Philadelphia Eagles: 12-5
The two biggest problems the Eagles faced last season were terrible coaching and slow and old corners, but it seems they have both been fixed. They made a concerted effort to fix their cornerback room by drafting two of the best defensive backs in the first two rounds of the draft in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. They give Philadelphia much needed youth and athleticism to the position and should allow the defense to play much more Man coverage on the backend, considering how much of a liability James Bradberry was in Man coverage. They also signed CJ Gardner Johnson and brought back Avonte Maddox, which should help if either rookie isn’t ready to start day one. As for coaching, it’s been well documented how much of a mishap their 2023 coordinator hires were. Replacing 2022 offensive and defensive coordinators, Shane Steichen and Rich Gannon with Brian Johnson, Sean Desai and a few months of Matt Patricia was horrible, but at least they were willing to move on quickly. Bringing in two proven coordinators in Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio was very smart and should keep them from imploding like they did at the end of last season. Kellen Moore’s offense should be much more complex than last year’s predictable mess was, and Fangio has long been one of the most respected defensive coordinators in the league. Fixing those two problems was most important, but they also were able to sign Saquon Barkley, one of the most dynamic playmakers in the league from their rival Giants. He’ll open up the offense and completely transform their run game. My only real concern is that Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox both retired. Cox’s age was starting to show a bit, but they didn’t do a good job replacing him, and that’s left their interior defensive line looking incredibly thin. Kelce’s loss is much greater, as he was the best center in the league, and a major reason they were so successful with the ‘Tush Push’ and the run game in general. Without him, their line goes from the best in the league to just very good. We’ll see how much it affects them, but I still have them as one of the best teams in the league, after improving a great deal this offseason.
Dallas Cowboys: 10-7
From a team that made incredible coaching changes to one that did not. I have no idea how Mike McCarthy is still the coach of the Dallas Cowboys after their terribly disappointing playoff performance against the Green Bay Packers. I don’t think McCarthy will be the coach to get them over the hump and back to an NFC Championship game, so even though they have enough talent on the roster, I can’t put them in the same tier as the 49ers, Eagles, Lions, or Packers. Even moving past the head coach, their entire offseason was incredibly perplexing. They let Tony Pollard walk in free agency and replaced him with old Zeke and nobody else? They also decided not to get ahead of contracts for either CeeDee Lamb or Dak Prescott, and now will have to pay a luxury to bring either back. Bringing in Mike Zimmer as DC was one of the few decisions I liked, and he should improve their defense. They also had a solid draft where they brought in two possible starters on the OL but had to do that after losing Tyron Smith and Tyler Biadasz in free agency. They’re probably going to be the same team they’ve always been (at least in my lifetime), one that will dominate the headlines and inferior teams, but never hold up next to the real contenders.
New York Giants: 5-12
The Giants made good moves with what they had to work with, but this roster is in rough shape after losing their best offensive player to the Eagles and one of their best defensive players, safety Xavier McKinney to the Packers. Their trade for Brian Burns was great considering there aren’t many players in the league that can rush the passer like he can. He should open up pass rush lanes for superstar DT Dexter Lawrence and young emerging edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, but this defense is going to have to be a top five unit if they hope to win games because of how disastrous this offense is. I have never been much of a believer in Daniel Jones, and while he was a solid QB in 2022, he regressed in 2023 and now is coming off a torn ACL. For someone that relies on his athleticism as much as Jones does this could be a very tough season for him if he has lost even half a step. To make matters worse, the offensive line was one of the worst units ever last season, albeit partially due to horrible injury luck, but it doesn’t seem like it has improved much. Jermaine Eluemunor and Jon Runyan are both projected to be new starters at guard, but Evan Neal might still have to start at right tackle, and he’s proven to be incapable of doing that up to this point in his career. Don’t be surprised if the abundance of pressure on Daniel Jones leads to an injury or poor performance and Drew Lock ends up being the starter by midseason. Luckily, they have a real WR now in Malik Nabers, who should be one of the best rookies in the league and immediately bring some dynamic playmaking to a team that desperately needs it. Betting on a bad offensive line, a rookie WR and an athletic QB coming off an ACL tear is exactly what you don’t want, so even though the defense is going to be awesome, I think they’ll be this year’s version of the 2023 Patriots.
Washington Commanders: 4-13
I am very worried about the situation that rookie QB Jayden Daniels is coming into. The decision to hire Dan Quinn as their head coach after their preferred candidate Ben Johnson (Detroit OC) declined to take the job is as uninspiring a choice that this new ownership group could have made. It’s very questionable to hire a defensive minded coach to develop a rookie QB, especially a coach without a young up and coming offensive coordinator with him, like DeMeco Ryans has in Bobby Slowik or like Quinn had in his previous head coaching gig in Atlanta with Kyle Shanahan. Kliff Kingsbury as their coordinator developing Daniels is not what I would have hoped for if I were a Washington fan, and it is definitely possible Washington will have to clean house again after this season. I will say their defense should be a solid unit and Terry McLaurin is one of the best receivers in the league. The roster’s problem is on the offensive line, specifically the left side of the line. They’ll most likely be relying on rookie third round pick Brandon Coleman to start at left tackle and protect Daniels’ blindside. To not find a way to move up in the first round to draft a quality tackle considering how many great options were available didn’t make sense to me. They drafted a defensive tackle, slot cornerback, and a tight end all in the second round before addressing the offensive line at the beginning of the third round with Coleman. I don’t think that’s very smart considering Daniels has an incredibly frail frame and a tendency to take big hits. This could end up being a disastrous season, but luckily there’s a few great tackles in the 2025 NFL Draft. Projected top five pick LSU OT Will Campbell will look great reuniting with Daniels in Washington, let’s just hope Daniels makes it through his rookie season without getting injured first.
Photos by Eric Hartline (USA TODAY Sports), LAPRESSE, the NFL, and Getty Images
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