NFC East

Jason Peters' NFL career will continue after he agreed to a practice-squad deal with the Dallas Cowboys, per Rob Phillips of DallasCowboys.com.

Welcome to #CowboysNation, Jason! ⭐️

🗞: https://t.co/VduuULDeFi#DallasCowboys | @blockchain pic.twitter.com/ui5qv26uuB

— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) September 5, 2022

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport was first to report the agreement. Defensive end Mika Tafua was released to make room for Peters.

"This is about adding depth and bringing another excellent player into your program," head coach Mike McCarthy said, per Phillips.

"Obviously you have a tremendous amount of respect for what Jason has accomplished throughout his career," McCarthy added. "Going back, watching the video of his time with Chicago, it's definitely an opportunity of mutual interest. He'd love to finish his career here in Texas. We had a chance to visit late last week and through the weekend.

"He'll line up (in practice Monday) and we'll bring him along a little more slowly. Just do the individual (drills)."

Jason Peters starting on the practice squad helps the Cowboys, because they hadn’t planned to add a key OT before Week 2. Vested veterans get their salaries guaranteed (via termination pay option) if on the roster for the Week 1 game, but not after that.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) September 5, 2022

The Cowboys found themselves in a desperate state when Tyron Smith went down with an avulsion fracture in his left knee during practice Aug. 24.

Per Rapoport, Smith will return no sooner than December, and he could miss the entire season.

There has been a lot of shuffling along Dallas' offensive line since the end of last season. Left guard Connor Williams and right tackle La'El Collins left via free agency.

Dallas drafted Tyler Smith in the first round (No. 24 overall) to help soften the blow of those two losses. He has received a vote of confidence from Jerry Jones as the starting left tackle going into this season.

Adding Peters gives head coach Mike McCarthy a safety net at left tackle in the event Smith struggles in his first exposure to the NFL.

The Cowboys hope to make a deep playoff run. Peters may not be the All-Pro player he was in his prime, but he's still an effective starter at the most important position on the offensive line.

After a long offseason wait last year, Peters found a home with the Bears following injuries along their offensive line. He started 15 games for Chicago in 2021 and was the team's best offensive lineman, per Pro Football Focus.

The University of Arkansas product has had a strong career rebound after suffering a torn ACL and MCL in Week 7 during the 2017 campaign. He started all 16 games in 2018 and made 13 more starts in 2019.

The Philadelphia Eagles brought Peters back by signing him to a one-year deal in 2020. He was expected to play right guard, but Andre Dillard's season-ending biceps injury moved him back to left tackle.

Upon receiving a one-year contract extension from the Eagles in 2017, Peters said his goal was to play for three more seasons through 2019 before walking away.

"I don't think I'm going to go that much longer," he told reporters. "Three-year extension. I'm going to give them everything I've got."

Peters spent the first five years of his career with the Bills after signing as an undrafted free agent. He played tight end at the University of Arkansas and during his rookie season in Buffalo.

After learning to play offensive tackle during his second season, he became one of the best players at the position during his prime. The Eagles acquired him prior to the 2009 season, and he started 148 games in 12 seasons with the franchise.

The Dallas Cowboys need rookie Tyler Smith to step up on the offensive line at left tackle in 2022 following the injury to Tyron Smith, and while team owner Jerry Jones is confident he can rise to the challenge, he admitted the O-line will certainly have its struggles.

Jones said Friday during an appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, per Audacy's Logan Mullen:

“Well, I think Tyler is going to get his man. What’s that mean? He’s going to get his man, and I think he’s going to do a good job of it. Is he not going to get him all the time? Yes. We need to have somebody there to help him out, we need to keep some out, to cut some out of the offense, you need to cut it out a little bit and help him out. But I think he’ll get his man, I think he will get better. I think that’s the nature of the position and football.

“He’s got everything we hoped and more when we drafted him. That’s exactly what we drafted him for, to come in and be the left tackle. So he had a really outstanding camp, all of the things are there. Do I wish we had Tyron? Yes. Will we get Tyron back? Likely. But in the meantime he’s going to come in and he’s going to get a Harvard doctorate degree at playing left tackle between now and then. Will we pay some price for it? Yes. Can we win with him paying a price? I think so, yes.”

Tyron Smith underwent surgery to repair a torn hamstring last month and is expected to be sidelined for between three and fourth months, according to ESPN's Ed Werder. He is unlikely to return before December.

Jones previously addressed Tyron Smith's injury while meeting with reporters Aug. 25. He said the team's mentality hasn't changed, and it is still going to push to make a deep playoff run.

Losing a member of the offensive line is nothing new for the Cowboys. In fact, Tyron Smith has a lengthy injury history, and he hasn't played a full season since the 2015 campaign. Dallas has had to find ways to replace him in the past, and while it hasn't reached the Super Bowl, it has made the postseason in three of the last six seasons.

