NFC Notes: Terry McLaurin, Micah Parsons, Commanders, Cowboys, Giants

Commanders

Washington underwent massive changes this offseason by bringing in a new coaching staff and taking first-round QB Jayden Daniels second overall. Commanders WR Terry McLaurin believes this season is a new beginning and is excited for the offense under OC Kliff Kingsbury.

“I’m going to grind every offseason, but this one feels like the start of something new, special,” McLaurin said, via Ben Standig of The Athletic. “The foundation of it is extremely important. To be part of that, have a hand in that, it’s an honor.”

“(Kliff) likes to push the ball down the field. He likes to be balanced (in play calling) to give different looks to a defense. … We’re going to use motion, move some guys around.” McLaurin, historically the ‘X’ receiver, said he’s also preparing for the ‘Z’ and slot roles because Kingsbury’s formations may cause him to land in those spots.”

• McLaurin on Daniels: “The first thing that stood out to me about Jayden Daniels is the poise he came in with the 1st day of the building….It seemed like he knew the entire offense when we got there…The kid loves ball.” (JP Finlay)

Cowboys

Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer said teams often put a lot of focus on LB Micah Parsons and deploy two blockers on him. 

“We were sitting up there again this morning talking about other things we can do with [Parsons],” Zimmer said, via CowboysWire. “He’s such a dynamic player that, I said this the other day: ‘Offenses are always going to know where he’s at.’ They’re going to turn protections to him, have the back help chip no matter what it is. In a lot of the games he played last year that I watched, the offenses had a good scheme where they could get two tight ends on him and all those things.”

Zimmer plans on moving Parsons around, which could also free up protection on the opposite side. 

“So, we’re going to obviously move him around, do different things with him,” Zimmer said. “But we’re going to use him in some ways where we’re getting the protection turned the way we want it turned and able to win on the other side. Sometimes we’re going to overload a protection where he gets one-on-one.”

Giants

Giants LB Kayvon Thibodeaux wants to be one of the best pass-rushers in the team’s history and have his name mentioned with other greats such as Michael Strahan and Lawrence Taylor.

“I mean, L.T. back there, man. Just him, Michael Strahan, Carl Banks, Osi Umenyiora,” Thibodeaux said, via NFL.com. “When you’ve got a guy like L.T., right, we just kind of exchanged in the back and he’s like, ‘Man, how many sacks did you have last year?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, I had 11.5. Pretty good.’ He’s like, ‘What’d you play? Three games?’ When you’ve got those shoes to fill, you have no choice but to be great. I’ve got the greatest guys to look up to, and now I just continue to set goals and accomplish them.”