Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles lost OC Kellen Moore off their staff that just won the Super Bowl and that probably didn’t come as a shock considering Moore’s name had been out there a while.  Kevin Patullo steps in after being their passing game coordinator for the past several years and they still employ Jeff Stoutland, the best o-line coach in football, who is also their run game coordinator.  Patullo will call plays for the first time so there could be an adjustment period.  DC Vic Fangio returns to head up the Eagles defense which was the best in football last year. 

The offense will once again be in the capable hands of QB Jalen Hurts.  Hurts isn’t considered to be in the same class as the elite level of QBs in the league, but he’s only one step down.  His skills have been maximized by the Eagles staff and that’s Patullo’s job now.  Hurts plays with one of the best WR duos in football; AJ Brown and Devonta Smith.  Brown is a legitimate WR1 and Smith is essentially a 1B.  As long as those two are healthy, so is the passing game.  Jahan Dotson is WR3 and he’s not great but he’s fine.  TE Dallas Goedert is as solid as they come and knows the offense quite well.  They could really use another WR to step up and they made a late trade for John Metchie III from the Texans who has some promise and they also signed Javon Baker from the Patriots to their practice squad.  Baker has talent, he could be a solid developmental player. 

Everything on this team starts up front with the best line in football, you can thank Stoutland for that being the case every year.  LT Jordan Mailata was a seventh-round afterthought who Stoutland turned into a Pro Bowl player.  LG Landon Dickerson and C Cam Juergens are fantastic inside, two of the best.  Unfortunately Dickerson has an injury they aren’t talking much about so they hope he’s fine early in the season.  RG will most likely be taken over by Tyler Steen who was a mid-round pick a couple of years ago they have been developing.  RT Lane Johnson is 35 and is still probably the best RT in football.  The offensive line is excellent and the run game is even better because they have the best back in football, Saquon Barkley.  Barkley has always been an exceptionally talented back but when you put him behind the Eagles o-line and alongside a QB who’s the running threat Jalen Hurts is, things get scary for the rest of the league.  This offense should keep humming unless Patullo is a complete dud as a play caller. 

Fangio came in last season and turned the Eagles defense into a monster.  It wasn’t just about his scheme, they have great players at every level, but he got the most out of everyone.  It all starts up front with DT Jalen Carter, who should be on the short list for Defensive Player of the Year.  He’s a complete game wrecker up front and teams struggle to handle him.  Jordan Davis is the NT and he’s a behemoth who knows how to occupy blockers and keep the guys behind him clean.  The big change will be Moro Ojomo stepping in for Milton Williams who moved on in free agency. They like Ojomo and I’m not going to doubt Fangio will figure it out up front. 

The LB corps was outstanding last season and might get better if some young guys step up.  Zack Baun came over from New Orleans last year and Fangio unleashed him and he was a star.  He has a variety of skills both as a LB at the second level and especially as a pass rusher.  He paired with Nakobe Dean inside but Dean is rehabbing a bad injury from last season so it should be rookie Jihaad Campbell next to Baun.  The scary part is Campbell has a higher upside than Dean because he has the same type of versatility as Baun.  OLB Nolan Smith had a solid year and they are hoping second-year man Jalyx Hunt takes over the other spot.  They lost some players and some depth at OLB so they signed Josh Uche and Azeez Ojulari, both of those guys can contribute. 

The secondary got a makeover last year when CB Quinyon Mitchell, S CJ Gardner-Johnson and nickel back Cooper DeJean took over three important spots there.  Now, there’s some more turnover as Kelee Ringo was supposed to step in for Darius Slay at CB opposite Mitchell and they need to settle on a starter opposite Reed Blankenship at safety.  Ringo was so underwhelming in camp the team has looked to Adoree’ Jackson to step in and traded for Jakorian Bennett.  It might be rookie Andrew Mukuba or it could be Sydney Brown coming off an injury.  They are so desperately looking for answers they signed Patriots castoff Marcus Epps to their practice squad, he played for them a few years ago.  They are working with DeJean at safety a bit because they don’t want him to simply be the nickel back because they want him on the field more than that.  They may want to work him out at outside CB in case their other options fail.  Mitchell was so good as a rookie teams are going to avoid him. 