There's no reason to believe that it can't contend for a playoff spot this year.

The Cowboys selected Tyler Smith 24th overall in the 2022 NFL draft out of Tulsa. Now that he's expected to start at left tackle, Josh Ball, Matt Waletzko and Aviante Collins could see time backing him up.

Dallas opens the 2022 season at AT&T Stadium on Sept. 11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons has established a clear goal for the 2022 NFL season.

"This year, I know exactly who I need to be. The best player in the league," Parsons told reporters Thursday. "... I'm not talking about the best defensive player. I want to be, like, the greatest. That's the type of mindset I have and the confidence that I have."

The reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year added he understands there's a lot of work to do if he's going to reach that lofty status.

"I want to be the best," Parsons said. "Last year, I was trying to be young, and sometimes it's hard to try to find a place in the league, and you try to find trust and build respect within the guys. But I want to be feared. I don't want to build no one's respect. I have to dominate every day."

Parsons was a force throughout his debut campaign after the Cowboys selected him with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2021 draft. He racked up 84 total tackles, 13 sacks, three forced fumbles and three passes defended across 16 games.

In many ways, the 23-year-old Penn State product, who received a terrific 89.8 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, was reminiscent of a young Khalil Mack.

When Mack broke into the league with the Oakland Raiders in 2014, he was given the freedom to make plays. It wasn't a situation where every down he was asked to attack the passer. He was allowed to utilize his skills as an all-around playmaker to alter games.

Eventually the dynamic linebacker, who's now with the Los Angeles Chargers, developed into one of the NFL's best players, winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2016.

Parsons is charting a similar path, and hopefully the Cowboys continue to give him the ability to use his well-rounded skill set rather than pigeonhole him as a three-down edge-rusher.

Make no mistake: The 6'3", 248-pound defender, who also earned Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro selections last season, is still going to accumulate a lot of sacks. But focusing too much on that category will limit his ability to help the defense in other ways.

Parsons noted Thursday that Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has increased his role rather than reduce it, which is a promising sign.

"DQ has set me up," he said. "He has put me in position to be great. But I got to do it. ... I am going to be all over. It’s going to be the same as last year, but even more. The role has definitely expanded. I just got to own it."

Now the challenge is living up to the sky-high expectations.

Parsons ranked No. 12 on ESPN's rating of the top 100 players for 2022 and was voted No. 16 by the players on the NFL Network's annual Top 100 countdown.

Dallas' defensive cornerstone is aiming to climb even higher on those lists next year.

While a number of NFL pundits have been high on the offseason the Philadelphia Eagles have had, there's been less public enthusiasm about their NFC East rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, heading into the 2022 campaign.

And Dak Prescott is using that as motivation.

"Where we are right now, it's all excitement. It is," he told reporters Thursday. "It's truly a privilege to be the quarterback of this team, to be a leader of these guys, offense, defense, this coaching staff that we have. And yeah, especially with everything being said about us—you know what I mean?—the lack of what we have, keep writing, keep talking. We're ready to go play."

Here's a smattering of what is being written and said about Prescott's Cowboys heading into the season:

As much as it hurts @mspears96, he's taking the Eagles in the NFC East 😂

"Y'all know I be telling the truth when it comes to the Cowboys. It just seems like too much to overcome." pic.twitter.com/mndjXdFWs4

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) September 1, 2022

“To me, the Eagles now would be the favorite to win the division”

-NFL analyst Ross Tucker after seeing Cowboys lose LT Tyron Smith after losing La’el Collins, Amari Cooper, Randy Gregory in offseason

🎧Podcast with @RossTuckerNFL on Eagles ⬇️https://t.co/2DH3zYwmfw pic.twitter.com/kHWDG6gZoU

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) August 29, 2022

The Eagles last won a playoff game the exact same year the Cowboys did. Philly also won *a Super Bowl* the year before.

Philadelphia's roster is head and shoulders above Dallas' right now AND they have far more draft capital than them.

They are much more elite thinkers/doers. https://t.co/yNGw6pAGK0

— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) August 30, 2022

It's hard not to acknowledge that, at least on paper, the Eagles had a better offseason than the Cowboys. Philly addressed major needs at wide receiver (A.J. Brown), edge-rusher (Hasson Redick), cornerback (James Bradberry), safety (Chauncey Gardner-Johnson) while adding solid defensive players in the draft like interior lineman Jordan Davis and linebacker Nakobe Dean.

After going 9-8 and sneaking into the playoffs last season, the Eagles look poised to make a jump, at least if Jalen Hurts can take another positive step as the team's starting quarterback.

