Dallas Cowboys
2021 Record: 12-5 (1st in NFC East)
Head Coach: Mike McCarthy (3rd season)
Notable Additions: DE Dante Fowler, WR James Washington, OLB Anthony Barr
Notable Departures: WR Amari Cooper, DE Randy Gregory, T La'el Collins
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Seeing what CeeDee Lamb Can Do as a Full Blown WR1
Trading Amari Cooper to the Browns sent some shockwaves throughout the league in the spring and got people questioning why the Cowboys would move on from their top receiver while he's still in the middle of his prime (he just turned 28 in June). To me at least, the answer is very simple: CeeDee Lamb is ready to take on that mantle for himself.
Numbers aside, Lamb has stood out more Cooper than for much of the past 2 seasons. Watching a Cowboys game and not even noticing if Cooper was on the field or not was a pretty regular occurrence. The same can't be said about Lamb. He's a guy who fights through contact, has consistently displayed a willingness to line up all over the field and is equally good at making people miss in the open field and high-pointing balls in contested catch situations.
Once you factor in the actual numbers, it become even more clear that Lamb (79 REC/1,102 YDS/6 TD in 16 games) outshined Cooper (68 REC/865 YDS/8 TD in 15 games) last season even as a #2. If Lamb can outplay a respected vet in Cooper in just his 2nd year in the league, think of what he could do in the future as the clear go-to guy. Considering the depth of Lamb's skill and the questions over the state of the Cowboys running game, a 3rd year explosion is very much in play.
Biggest Reason for Concern: The Entire Organization Seems Like It's on the Brink of a Collapse
It's not a secret that the spotlight is always on the Cowboys. They're the most widely known team in the league, Jerry Jones is without question the most visible, talkative individual in the entire NFL world and their roster almost always consists of big personalities with elite, electrifying talent. When the team is winning like they were for the bulk of the last season, everything is gravy at The Star. When there's question marks and concerns about nearly every aspect of the operation, shit can get ugly real fast.
So how did things go from peachy to prickily so quickly? Simple: The Cowboys put together an all- time flop performance in a home playoff game against a 49ers team that nearly every person that pays attention to football believed they were better than. During that game, Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Eliott and Mike McCarthy in particular put together the type of staggeringly poor performances that makes everybody question whether they have the mental fortitude to perform on the sport's biggest stages. Casting doubts on the star quarterback, star running back and head coach is the type of thing that trickles up to the very top of the organization and Jones is the last person on Earth that a player or coach wants to deal with when there's mounting pressure being put on the team.
Unless it's dealing with the pervert who ran their PR department for 2 decades, there's no such thing as behind closed doors with Jones. It only took 1 training camp media session for Jones to not so cryptically state that McCarthy needs to win playoff games and Elliott needs to be a productive bellcow again or they're asses are going to be gone. Not exactly the type of lofty expectations you want to set for a team that has a track record of struggling in high leverage situations. If the losses start to stack up during the season, who knows how much worse Jones' public demeanor and comments could get.
The ultimate irony of this whole situation is that Jones the GM allowing their roster to clearly regress this offseason could be the thing that causes the potential powder keg to explode. Starting guard Connor Williams, #2 pass rusher Randy Gregory, #3/4 WR Cedrick Wilson, kicker Greg Zuerlein, right tackle La'el Collins and Cooper are all gone and guess how many adequate replacements Jones has lined up? 1 and it's Lamb taking over for Cooper. Outside of that, they've gotten worse at all these spots as the likes of Dorance Armstrong, James Washington, Terrence Steele, rookie Tyler Smith and Liram Hajrullahu are currently projected to take over for these departed key contributors.
On top of those roster losses, they also have a top corner in Trevon Diggs whose comical amount of coverage lapses last season (he allowed a league-high 962 YDS and 5 TD's, which was the 9th most by a CB) got glossed over due to his mind-boggling INT total (11) and a left tackle in Tyron Smith who is as big of an injury risk in the league.