Washington Commanders

Dan Quinn did a great job with this team last season using a rookie QB, a skill position group that overperformed, and a defense that wasn’t that great.  They upgraded the o-line, maybe helped the WR group, and definitely improved the CBs.  It’s up to OC Kliff Kingsbury and DC Joe Whitt Jr. (with Quinn on defense), to get the whole to be more than the sum of its parts again. 

QB Jayden Daniels was electric and Kingsbury made the offense work with what they had.  The passing offense was largely about WR Terry McLaurin and TE Zach Ertz.  Ertz is back and while he’s not getting any younger, he’s still effective.  McLaurin finally got the new contract he wanted so he should be good to go.  He earned it last season and he’s been a good soldier for a long time playing with some bad QBs in Washington.  They traded for Deebo Samuel in the off season but he’s certainly not a WR1 at this point and I’m not sure he’s a great WR2.  They tried bringing Michael Gallup out of retirement, they cut him at the end of camp.  Noah Brown is injured which leaves them with rookie Jaylin Lane and second-year man Luke McCaffrey after McLaurin and Samuel, no one should feel good about that. 

The running game had Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler last season and they traded Robinson to San Francisco before the season.  They are counting on rookie seventh-rounder Jacory “Bill” Crosky-Merritt.  They are putting a whole lot of faith in Crosky-Merritt and they also like Chris Rodriguez.  Ekeler is an aging player they really need to use sparingly.  The place they are hoping their upgrades really help is the offensive line.  Brandon Coleman held his own at LT last season but they traded for Laremy Tunsil and he should be better.  That means Coleman moves to guard because they also drafted Josh Conerly Jr. who should take over at RT.  If Sam Cosmi returns from injury at RG, Coleman slots in at LG with Tyler Biadasz at center, that’s a solid line.  They also still have OG Nick Allegretti and T/G Andrew Wylie, who were starters last year, as depth.  They line should give them a solid foundation on offense but it all centers on Daniels.  Development isn’t linear so it’s not a guarantee he plays better and he is still going to shoulder most of the load but he’s a dynamic player. 

Dan Quinn and his DC Joe Whitt Jr. did everything they could with the defense they had last year and it was enough to get to the NFC Championship game, now they have to do it again.  Up front, they lost Jonathan Allen and Dante Fowler Jr. and are replacing them with Javon Kinlaw and Von Miller.  Miller hasn’t been healthy much lately and Kinlaw is a downgrade from Allen.  Allen wasn’t healthy last season but Kinlaw still isn’t better.  Perhaps, Jer’Zhan Newton will step up next to Daron Payne inside at DT.  Dorace Armstrong is the other DE starter but they are going to need Deatrich Wise to give them some help on the edge. 

At LB, Bobby Wagner continues to fight off father time and they need him to do it again.  He and Frankie Luvu are the starters at LB and there is no depth to speak of behind them.  They want to play five DBs and they did add some guys to help.  They traded for CB Marshon Lattimore last season and then he was hurt a lot, they need him healthy.  Mike Sanristil stepped up at outside CB but he’s such a good nickel player they want to move him back to that so they drafted Trey Amos in round two.  He can be a starter on the outside but they also signed Jonathan Jones to give them depth and still have Noah Igbinoghene who wasn’t bad last year. The CB group is better this year.  FS Quan Martin returns and he’s solid but Will Harris is the SS for now and that’s not great. 

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys fired Mike McCarthy after last season and inexplicably replaced him with long-time NFL assistant coach Brian Schottenheimer.  He’s been an OC many times, most recently for McCarthy in Dallas last year.  It’s an uninspired choice but Jerry Jones has been hiring placeholder coaches since Bill Parcells left.  Bringing in Klayton Adams as the OC was smart, he was a good run game designer in Arizona.  Matt Eberflus comes to run the defense and that is something he has been good at for a long time, Jerry Jones just made that a lot harder. 

