May 21, 2018

All NFC East team: Defense edition

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Heading into the 2018 season, the Philadelphia Eagles are the clear favorites to repeat as NFC East champs, with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Washington Redskins trailing behind.

Earlier today, we took a look at the 2018 All-NFC East team on offense, if that actually existed. Here we'll look at the defensive side of the ball.

• Edge Demarcus Lawrence, Cowboys: Lawrence broke out last season with 14.5 sacks, and is the Cowboys' best pass rusher since another Demarcus.

• Interior DL Fletcher Cox, Eagles: While his stats aren't gaudy, Cox is a top 3 DT in the NFL who is often the focus of opposing offenses' game plans.

• Interior DL Damon Harrison, Giants: Harrison is a great run stopper. Over the last two seasons, he has an absurd 162 tackles from his DT spot.

• Edge Brandon Graham, Eagles: Super Bowl hero is a complete DE, as he creates disruption both in the passing game and the run game.

• LB Zach Brown, Redskins: Brown was 9th in the NFL in tackles in 2017 with 127 of them, despite missing three games.

• LB Sean Lee, Cowboys: Lee is a Fabergé egg, but when he's healthy, there's little question how good of a player he is. Had Lee played against the Eagles Week 11 last season, the Cowboys would have won by 70. Instead they lost by 28.

• CB Janoris Jenkins, Giants: After a great season in 2016, Jenkins' play fell off a bit in 2017. But in a division lacking stars at corner, Jenkins gets the nod here.

• CB Josh Norman, Redskins: Overrated and overpaid, but still one of the two best outside corners in the division.

• Slot CB Jourdan Lewis, Cowboys: Sticky cover corner who had a good rookie season and should only get better.

• S Landon Collins, Giants: Collins has the potential to be a star in the NFL for the next 10 years.

• S Malcolm Jenkins, Eagles: Jenkins can play in the slot, outside at corner, deep middle, in the box at linebacker, and just about anything else you might ask of him.

• P Chris Jones, Cowboys: Best net punting average in the division at 41.4 yards. Returners only mustered 75 return yards against him all season, best in the NFL, and really, that's the name of the game as a punter in the NFL.