This could be the year the latest house of cards of Jones' creation comes crumbling down and if it does, prepare for a fucking Red Wedding in Dallas.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Playing Up to Their Talent Level for the 1st time in 25 years
Jones has a famous quote in which he says he made a deal with God that if the Cowboys won Super Bowl 30 over the Steelers in January 1996, he would never ask for another Super Bowl win again. Whether it was through divine intervention, human underperformance or both, Jones' deal has held up for the past 25 years.
His beloved Cowboys have gone from a dynasty that won 3 titles in 5 years to the poster boys for underperforming-logging just 3 playoff wins since they hoisted up the franchise's 5th Lombardi Trophy. With all of his unjustified arrogance and failure to deliver the results he promises, you'd swear Jerry was a politician and not just the dictator of the Cowboys.
There's one thing that could help remove the giant stain from Jones' legacy and kill all of the jokes that have been made at the Cowboys expense for the past 20 years: Actually winning some big games. This team is still absolutely rife with talent on both sides of the ball, so there's no valid excuse for as to why they keep falling short. Prescott is a highly productive veteran starter in his prime that is among the most physically gifted QB's this league, Lamb is on the cusp of being the league's next superstar WR, Tony Pollard is a special change-of-pace weapon out of the backfield who could thrive as a featured back if Eliott proves to have nothing left in the tank, they have a pair of future Hall of Famers in Zach Martin and Tyron Smith anchoring their offensive line, DeMarcus Lawrence has quietly become one of the most productive pass rushers of the past decade and Micah Parsons has the potential to become the most impactful, dynamic defensive weapon to enter the league since Aaron Donald. Throw in a coaching staff led by a Super Bowl champ with a career 60.2% winning percentage in McCarthy and two ace coordinators in Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn and you're looking at a murder's row of gifted personnel. Now, go out there, ignore the noise and prove that your immensely talented team is capable of something greater than beating up on Washington in Week 9.
Bottom Line:
Key losses to their roster paired with massive expectations is just too much for this feeble-minded roster and HC to overcome.
New York Giants
2021 Record: 4-13 (4th in NFC East)
Head Coach: Brian Daboll (1st season)
Notable Additions: G Mark Glowinski, QB Tyrod Taylor, C Jon Feliciano
Notable Departures: CB James Bradberry, TE Evan Engram. S Jabril Peppers
Biggest Reason for Excitement: The Arrival of Brian Daboll
Hiring the sharpest offensive mind available in this head coaching cycle was a huge win for the Giants. Bringing him in as a replacement for a universally despised, woefully inept hardo in Joe Judge made the move that much better. While it will be hard for Daboll to make an impact in year 1 with a shaky roster and awful cap situation (Leaving a roster in absolute shambles after he leaves is the Dave Gettleman difference folks), coming in and establishing a legit NFL system alongside his top assistants (OC Mike Kafka, DC Don "Wink" Martindale), overhauling a terrible culture and identifying the key pieces the team wants to build around should be enough to have the Giants arrow at least starting to point in the right direction at the end of the year.
Biggest Reason for Concern: The Roster Still Stinks:
There's no way around it: The Giants roster is abysmal. Years of mismanagement by the wonderful Gettleman ensured that not a single position group on the entire roster can be considered anything above average at this juncture and James Bradberry-who was arguably their best player-got cut in an effort to stop the bleeding ahead of next offseason. There are some reasons to get excited about the continued development of left tackle Andrew Thomas, the upside of their rookie class (Kayvon Thibodeaux, Evan Neal, Wan'dale Robinson, Cordale Flott, Dane Belton) and the prospects of what guys like Saquon Barkley, Blake Martinez, Adoree' Jackson, Kadarious Toney and Azeez Ojulari could do if they're fortunate enough to stay healthy for the bulk of the season, but outside of that, it's a pretty bleak situation in East Rutherford at the moment.