That's a position that isn't in question for the Cowboys, with Prescott under center, but the Cowboys lost a number of key contributors this offseason, including wideouts Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson, guard La'el Collins and edge-rusher Randy Gregory, among others.

And this week's news that star offensive tackle Tyron Smith was going on injured reserve with an avulsion fracture to his knee, an injury expected to keep him out for months, has only caused additional concerns in Dallas.

Add in the uncertain return of wideout Michael Gallup from a torn ACL, and the Cowboys are a little thin at key positions.

The team still have has a talented young roster, with young stars like CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons ready to take on even bigger roles. This is still a core group that went 12-5 last season.

But it's hard to ignore that, at least on paper, the Eagles appeared to close the gap, if not surpass the Cowboys, this offseason.

Just don't tell Prescott that.

"It's definitely time for us to go back-to-back winning this division, getting to the playoffs, things that you said haven't been done in my career and hadn't been done in a long time," he said. "That's how you make those steps. You got to compile good years on top of good years to make those runs to give yourself a good chance. We got a good team. We got a great team, great coaching, great organization. Now it's time not to have any lapse, be better than we were last year and take the next step on top of last year."

Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Andre Dillard suffered a serious injury in practice Thursday, but it reportedly won't completely derail his 2022 season.

NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reports that Dillard suffered a non-displaced fracture in his forearm, and while a timeline for his recovery has yet to be determined, the initial expectation is that he "will be available for a majority of the season."

A 2019 first-round pick out of Washington State, Dillard is a solid depth piece for the Eagles, but he has not become the franchise left tackle Philadelphia hoped he'd be. The 26-year-old has played in 31 career games and made nine starts.

After appearing in all 16 games and making four starts as a rookie, Dillard saw his 2020 season end before it even got started when he suffered a torn biceps that forced him to injured reserve prior to Week 1.

Dillard began the 2021 season as Philadelphia's backup left tackle but was thrust into the starting role for a few weeks when Lane Johnson took some time away from the team. In all, Dillard started five games last season.

The Eagles declined the fifth-year option on Dillard's rookie deal, making him a free agent after this season.

Philadelphia enters the 2022 campaign with high expectations after a strong offseason. The Eagles added one-time Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown to bolster the team's passing attack for quarterback Jalen Hurts. The team also improved its defense through the draft by selecting defensive tackle Jordan Davis and linebacker Nakobe Dean.

The Eagles will open the season on Sept. 11 in a road game against the Detroit Lions.

Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson reportedly avoided major damage to his leg when he was shot twice in an attempted robbery over the weekend.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported Tuesday that one bullet went through Robinson's knee but missed all ligaments, tendons and bones. It's possible Robinson will return to the team "sooner" than expected, though no timetable has been set.

From NFL Now on @nflnetwork: #Commanders RB Brian Robinson is extremely fortunate a bullet that passed through his knee missed all of the vital parts of the joint. His timeline is TBD. pic.twitter.com/UxOmw9H8Rx

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 30, 2022

Robinson was released from the hospital Monday after being shot Sunday evening in Washington, D.C. The Alabama product posted on social media that his surgery "went well," and the team has been cautiously optimistic about his status.

"He's very fortunate," Commanders coach Ron Rivera told reporters. "He's doing well. It will be a matter of time before he's back out here. There's no timeline, but everything was very positive.

"It's just about the healing process, and once he's well enough to get on the field, doctors have to clear him and we'll go from there. Everything is positive so far."

Washington did not place Robinson on the non-football injury list ahead of Tuesday's 53-man roster deadline, meaning it's possible he will suit up within the first four weeks of the season. Garafolo said the Commanders avoided making such a move for flexibility, but it's noteworthy they chose that strategy rather than to clear a roster spot.

Antonio Gibson and J.D. McKissic will handle the running back duties for as long as Robinson is out. Robinson had emerged in camp as the favorite to win early-down work from Gibson.

The Miami Dolphins announced Thursday's scheduled joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles has been canceled.

Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network reported the Dolphins' locker room is dealing with a stomach "bug"—some team members believe it may be food poisoning—that left several players sick and vomiting overnight.

Miami and Philadelphia held their first joint practice Wednesday ahead of the teams' preseason game against each other on Saturday night.

The Eagles confirmed they'll now hold their own practice Thursday, while the Dolphins will shift to virtual meetings "out of an abundance of caution," per Adam Beasley of Pro Football Network.

Wednesday's session featured some scuffles between the teams, as is quite customary in the joint NFL workouts.

"Man, it's hot here," Eagles wide receiver Quez Watkins told reporters. "It's going to happen. We're all competing. We're all trying to go hard, compete, stuff like that, so grown men, stuff happens."

Both teams are set to enter the 2022 season with playoff-level expectations.

