NFC Rumors: Giants, Panthers, Rams

Giants

• Giants former VP of player evaluation Marc Ross mentioned last week on “NFL Live” that USC QB Sam Darnold, RB Saquon Barkley and Notre Dame G Quenton Nelson could all be potential options for New York at No. 2 overall. Ross is also high on Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield.
• According to Jordan Raanan, the Giants still think highly of free agent OL Justin Pugh and his back injury is unlikely to prevent them from re-signing him this offseason.
• One team to watch for Pugh, assuming he isn’t back with the Giants, is the Jaguars, who have obvious ties to him in Tom Coughlin and Doug Marrone.
• Raanan spoke to a few teams who said they view free agent C Weston Richburg as a quality starter.
• Raanan wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants tried to re-sign RB Orleans Darkwa, but he should have some suitors.
• Interestingly enough, Raanan says that the Giants are “extremely cognizant” about the fact that their interest in draft prospects including Jack Conklin, Leonard Floyd and Garett Bolles becoming public knowledge in recent years, which could lead to an inordinate amount of misinformation coming from East Rutherford this year.

Panthers

Panthers GM Marty Hurney explained that while they want to keep as many of their players as possible, there are situations where it can be tough to allocate a large percentage of their salary cap to one position.

“We want to keep as many of our players as we can,” Hurney said, via Panthers.com. “But there are some instances that with the makeup of our roster, not only do you have to have varying skill sets as far as players go, but your economic makeup has to be diverse as well. You can’t invest an overly high percentage of your salary cap into one position and weaken others.”

This applies to Panthers free agent G Andrew Norwell, who is likely to move on in free agency after Carolina locked up G Trai Turner to a massive extension last year.

“This is the time of the year you have to make very hard decisions. You have to be patient,” Hurney explained. “You can’t have a knee-jerk reaction as far as falling in love with a guy and overspending and hurting your team salary cap-wise.

“We have a plan in place, and sometimes that plan goes down to five, six options at one spot because you have to have that approach to be fluid.”

With this in mind, it’s possible the Panthers may also move on from DT Star Lotulelei.

Rams

• Sources have told Peter King that there was no agreement or even “we’ll see” about redoing CB Marcus Peters‘ contract upon being traded to the Rams. Los Angeles will owe Peters just $1.7 million in 2018 and can pick up his fifth-year option this April.
• The Rams traded a 2018 fourth-round pick and a 2019 2nd-round pick for Peters and a 2018 sixth-round pick. (NFLTR)
• The Rams announced Monday that they’ve hired Matt Daniels as assistant special teams coach and Liam Coen as assistant WRs coach.