The offense is going to heavily rely on QB Dak Prescott and he’s used to being that guy, it’s been a while since they had a dominant ground game.  Luckily for him, they finally went out and got a WR to help CeeDee Lamb when they traded for George Pickens.  Pickens is a talented outside WR who comes with a reputation for not always keeping his head on straight.  He’s in a contract year, so he has every incentive to be on his best behavior.  Playing with Dak Prescott should be good for Pickens because he’s the best QB Pickens has played with in his career.  CeeDee Lamb is one of the top 3 WRs in the football so he’s still going to get the bulk of the targets but Pickens takes pressure off Lamb and Lamb takes the focus off Pickens.  If they play this right, they both benefit and Prescott benefits the most.  TE Jake Ferguson is the next best pass catcher and he’s solid.  He just got a new contract so they have expectations for him. 

The running game doesn’t look good on paper.  The offensive line is young, and at the moment, a little beat up.  LT Tyler Guyton is going into year two and he’s already dealing with an injury and he needs the reps to get better.  They had signed OG Robert Jones to compete at RG and he’s out with a neck injury meaning first-round pick Tyler Booker is the starter at RG, he’s struggled a bit out of the gate.  If Guyton misses time, they probably move LG Tyler Smith to LT and insert Brock Hoffman at LG meaning it weakens them inside.  If Hoffman and Booker are the starting guards it puts more pressure on second year center Cooper Beebe.  Beebe had a nice rookie year but it’s asking a lot.  RT Terrance Steele is no sure thing either, he’s struggled for a couple years now.  At RB, they signed Javonte Williams from Denver and Miles Sanders from Carolina.  Williams hasn’t been himself since his major knee injury a couple of years ago and Sanders has never been the same player he was when he was running behind the Eagles offensive line.  Sanders also happens to be banged up to start the year. Rookie RB Jaydon Blue can bring them some speed but he’s not an every down back. 

The defense had a chance to be okay under Matt Eberflus and then Jerry Jones decided to go crazy and trade Micah Parsons to the Packers.  This is one of the most inexplicable decisions in football history.  Parsons is 26 years old and one of the three best pass rushers in football and Jones traded him for two first round picks and Kenny Clark.  Don’t get me wrong, DT Kenny Clark is an upgrade over Mazi Smith but he’s 29 and the downgrade at edge rusher far out weights the upgrade at DT. Jerry Jones has officially lost his mind, this is a mistake on the level of firing Jimmy Johnson after winning two Super Bowls.  It’s been 30 years since the Cowboys sniffed the Super Bowl with all the guys Jimmy Johnson drafted and coached, Jones may have just set the Cowboys back another 30 years.

As for who they do have, they brought back Dante Fowler Jr. after his year in Washington, mostly to replace Demarcus Lawrence.  They also have Sam Williams coming off an injury, Marshon Kneeland in his second year, they also signed veteran Payton Turner and drafted Donovan Ezeiruaku.  That’s a lot of guys who aren’t Parsons and won’t be Parsons.  At DT, they still have Mazi Smith who has been bad and was already losing snaps in training camp to Perrion Winfrey, a former Browns draft bust.  That’s not a good sign.  He’s replaced by Kenny Clark.  Osa Odighizuwa is a good DT and he will appreciate having Clark next to him instead of Smith.  They have veteran Solomon Thomas and rookie seventh rounder Jay Toia, it’s not a terrible group but these guys just got handed a way worse hand to play all season. 

At LB the team signed Jack Sanborn and Kenneth Murray, Sanborn was a backup in Chicago and he knows Eberflus’ defense. Murray has been just good enough to stay on teams he’s been on but usually bad enough his team is looking to replace him.  The Cowboys hope DeMarvion Overshown can come back from a bad injury this year and that Marist Liufau can really take a step.  Murray and Liufau are listed as the starters, Sanborn will play plenty. 