Key to Reaching Ther Ceiling: Brian Daboll Working Some Magic on Daniel Jones:
Daniel Jones has a rough go so far in the NFL. His 3 seasons with the Giants have been defined by stepping on the toes of a franchise legend in Eli Maning during his rookie year, some of the funniest blunders in recent NFL history (never forget the long TD run that was thwarted by him tripping) and poor coaching from a stunning collection of characters including Pat Shurmur, Jason Garrett and Freddie Kitchens. Underneath all of the bad luck, losses and memes, it's hard to remember that the kid has flashed at times. With Daboll coming in and him entering the final year of his rookie deal (his 5th year option was understandably declined), could Jones be in line to finally have a solid season in the pros? Crazier things have happened in this stupid league.
From a pure physical profile standard, Jones bears some resemblance to Josh Allen. He's tall, mobile and unafraid to take shots from the opposing defenses-which gives him the raw traits to be a scheme-fit for Daboll's rollout-heavy system.
Critics of Jones will argue that his tendency to turn the ball over is poor enough that he could sink any coach or system and that's not exactly wrong as he's lost 20 fumbles and thrown 29 INT's in 38 career games. However, Allen has similar issues when he started working with Daboll back in 2018. Considering that Jones is deeper into his career than Allen was when he started getting tutored by Daboll, it's possible that the bad habits go away and he takes to the new system faster than Allen-who finally broke out in 2020-did. If Daboll can unlock something in Jones this season, the Giants may be set for the future at QB after all.
Bottom Line:
Barring Daboll revealing himself to be the greatest improver of talent in league history, this is going to a painful season for the rebuilding Giants that won't provide much excitement outside of some young players popping or people being reminded that Joe Judge is gone.
Philadelphia Eagles
2021 Record: 9-8 (2nd in NFC East)
Head Coach: Nick Siriani (2nd season)
Notable Additions: WR A.J. Brown, CB James Bradberry, OLB Haason Reddick
Notable Departures: G Brandon Brooks (retired), CB Steven Nelson, S Rodney McLeod
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Howie Roseman Putting Together What Could Be the Best Offseason in the Entire League
After a relatively quiet 2021 offseason, Howie Roseman was working the phones like crazy this offseason to try and improve the roster of a team that surprised a lot of people last season with a 9-8 finish. In free agency, he landed Camden, NJ/Temple University product Haason Reddick-who has posted 22.5 sacks, 34 QB hits and 27 TFL's over the past 2 seasons-to bolster their pass rush, Giants cap casualty James Bradberry to replace the departed Steven Nelson as their #2 outside corner, and rangey, underrated veteran safety Jaquiski Tartt to compete for Rodney McLeod's old job. On draft night, Roseman got back to his finessing ways by sending 2 draft picks to the Titans (#18 and #101 overall in this year's draft) for budding star WR A.J. Brown-who just turned 25 in June- and flipping their other 2 1's to the Saints for 2 1's in next year's in the deal that ultimately landed New Orleans Chris Olave all while still landing some high-end rookie talent (defensive tackle Jordan Davis, athletic center Cam Jurgens, inside linebacker Nakobe Dean-who fell to the 3rd round due to concerns about a pec injury he suffered in college) that could turn into foundational pieces for this team down the line. This is the kind of balanced, wisely calculated approach to roster building that can turn teams into long-term contenders and it wouldn't shock me at all if the Eagles offseason season additions make the biggest on-field impact for their squad in 2022.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Jalen Hurts' Ability to Produce in Strictly Passing Situations
Jalen Hurts' 1st full season as the Eagles starting QB went well enough. He was a weapon in the rushing game (784 rushing YDS and 10 TD's on 139 carries), displayed pretty decent accuracy (61.3 CMP%) and had no problem getting in sync with top pass catchers DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert. Adding a legit top WR in A.J. Brown that can make huge plays while also opening up more opportunities for Smith, Goedert and the other WR's (Quez Watkins, free agent pickup Zach Pascal, Greg Ward, maybe Jalen Reagor) to run free should only make Hurts' job easier.
Despite the votes of confidence Hurts has received from his teammates and coaching staff and the addition of Brown, it remains to be seen if Hurts can make throws in non-RPO and play action situations. In his 19 career starts so far, Hurts has failed to do much of anything in guaranteed throwing situations. A terrific example of this was the thumping the Eagles took at the hands of the Buccaneers in the wild card round. Once the Bucs ran up the score and forced Hurts to throw from the pocket, he was visibly uncomfortable and super ineffective (he finished the game completing 23 of 43 attempts for 258 YDS, 1 TD and 2 INT's).
