NFC East Rumors: Cowboys, Foster, Johnson

The Cowboys decided not to pursue an extension for Demarcus Lawrence before this season, with the defensive end’s history of back trouble leading to hesitancy on this front, Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News notes. Dallas’ brass wanted to see if Lawrence could stay healthy and deliver on the intermittent promise he showed during his career, per George, who adds the franchise tag could be in play for Lawrence come March. That would cost the team more than $17MM, but with Lawrence’s 9.5 sacks second in the league (despite the Cowboys having already had their bye) and considering he had back surgeries the past two offseasons, it would seem reasonable the team would still want to opt for a temporary arrangement for the time being. George describes Lawrence as playing through severe back pain last season rather than opting for season-ending surgery, and he’s on the verge of becoming a high-end UFA if he can make it through this season healthy.

Here’s more from Dallas and other NFC East cities.

• Ezekiel Elliott will play for the Cowboys on Sunday, but the seminal event for the running back will come Monday afternoon when his team and the NFL face off in New York’s Southern District Court. The latest Elliott-vs.-NFL chapter is set for 4pm CT Monday, and Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News expects it to determine the running back’s 2017 fate. Should Judge Katherine Polk Failla green-light an Elliott injunction, Hairopoulos expects him to play the rest of this season while the court battle plays out. If not, the reporter doesn’t see him skirting the six-game suspension.
• Mason Foster fired off a string of tweets voicing his frustration with the Redskins, who placed him on IR Friday. However, the veteran linebacker met with Bruce Allen, senior VP of football operations-general counsel Eric Schaffer and other members of Washington’s front office on Saturday to clear the air about the IR decision, Master Tefatsion of the Washington Post reports. The inside ‘backer described his state of mind upon sending those tweets as being “too emotional,” and the UFA-to-be is open to staying with the Redskins. “I’m a Redskin until they tell me I’m not a Redskin,” Foster said, via Tefatsion. “That’s how I feel about it. I love this team. This is where I wanna be. We handled it internally, and I appreciate Bruce sitting down with me and Eric Schaffer so that we could get it squashed and go about business.” Foster played through a 2014 injury that affected his free agent stock the following spring and will be shut down this time around after playing through a torn shoulder labrum for three games.
• The Eagles will not move Lane Johnson to left tackle midseason, instead installing swing tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai at Jason Peters‘ spot, Zach Berman of Philly.com notes. Vaitai struggled replacing Johnson last season at right tackle, and considering the Eagles’ hot start, there will be a bright spotlight on the second-year player this season on the left side. “Right now, Lane is playing extremely well at right tackle and looking down the road, and I hate to look down the road, but we’ve got some teams coming up that have some players on our right side, their left side, the Von Millers of the world, Khalil Macks of the world that play on that side of the ball,” Doug Pederson said of the decision to keep Johnson at right tackle.