NFC East news: Giants, Eagles quarterback discussion, Washington provides RB reunion

Here’s the latest news from around the division.

Giants’ meeting with Russell Wilson included no guarantee he’d play over Daniel Jones – ProFootball Talk via Yahoo! Sports

Uncertainty over Wilson’s depth chart position may have swayed his decision.

Russell Wilson’s decision to sign with the Steelers came after a meeting with the Giants in which Wilson received no guarantee that he would play ahead of Daniel Jones if he signed there.

That’s the word from TheAthletic.com, which reports that the Giants didn’t make any promises about playing time in their meeting with Wilson, which took place before Wilson’s meeting with the Steelers.

With the Steelers, Wilson was promptly installed as the No. 1 quarterback when the team traded away Kenny Pickett. Although the Steelers did then trade for Justin Fields, they’ve put out words that Fields will be Wilson’s backup.

The Giants signed Drew Lock, who said at his introductory press conference that he was told Jones is the starter.

Both Wilson and Jones could, of course, be benched during the season. The Steelers have made only a one-year commitment to Wilson, and the Giants will be ready to move on from Jones if he plays as poorly to start this year as he did last year. But right now, the Steelers’ starting job is Wilson’s, and it’s a job he took after he was told the Giants’ starting job belongs to Jones.

Kenny Pickett trade: Why Eagles gave up more for former Steelers QB instead of trading for Justin Fields – Jeff Kerr, CBS Sports

Philadelphia knows the importance of QB depth.

The No. 2 quarterback is vital for Philadelphia, which is why it wasn’t surprising to see the Eagles acquire Kenny Pickett from the Pittsburgh Steelers Friday. What was surprising is what the Eagles traded to acquire Pickett when Justin Fields was traded to the Steelers a day later for less draft compensation (the Eagles were reportedly trying to trade for Fields).

Should the Eagles have waited for Fields and made him their No. 2, or did they make the right move and acquire Pickett for the price they paid? There were some good reasons for the Eagles to acquire Pickett and pass on Fields.

The cost was for more team control

The Eagles are getting two seasons of Pickett compared to one season of Fields, ignoring the fifth-year option that will come into play for the former first-round picks. Fields was a first-round pick in 2021, so the Eagles would have had to make a decision on his fifth-year option for 2025 by May 2.

Philadelphia also has Jalen Hurts in the first year of a five-year extension this year, and Hurts has a cap number of $21.8 million in 2025. The cost of Fields’ fifth-year option in 2025 would be $25.7 million, which the Eagles would easily decline since they are paying Hurts to be their franchise quarterback.

Basically the Eagles would have Fields for one season as the No. 2 quarterback, instead of two seasons of Pickett. Hence why the cost for Pickett was a 2024 third-round pick (No. 98 overall) and a pair of 2025 seventh-round picks — and the Eagles got a 2024 fourth-round pick (No. 120 overal) back in the deal.

Eagles have a cheaper backup quarterback

The Eagles have preferred to have a No. 2 quarterback under team control for multiple seasons. The Gardner Minshew trade back in 2021 was more than ideal for Philadelphia, as the Eagles parted ways with a conditional sixth-round pick in 2022 for two years of Minshew as the backup quarterback.

Not only was Minshew a solid No. 2 quarterback, he only cost $850,000 and $2.54 million against the cap in the two years he was in Philadelphia. The Eagles paid Marcus Mariota $5 million for 2023, but it only counted for $1.93 million against the cap (the other four years were voided for salary cap purposes).

Austin Ekeler: Signing with Washington about sharing workload, reuniting with Anthony Lynn – Nick Shook, NFL.com

The former Chargers’ RB will be reunited with his old head coach.

Austin Ekeler’s departure from Los Angeles didn’t come as a surprise — in fact, it was a foregone conclusion for some time.

His choice for his next stop, however, was interesting. Ekeler decided to leave the only team he’d known in his NFL life to the nation’s capital to play for the Washington Commanders, where the veteran back will play a complementary role to the younger Brian Robinson.

As Ekeler explained it Monday, it’s a role he knows well and would like to replicate alongside a familiar face in former Chargers coach (and current Commanders running backs coach) Anthony Lynn.

“Yeah, it was just an opportunity to come in and be this two-back backfield, back where I was feeling the best in my career with Melvin Gordon and I when I was going through my first contract,” Ekeler explained. “That really was intriguing to me, just the philosophies, being in a room with coach Lynn as well as far as a running back coach.

“This man is an absolute guru. So just being back in a room with him I know will definitely keep me focused, keep me locked in and give me the best opportunity to push myself as a player. And so that was the opportunity and the environment I wanted to be in.”

Ekeler needed a fresh start. He’d found himself embroiled in a contract dispute with a Chargers front office that was unwilling to consider a long-term future with him, and after one of the most frustrating and disappointing seasons in some time for the Chargers in 2023, it was time to move on.

He turns 29 in May, and if he needed more motivation than his ticking career clock, he appears to have found it with Lynn and in a role in which he won’t have to be the sole producer in the backfield. At this stage in his career, he’ll be best utilized as a pass-catching back anyway, which should help keep Robinson fresh and fill the void left by the departures of Antonio Gibson and J.D. McKissic over the last 360 days.

If he produces more than that, it will be a bonus for a Washington team that is still charting its course offensively following an offseason regime change.