If Nick Sirrani, QB coach Brian Johnson and Hurts himself are dedicated to winning a championship, they made emphasizing pure passing situations the focal point of OTA's and training camp. Being limited to success in RPO's and play action situations makes the odds of the QB in question leading a comeback very slim. These struggles were responsible for Jared Goff getting traded from the Rams and have fueled a good amount of the criticism aimed at Lamar Jackson.
Unlike Jackson-who makes most of his throws from the pocket and has proven he can make precise throws on 3-to-5-step dropbacks, Hurts hasn't really shown that he has the foundation in place to make plays from there. Hurts is inclined to roll out before he releases the ball or throw while still on the run and it's going to take some mechanical adjustments and a lot of live reps for him to get comfortable throwing in a contained box behind the center. Considering that there was some speculation that the Eagles were considering moving on from Hurts after last season, his long-term future in Philly could depend on whether or not he becomes a more well-rounded passer.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Finding a Balanced Attack on Offense
Another fundamental flaw of the Eagles offense last season was the lack of rushing firepower outside of Hurts. Kenneth Gainwell made the occasional eye-popping play, but was largely just a cog in the machine as a rookie, Boston Scott continued to be just a guy and despite averaging a career best 5.5 YDS per carry and only losing 1 fumble, Miles Sanders betrayed his home-running hitting ways in year #3 by failing to score a TD.
The bad news for the Eagles is that the only change they made to their backfield heading into 2022 was adding undrafted power back Kennedy Brooks to the mix-who might not even make the team. The good news is that the offensive line should be better in 2022 now that guard Landon Dickerson has a full healthy offseason and 800+ reps of game action under his belt and there's ample potential for improvement among the trio of returning backs. Sanders' aforementioned speed and aptitude for breaking off run paired with his contract status (he's in the final year of his rookie deal) could lead to him overachieving this year. Gainwell was a superb pass-catcher in college and unlocking that tool in the pros would add a new element to this unit and as boring as he is, Scott doesn't make mistakes and has proven he can put up adequate numbers when he's called into action. The bones for a balanced rushing attack are here, now it's up to the backs to step up and Siranni to call more non-QB rushing plays so the offense can become less predictable, and Hurts can put effort into focusing on making the strides he needs to make as a passer.
Bottom Line:
Their roster improvements along with the likely regression from the other 3 teams puts the Eagles in a great to spot to win the NFC East for the 5th time since 2010.
Washington Commanders
2021 Record: 7-10 (3rd in NFC East)
Head Coach: Ron Rivera (3rd season)
Notable Additions: QB Carson Wentz, G Andrew Norwell, G Trai Turner
Notable Departures: G Brandon Scherff, S Landon Collins, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (retired)
Biggest Reason for Excitement: This Might Be the Last Season Dan Snyder Owns the Team
The litigation process of Deshaun Watson's cases is just the latest example of the NFL not caring about sexual misconduct, so it's not shocking that the string of allegations levied upon Commanders owner Dan Snyder and many of his (now former) underlings in 2021 weren't enough for him to lose the team (the extent of his punishment so far was ceding the day-to-day operational control to his wife.) But when a report earlier this year revealed that Snyder withheld money from the league's revenue-sharing kitty by fudging the ticket sales numbers for his team's home games so he could pocket tens of millions of dollars more for himself, being forced to sell sudden became a real possibility. Creating a culture where women are harassed, objectified and abused is completely fine in the eyes of the league's shot callers, but the moment you start fucking the rest of the league's money up, your head is going straight into the guillotine.
