Here’s a look at the NFC East:
- In a radio interview, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed that quarterback Johnny Manziel was rated among the top 5-6 players on the team’s board, as Ed Werder of ESPN.com tweets. Jones’ fondness for Manziel was well documented prior to the 2014 draft. The Browns demoted Manziel to the No. 3 spot on the QB depth chart earlier this season after more questions arose about his off-field behavior. However, with Josh McCown done for the season, Cleveland could conceivably turn to him as its starter rather than Austin Davis, who is penciled in as the No. 2 signal caller.
- Many have assumed that Greg Hardy‘s time with the Cowboys is up since he has only 4.5 sacks and Dallas has lost seven of the eight games he’s started. That’s not quite the case, Jean-Jacques Taylor of ESPN.com writes. Hardy will be a free agent at season’s end, but the defensive end is unlikely to get the long-term deal he wants thanks to his reputation. Other teams might choose to steer clear of Hardy altogether, and Taylor theorizes that could pave the way to a reunion between Hardy and the Cowboys. Taylor cautions fans not to be shocked if the Cowboys re-sign Hardy, provided that they can get him on another deal that protects them in the event of an off-the-field issue.
- On Monday, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly denied a report that he met recently with USC officials regarding their head coaching job. For his part, offensive tackle Jason Peters says that he didn’t need the reassurance from Kelly, but he did feel that some of the younger players needed to hear it, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. Kelly addressed the rumors with his players first thing in morning and told them that he’ll be staying put as long as the Eagles will have him (link).
I fully expect the Cowboys to re-sign Hardy. They’ve already crossed the Rubicon and stuck it out through all his BS this year in an extremely trying season. Given that they’ve shown a willingness to overlook Hardy’s awfulness as a person, it would make sense from their POV to bring him back in ’16 to help a Romo-led team fulfill its potential.
The Browns decision not to throw Manziel to the wolves and see if he sinks or swims boggles my mind…I could understand if the team decided to bench him for a game due to his involvement in the incident with his girlfriend and his actions during the bye week but they need to see what he has as a starting NFL quarterback…I agree that Johnny needs to wake up and realize that being the starting quarterback on a football team means that he needs to lead by example on and off the field…if the Browns have no intentions on playing him they should trade him, perhaps to the Cowboys for a 5-7 round draft pick…maybe they’re going to bench him instead of starting him so that his stock is decent as far as his performance was when he was stripped of his starting duties thus making him more valuable in a trade instead of him playing terribly the rest of the season…who knows what’s going on in Cleveland