One Reason to Get Excited About Every Team in the NFC East
Image Credit: NBC Sports
With 13 Super Bowl wins split between the four teams, the NFC East is arguably the most historic division in the National Football League. Since the beginning of this storied division back in 1967, it has seen some of the most iconic games in NFL history, and holds some of the best rivalries in all of football. Those same rivalries, along each team’s desire to add another Lombardi Trophy to their already full display cases, are what keep the NFC East running to this day.
While it looks like 2024 might be a little bit better for teams such as the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, there is still a lot to get excited about for every team ahead of this upcoming season. With new additions to the New York Giants and Washington Commanders, this is going to be a very competitive season; even if the final standings don’t end up looking like it was.
So what’s so exciting about every NFC East team?
Dallas Cowboys: Another great overall (regular season) team
Ever since Dallas has found a “core three” in linebacker Micah Parsons, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, and cornerback Trevon Diggs, they have been a very successful team; once again, in the regular season. Quarterback Dak Prescott is being excluded from making this a “core four” due to the fact that he has already played eight seasons in the NFL, and the Cowboys are still unsure if they want to give him another contract. Regardless of what is happening at the quarterback position, or how bad Dallas been in the playoffs as of late, they are still a very solid team.
Last season, Dallas had one of the best defenses in the league, which makes sense when one looks at the amount of talent on their roster. The fact that it was elite, even after Diggs suffered an ACL tear early in the season, speaks volumes to what they can do to opposing offenses. Many players have left the team, such as CB Stephon Gilmore and LB Leighton Vander Esch, but it is still the same defensive unit nonetheless. With LB Eric Kendricks now entering the team as the starting middle linebacker, and Diggs returning from injury to step in where Gilmore left off, their production is not going to go down by any means.
Image Credit: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images
The offense is just as good, while Dallas’ front office was also criticized for losing players on this side of the ball as well. With running back Tony Pollard now playing for the Tennessee Titans, and left tackle Tyron Smith leaving to join the New York Jets, the NFL world is overlooking what the Cowboys still have left. Prescott is a top 10 quarterback in this league, they have a staple top five wide receiver in Lamb, and the offensive line has been consistently great over the past decade or so. Pair that with the fact that Dallas is choosing to play running back by committee with Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle, and Deuce Vaughn, and this offense is the same one that it was in 2023. This team had the fourth most touchdowns scored last year, so the fact that they can mostly likely replicate that, causes for a lot of excitement.
In short, the Cowboys are going to be just fine this season. They are going to be competing for a top spot in the playoffs and might still have the best shot to win the NFC East this year; depending on what the Eagles look like. It’s all a matter of asking the same question every year: Can this team win in the playoffs?
New York Giants: Pass rush
When looking at the New York Giants as a whole, there is not a lot to be excited about. The team doesn’t have a great quarterback to carry the offense, their best weapon is a rookie (Malik Nabers), and two of their top players left the team in free agency. Looking past the obvious in what appears to be a rebuilding year in New York, the Giants have one huge bright spot on this roster; their pass rush. With two guys who have already proved that they can produce great numbers on this team in Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux, New York has added another elite pass rusher into the mix.
On Mar. 11 of this year, the Giants sent their 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers in order to acquire edge rusher Brian Burns. Giants General Manager Joe Schoen even tacked on a five-year, $141 million deal right after the trade in order to ensure that Burns would stay a Giant for the foreseeable future. This means that New York now has arguably the best defensive tackle in the league, and two guys who are borderline elite pass rushers; if they aren’t already. Ultimately, Thibodeaux already had a double-digit sack season in just his second year, while Burns has had seven and a half sacks or more in every season he’s played, since he was drafted in 2019. That’s saying more than enough about the skill between these guys.
The secondary still needs a lot of work done to it, but that shouldn’t be an issue if the opposing quarterback is being hit for the majority of the game. The trio of Lawrence, Thibodeaux, and Burns should be enough “to get the job done” on defense and keep what looks like a mediocre offense in many games this upcoming season.
Everyone needs to remember that New York has built their championship teams inside the trenches; predominantly on the defensive side of the ball. Could NFL fans be looking at the next Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora? Or the next Lawrence Taylor, Leonard Marshall, and George Martin? If they play up to the level that many expect out of them, this pass rush might be game changing for the Giants.