Regardless of the circumstances behind it, Snyder losing the Commanders would cause a mass celebration among their fans. This is something that Commanders fans wanted to happen well before he was outed as a predatory, misogynist piece of trash and a dope who thought he could get away with stiffing his fellow owners out of money. His tenure as owner saw this once respected, pretty consistently successful team turn into a complete shit show. Snyder has consistently made shaky personnel moves/coaching hires, refused to change the team's nickname until he got guilted into it after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 briefly caused white people to reckon with the ever-present, eternal evils of racism and even bought a DC sports talk radio station and turned into a state-run media arm because he felt the station's hosts were too critical of his team. Ending Snyder's reign of ineptitude, dysfunction and media censorship would finally give this team a long-awaited fresh start and opportunity to return to their former glory-which is something these fans more than deserve after 22 painful seasons under his control.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Trotting Out Carson Wentz as Their Starting Quarterback
Since Snyder still owns the team for now, he had to make his potential final inexplicable move count. Washington was understandably in the veteran QB market this season after 2021 proved that Taylor Henicke wasn't anything more than a respectable backup and considering the array of other needs they had and lack of top-end talent in this class, drafting a quarterback in the early stages of the draft did make sense (they did end up taking Sam Howell in the 5th round, which is an intriguing flyer that could end up working out). In a year where there was a staggering amount of established QB's available including Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Baker Mayfield and Jimmy Garoppolo-whose still on the 49ers roster right now, the Commanders went out right away and dealt 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2022 and a conditional 3rd pick in 2023 for.... Carson Wentz? Well played Snyder, you repulsive shitbag.
Agreeing to give up a decent amount of pretty valuable capital for Wentz reeks of a move that was birthed by analytics. Yes, Wentz's statline was perfectly fine (3,525YDS/27 TD/7 INT/62.4 CMP%) last year, but his failure to win any of final 3 games of the season was solely responsible for the Colts falling out of the playoffs last season. He was skittish, overly conservative and couldn't make throws more than 10-15 YDS downfield all season long and those flaws ultimately derailed the team when it mattered most. Some of the blame can be tied to the Colts lack of viable receivers outside of Michael Pittman, but for the most part, these flaws are consistent with the player Wentz has been become following his return from the torn ACL that derailed his magical MVP campaign in 2017.
Giving Wentz another crack at starting at age 29 going on 30, particularly for a team that has a coach on the hotseat and an offense that is loaded with potential offensive gaps, makes very little sense. Washington is actually an even less ideal situation for Wentz than the Colts were as they have the exact same issues at WR (1 reliable stud in Terry McLaurin surrounded by a whole lot of unproven young guys and shaky, injury-prone vets), a so-so offensive line that could get worse with Brandon Scherff effectively getting traded to Jacksonville for Andrew Norwell and a running game that isn't nearly good enough to bail him out like Jonathan Taylor repeatedly did last year. Somebody like Garoppolo would've been much better suited to be a stopgap option for this team and the eagerness to go with Wentz over him could come back to bite the Commanders in the ass.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Ron Rivera Coaching His Ass Off
It was true last year and it's still true now, Ron Rivera is the type of coach that can get teams to overperform all by himself. He's a fiery, well-respected guy who has the gamesmanship and X and O's skills to maximize people's output. In his inaugural 2 seasons in DC, he realized that 2020 7th round pick Kamren Curl was ready to start right away, helped Kendall Fuller return to form after a questionable tenure with the Chiefs and got Jonathan Allen to ascend from good to great by letting him rush the pass more on the interior. This year presents another tough batch of challenges for Rivera including getting Jamin Davis back on track after a brutal rookie season where he couldn't stop a nosebleed, determining what the early down RB workload split between Antonio Gibson and rookie Brian Robinson Jr. will look like and potentially find a replacement for Chase Young while he continues to heal from the torn ACL he suffered last November (James Smith-Williams-who has only 3 career sacks-is currently operating alongside Montez Sweat on the 1st team defense). If Rivera can figure that shit out and get even a little something more than expected out of Wentz, Washington might be able to surprise some people in the NFC East.
Bottom Line:
This team is largely unchanged from last year, but Carson Wentz's presence alone will likely earn them another notch or two in the loss column.
Projected Standings:
1.Philadelphia Eagles (11-6)
2.Dallas Cowboys (8-9)
3.Washington Commanders (6-11)
4.New York Giants (4-13)
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