May 11, 2023

Preseason All-NFC East team: Defense edition

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

At this point in the offseason, NFL rosters are pretty much set, at least in terms of players expected to make any kind of reasonable impact. And so, let's take a look at the NFC East, and determine who has the best players at each position. Yesterday we started with the offense. Today we'll look at the defense.

Edge defenders: Haason Reddick, Eagles, Josh Sweat, Eagles

Sweat's numbers have improved every year he has been in the NFL:

Josh Sweat	Tackles	Sacks	QB hits
2018	1	0	1
2019	21	4	10
2020	38	6	12
2021	45	7.5	13
2022	48	11	23

He edges out the Commanders' Montez Sweat for first-team honors, as well as Chase Young, whose career has been stalled by injuries. The Giants have a couple of talented young edge rushers in Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari, but they're not there yet. The Cowboys' Demarcus Lawrence is a PFF fave, but he has had Derek Barnett-like sack production the last four seasons.

If you include the playoffs, Reddick was the best defensive player in the NFL last season.

Interior defensive line: Dexter Lawrence, Giants, Jonathan Allen, Commanders

I probably would have still had Lawrence and Allen as my first-teamers even if Javon Hargrave hadn't left for San Francisco. With Hargrave gone, choosing these two beasts was that much easier.

I struggled a little trying to choose between the Eagles' Fletcher Cox and the Giants' Leonard Williams for second-team honors (at the bottom of the article), but ultimately Williams only had 2.5 sacks while playing next to a guy in Lawrence who commands a ton of extra attention.

Off-ball linebacker: Micah Parsons, Cowboys, Leighton Vander Esch, Cowboys

I could have just as easily included Parsons among the edge rushers, but since the NFC East's linebackers aren't exactly awesome, let's put him here. Obviously, he is an elite, versatile player.

Again, I struggled with who to place on the second team. T.J. Edwards might have made the first team here if he hadn't departed for Chicago. The Giants signed Bobby Okereke to a four-year deal worth $40 million this offseason, which as probably an overpay, but he's still a decent enough starting linebacker. Thereafter, it was tough. I gave the nod to Commanders 2021 first-round pick Jamin Davis, who improved substantially in 2022 after a bad rookie season and could be in for a quality Year 3.

Cornerback: James Bradberry, Eagles, Trevon Diggs, Cowboys, Darius Slay, Eagles

In our offensive edition, we did not include DeVonta Smith among the first-team wide receivers. There were four who were worthy of a spot, but someone had to be left out. That was DeVonta. There's a similar situation here with Bradberry, Diggs, Slay, and Stephon Gilmore, who the Cowboys traded for this offseason. Gilmore has been playing in relative anonymity the last two seasons on a couple of bad teams (Panthers in 2021, Colts in 2022), but he is still a top-level NFL cornerback at the age of 32 (he'll be 33 in September).