a good chance the Giants and RB Saquon Barkley figure out a contract extension before the July 17 deadline. He notes if New York was willing to pay $13 million a year for Barkley at one point, it stands to reason they like the idea of keeping him enough to not squeeze him too hard in negotiations even if they have the leverage to do so. 
• As for Barkley, Duggan points out if the guarantees on a contract offer are in the range of $22 million, the smart thing for him to do at this point is to take the deal. 
• Duggan mentions the Giants would like to have DL Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence playing in the range of 70-75 percent of the snaps instead of over 80 percent like last season, which is why they prioritized signing DL A’Shawn Robinson and Rakeem Nunez-Roches.
• Right now, Giants LB Micah McFadden seems to be working as the top backup behind LB Bobby Okereke, with veteran LB Jarrad Davis holding down the other spot while LB Darrian Beavers recovers from a torn ACL. Duggan expects Beavers to eventually win the other starting job next to Okereke in camp. 
• According to Josina Anderson, former Bills DC Leslie Frazier spent two days with the Packers and is now scheduled to do the same with both the Commanders and Giants.