Philadelphia Eagles: A greatly improved defense
It was hard not to choose RB Saquon Barkley for this, but at this point everyone realizes that he is going to be a good addition to this team. This is the same team, and offensive line, that made RBs D’Andre Swift and Miles Sanders 1,000 yard rushers, so Barkley is bound to have a very successful year. Instead, what is perhaps more beneficial to the Eagles this season, and what most Eagles fans are excited about, are the upgrades that their front office made to the defense.
Losing LB Haason Reddick to the New York Jets was a low blow for the defensive line, but they did acquire Bryce Huff in free agency, who had 10 sacks with the Jets last season. Huff will now be playing next to a Defensive Rookie of the Year nominee in Jalen Carter, and Jordan Davis, who was a former first-round.
The only weak point on this team is the linebacker position, but that’s not for a lack of trying on the Eagles part. The team signed Devin White from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency, who many remember more for his play during the 2020–2022 seasons; but that’s not cutting it. Philadelphia still has Nakobe Dean, who many are expecting to breakout, and just drafted Jeremiah Trotter Jr. out of Clemson, but this unit isn’t exactly “up to par” with the rest of the defense. Regardless of the assumptions made around these guys, the Eagles still have a great secondary to make up for whatever shortcomings happen on the linebackers part.
Philadelphia selected Quinyon Mitchell with the 22nd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The following day, they picked Cooper DeJean in the second round; continuing to cement an already solid cornerback/safety room. Mitchell will now be playing the outside cornerback position next to Darius Slay Jr., a six-time Pro Bowler, while DeJean will most likely transition to safety where he will get starts next to Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Depth is also a key compartment to this secondary, as Sydney Brown had a great 2023 regular season at safety, and Kelee Ringo was an extremely hyped up player coming out of Georgia in 2022. With other veterans like Isaiah Rodgers and James Bradberry IV at cornerback, this might be one of the defensive back rooms in the NFL.
Reed Blankenship, Cooper DeJean (and C.J. Gardner-Johnson)
The best safety group in the NFC East?
Image Credit: Philadelphia Eagles
Last year, Philadelphia finished the season 1-5, right before they were a first-round exit in the playoffs; mostly due to how bad their defense was. With a newly built unit in the mix, and an already elite offense, the Eagles should be competing for a first-round bye week in the playoffs this year. It should be extremely exciting to see if the Cowboys, or the Eagles, are going to come out on top in the division.
Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels and Kliff Kingsbury
It’s no secret that Washington hasn’t been able to draft their franchise quarterback in what seems like the past few decades. That hopefully changes this season as the Commanders drafted Jayden Daniels out of Louisiana State with the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Daniels is a Heisman Trophy winner, who was able to put up 50 total touchdowns during his final year in college.
Daniels is also coming into a pretty good situation in Washington where a wide receiver room, headlined by Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson, should be an immediate game changer in his development at the quarterback position. The run game is also excellent on the Commanders, and Zach Ertz is the newest tight end addition on the team. With all of these weapons in place, Daniels seems to be a top tier nominee for the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. The only problem? The offensive line is still terrible. In what many are calling the 32nd ranked unit in the league (dead last), the protection in front of the incoming rookie looks less than ideal for a guy who is supposed to be the face of the franchise.
Insert Offensive Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury who has experience coaching some of the best “improvisers” in football such as Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, and NFL newcomer Caleb Williams. With Daniels’ ability to use his legs and scramble downfield, Kingsbury is going to come up with a lot of “quarterback friendly” plays. He loves using rushing quarterbacks in play action scenarios, and knows how “maximize skill sets”, which is something that he loves to say.
While the offensive line might be unfortunate for the Commanders this upcoming season, such as it was during this previous year, Kingsbury is going to make it easy for Daniels to succeed with his play calling. Everyone wants to rip on Washington for the hiring of Head Coach Dan Quinn, but he most likely be worrying about the defensive side of the ball; allowing Kingsbury to focus on the offense and Daniels.
It might not be the successful season that Washington fans are dreaming of, but the combination of Daniels’ skills with the coaching style of Kingsbury is going to prove to be lethal. Perhaps these two will be the turning point in the Commanders becoming the new face of the NFC East.
This division looks set for another battle between Philadelphia and Dallas, but it’s going to be exciting for the other two teams as well. With new faces on every team, the NFC East might get back on track to becoming the best division in all of football yet again.