The secondary could be good if the guys get healthy but right now CBs Trevon Diggs is coming back from a knee injury and Shavon Revel Jr. is out to start the season.  DaRon Bland wasn’t as good last season as the year before but he’s the best CB they have at the moment.  He’s slated to be the nickel guy again as they are planning on using former Bills first-round bust Kaiir Elam opposite Diggs.  With a seriously weakened pass rush, this secondary could be exposed badly.    Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson are as solid safety duo.

New York Giants

GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are getting one last shot to turn around the Giants and this time they aren’t trying to do it with Daniel Jones at QB. I’m not sure hitching their wagon to Russell Wilson is a great idea but that’s where they’re at.  They drafted Jaxon Dart in round one of the draft with the idea he would sit for the year.  After the preseason he had, those plans have to be out the window.  As soon as it looks like Wilson is cooked and the season is about to be lost, you’ll see Dart.   

Wilson is a shell of who he used to be but he might still have the skill to take advantage of WR Malik Nabers considerable talent.  Nabers is a big play WR and Wilson can still throw the deep the ball.  Once it’s not working or they see Wilson doesn’t have the deep ball left, Daboll will play Dart just to save his own job.  If Wilson is bad, they have to pin their hopes on Dart’s potential as soon as possible.  The team did re-sign WR Darius Slayton after years of seemingly trying to get rid of him.  They also have Wan’Dale Robinson as the slot guy.  It doesn’t feel like it but this group isn’t bad and with the right QB, could be fine.  Nabers is a legitimate WR1 and the others fill their roles.  TE Theo Johnson is a young player they hope takes a step forward and Daniel Bellinger is a decent backup. 

The running game found a gem in last year’s fifth-round pick Tyrone Tracy Jr. who had a solid 4.4 yards per rush even behind a poor offensive line.  They still have Devin Singletary and they drafted Cam Skattebo so the talent is fine at RB.  The offensive line is another story.  LT Andrew Thomas is awesome when healthy but he’s sitting out training camp rehabbing a foot injury and they are hoping he’s ready for the regular season.  He’s by far their best lineman so if he’s out, it’s a problem.  Jon Runyan is solid at LG but not great.  John Micheal Schmitz is okay at center but he really needs to step up.  Greg Van Roten is a veteran at RG who they should be looking to replace with an upgrade.  RT Jermaine Eluemunor would be the ideal upgrade at RG but they don’t have anyone else at RT so he stays there. 

The Giants have one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL in NT Dexter Lawrence.  Lawrence had nine sacks from the interior position last season; he’s a dominant force. They have two aging players up front with him in veterans Roy Robertson-Harris and Rakeem Nunez-Roches, both 32.  They drafted Darius Alexander to give them some depth and some youth.  Besides Lawrence their pass rush should be outstanding with OLBs Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, and Kayvon Thibodeaux.  Burns and Thibodeaux were the starters last season but Carter was the fourth pick in the draft for a reason and he should replace Thibodeaux.  Either way, the pass rush for the Giants should be outstanding.  Burns isn’t an elite level outside pass rusher but he’s good and matched with all these guys up front, he can be very good.  The ILB duo of Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden aren’t mentioned with the best in the league but they are a solid duo.

The secondary also got some upgrades this off season but they came in free agency. CB Paulson Adebo was signed to give them a solid outside CB to pair with Deonte Banks.  Banks had a rough year last year but the team isn’t ready to give up on him yet.  Dru Phillips had an excellent season as a rookie in the slot and getting Adebo allows them to leave him inside where he excels, assuming Banks can rebound.  They signed Javon Holland to pair with Tyler Nubin at safety after Nubin had a solid rookie year but the FS spot was a problem.  A year ago, they let Xavier McKinney leave in free agency and then spent the year regretting it so they signed Holland to fill the hole.  Holland and Nubin should be a good, active and athletic pair on the back end.