NFC East notebook: Commanders’ WR Terry McLaurin gets paid!!

We are at the peak of the lull of the NFL offseason. Training camp is right around the corner with most teams reporting more towards the end of July. There have still been a few things going on around the NFC East, including some big news out of the nation’s capital.

Dallas Cowboys

Giants fans know Jason Garrett all too well. The former Giants offensive coordinator took the time to talk to Rich Eisen and was asked what advice he would give to current Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy. There has been a lot of noise around who could replace McCarthy if the Cowboys fail to live up to expectations this season so Garrett spoke about what he would tell McCartney.

“There’s a lot of, there’s a lot of people who make their living speculating about things. And digging things up. And stirring things up. That’s just the world that we live in. The days of Walter Cronkite telling you the news as it is, you know, six o’clock every weekday evening. Those are long gone. It’s 24-hour news cycles and we’re trying to stir the pot.”

“And so when you’re in those roles you have to just really focus on what you need to do to be your best. And this was a theme that we tried to use with all of our players through the years. Players getting into Twitter wars and all of this kind of stuff. It’s like hey let’s just lock in on what we need to do each day to be our best. And when you’re preaching that message to your team sometimes you’ve got to preach it to yourself. And you’ve got to say hey everything that I’m trying to share with these guys to help them individually be their best, help our team be its best, you know sometimes you’ve got to say, hey, I’ve got to remind myself of those things.”

There is a ton of speculation that this could be McCarthy’s last season in Dallas and we have already heard the rumors of Sean Payton and Dan Quinn as potential replacements should the Cowboys move on from McCarthy. Garrett himself had faced this a couple of times already. First with his experience as the Cowboys head coach when the team wasn’t living up to its talent. Most recently as offensive coordinator of the New York Giants. The buzz around New York was begging for the team to let go of Garrett for months as the offense struggled and was criticized for being too predictable. So if there is anyone that could give this type of advice it’s Jason Garrett.

• See SB Nation’s Blogging The Boys for more about the Cowboys

Philadelphia Eagles

Stop me if you have heard this story before but history tends to repeat itself. After Vince Young called the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles the dream team, which didn’t exactly work out very well, Miles Sanders decided this time it’s for real. Speaking with CBS Sports, Miles Sanders felt pretty confident about this 2022 roster calling them an all-star team

Eagles fans will hope this time it works out a little better than it did in 2011. Though for Giants fans hopefully, history will repeat itself. While the Eagles ended that season 8-8 and missed the playoffs, the Giants ended up winning the division and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

Speaking of news the Eagles have a new wordmark! After almost 30 years the Eagles moved on from one of the more recognizable wordmarks to something, well, a little more modern.

So far the reception has been pretty lackluster from the fan base and it’s pretty hard to argue with them on this one. While the old one stood out and was pretty recognizable with the wings, this new one feels like one of the many others you see around the NFL today.

• See SB Nation’s Bleeding Green Nation for more about the Eagles

Washington Commanders

The Terry McLaurin saga finally comes to an end! The standout wide receiver signed a three-year extension with the Washington Commanders that is worth up to $71 million. After an offseason where the wide receiver market exploded and opened the door for Philadelphia to land A.J. Brown, there was a lot of speculation about what would happen with McLaurin in Washington. That all came to an end with McLaurin landing the biggest signing bonus for a wide receiver in NFL history and keeping him in Washington through the 2025 season.

It will be interesting to see the future of the wide receiver market within the division. The Giants already have one highly-paid player in Kenny Golladay, that now doesn’t seem like all that bad of a contract, with a few players on rookie deals. The Eagles just traded for A.J. Brown and gave him a contract extension. The Cowboys already traded Amari Cooper and misread the receiver market, getting what looks like a very small return. They also have to keep this in mind when it comes to the extension CeeDee Lamb will be asking for next off-season.

• See SB Nation’s Hogs Haven for more about the Commanders