The Eagles have made the postseason in four of the past five years, highlighted by winning the Super Bowl at the end of the 2017 campaign, and they should once again be in the thick of the division race in the wide-open NFC East.

The Dolphins are looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The arrivals of head coach Mike McDaniel and wide receiver Tyreek Hill have generated a lot of buzz, but their fate likely rests on the development of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

Miami's signal-caller crossed paths with Jalen Hurts during their time at Alabama, and he discussed the Philly QB's impressive work ethic.

"The dude had to be the first into the weight room. He had to be the first out onto the field. Like sprints, he had to be first, so it really tells you how he goes about his life," Tagovailoa said. "It tells you about how he kind of sees things and how he looks at things. Obviously, he's a competitor. He never wants to be last, so that should tell you a lot about him."

Meanwhile, so far there's no indication Saturday's preseason game is in any danger as the Dolphins try to quickly mitigate further issues with the locker-room illness.

Washington Commanders edge-rusher Chase Young will miss the first four games of the 2022 season after being placed on the reserve/PUP (physically unable to perform) list Tuesday.

Young continues to recover from a torn right ACL suffered last November. He's eligible to return in Week 5 on Oct. 9 against the Tennessee Titans.

The former Ohio State star was one of college football's brightest and best defensive players in recent memory. He amassed 16.5 sacks in 12 games for the 2019 Buckeyes. Thanks to his efforts, he was picked No. 2 overall in the 2020 draft.

Young helped Washington earn an NFC East title in his rookie year. He finished second on the team with 7.5 sacks and earned a Pro Bowl appearance and Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

The 23-year-old was having a bit of a down campaign in 2021 with just 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits through nine games when he tore his right ACL against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Nov. 14 and went on to miss the rest of the season.

A team source told ESPN's John Keim on July 29 that Young was not expected back until mid-September at the earliest. Washington head coach Ron Rivera said Young would at a minimum miss the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 11 and possibly more. However, he noted Young was on track in his recovery.

"It was a serious injury," Rivera said. "He's doing everything he's supposed to. He's on time as far as where the doctors think he should be, and as he gets better and better we can update you. But right now, he's right where he needs to be."

James Smith-Williams is the next player up on the depth chart behind Young. The third-year pro had 30 tackles and two-and-a-half sacks last year.

A.J. Brown is going to get the ball early and often in his first year with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"The Eagles are committed to manufacturing touches for Brown—especially those that give him the ball in the open field where Brown can run after the catch," Zach Berman of The Athletic reported.

Berman added there are "no such concerns" about an acclimation period after changing teams.

Brown reached 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons with the Tennessee Titans, but he had a down 2021 campaign with only 63 catches for 869 yards and a career-low five touchdowns. The Eagles will give him a chance to bounce back in 2022 after acquiring him in a draft-day trade and making him their No. 1 receiving option.

However, Brown may have limited opportunities to make plays.

Philadelphia ranked last in the NFL in passing attempts last season, and the coaching staff will likely still try to keep 2021 first-round pick DeVonta Smith involved after his strong rookie year. Tight end Dallas Goedert is also certain to get his fair share of targets.

Brown should get more than the 105 targets he received last year, which was tied for only 34th in the NFL alongside Chase Claypool. The Eagles will also give him plenty of chances for yards after the catch as he forces his way toward the end zone.

The one-time Pro Bowler would still need elite efficiency to reach WR1 status or even be a high-end WR2.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen is getting his No. 9 jersey retired by the Washington Commanders.

Per ESPN's John Keim, the ceremony will take place during Washington's Week 18 game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Jurgensen played 18 seasons in the NFL from 1957 to 1974. He was drafted in the fourth round by the Philadelphia Eagles and spent the first four years of his career primarily as a backup quarterback.

After Norm Van Brocklin retired following the 1960 season, Jurgensen was elevated to the starting job in Philadelphia. He led the NFL in passing yards and interceptions in each of his first two seasons in the role.

The Eagles traded Jurgensen to Washington in April 1964. The Duke alum was the team's starting quarterback for the next seven seasons. He was named to the Pro Bowl four times, All-Pro second team twice and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting twice.

Jurgensen led the league in completions, attempts and passing yards in 1966, 1967 and 1969. He threw a league-high 31 touchdowns in 1967.

Injuries limited Jurgensen to 13 starts over his final four seasons from 1971 to 1974. He went 11-2 in those games, including a 4-0 mark in 1972 when Washington reached the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

Sammy Baugh, Bobby Mitchell and Sean Taylor are the only other players in Washington history to have had their jersey number retired.

Jurgensen, who turns 88 on Tuesday, ranks second in Washington franchise history in passing yards (22,585), touchdown passes (179), completions (1,831) and attempts (3,155).