May 13, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Jayden Daniels and Jalen Hurts are the top two quarterbacks in the NFC East.
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. We'll start with the offense.
This will be an unpopular selection among some Eagles fans, given that Jalen Hurts was, you know, the Super Bowl MVP. But in my opinion — don't know if this is a "hot take" or not — Daniels dragging the Commanders' far inferior roster to the NFC Championship Game was more impressive than Hurts winning it all.
Hurts played behind the best offensive line in the NFL, he threw to an elite WR duo, and he had the best player in the league standing next to him in the backfield at running back. And when things didn't click offensively, the Eagles had the best defense in the NFL to bail them out. Hurts absolutely played well, too, but it's undeniable that he had the best quarterback situation in the NFL, by far.
The best argument for Hurts in my opinion is that he has shown up in big games. He's 6-3 in the playoffs, 2-0 in NFC Championship Games, and 1-1 in Super Bowls, with a strong argument that he was the best player on the field in the one he lost. He is very clearly a top 10 quarterback.
But Daniels might be special. He had one good receiver, a mediocre O-line, he led his team in rushing, and his team had a below average defense. He was forced to put his team on his back week after week and make a bunch of plays to win games.
A lot of my decisions in this exercise came down to, "Who would I rather have?" And in this case, it's Daniels. 🤷♂️
On a side note, Dak Prescott shouldn't get any real consideration here this year. The Cowboys were 3-5 in Prescott's starts. He threw 11 TDs vs. 8 INTs before being lost for the season with a hamstring injury. That said, I do think he's a candidate for a bounce-back season.
Second team: Jalen Hurts, Eagles
Hmm, tough call here! Barkley was the best player in the NFL in 2024, so by my logic, he's also the best running back in the NFC East. #Analysis.
Deciding on the second-team back was more challenging. I awarded that to the Giants' Tyrone Tracy, who ran for 839 yards and 5 TDs as a rookie in 2024. I also considered the Commanders' Brian Robinson, but he's just a guy. The Giants, Commanders, and Cowboys all lack ideal starting running backs.
Second team: Tyrone Tracy, Giants
Lamb and Brown were easy choices. McLaurin had better stats than Brown in 2024, but Brown is very clearly the better player. I'm not so sure McLaurin is better than DeVonta Smith or Malik Nabers either, but McLaurin's 1096-yard, 13 TD season warrants a spot here.
As for the two veteran WR noobs to the division, I'd much rather have a young George Pickens over a declining Deebo Samuel, who is not the player he once was.
Second team: DeVonta Smith, Eagles, Malik Nabers, Giants, George Pickens, Cowboys.
Zach Ertz had a bounce-back season in 2024 after accumulating just 593 receiving yards and barely over 8.0 yards per catch his previous two seasons combined in Arizona. In his first season in Washington, Ertz had 66 catches for 654 yards (9.9 YPC) and 7 TDs. He proved that he can still be a viable target in the middle of the field and in the red zone, despite turning 34 during the 2024 season.
Ertz had better regular season numbers than Goedert, who caught 42 passes for 496 yards (11.8 YPC) and 2 TDs in 2024 while missing seven games.
However, while Goedert's durability is a concern (Ertz's kind of is, too), Goedert was a more efficient receiver (9.5 yards per target vs. 7.2 for Ertz), and Goedert is a far better blocker in the run game. Also, when Goedert was healthy, he led the Eagles in receiving during their playoff run.
Like, just so we're all on the same page, nobody would actually rather have Ertz over Goedert, right?
Our first-team selection at tight end last offseason was the Cowboys' Jake Ferguson, whose production fell off a cliff in 2024.
Second team: Zach Ertz, Commanders
Mailata and Johnson are star players, and they repeat as our first-team offensive tackles. A year ago, some Giants fans felt Andrew Thomas was snubbed and should have made it over Mailata. There should be no such argument on that front this year.
Thomas has a chance to get get back to where he was before two injury-riddled seasons in 2023 and 2024, and Laremy Tunsil will try to bounce back with a new team after leading the NFL in penalties in 2024.
Second team: Andrew Thomas, Giants, Laremy Tunsil, Commanders
Dickerson and Smith are clearly the two best guards in the division.
The Commanders' Sam Cosmi would have garnered second-team honors here, but he tore an ACL during the Commanders' Divisional Round win over the Lions in mid-January, and probably won't be ready for Week 1. Instead we settled on the Giants' Jon Runyan and Cowboys rookie first-round pick Tyler Booker.
Second team: Jon Runyan, Giants, Tyler Booker, Cowboys
Jurgens was up to the task of replacing the legendary Jason Kelce, as he earned a Pro Bowl nod in his first season as the Eagles' starting center.
I settled on Tyler Biadasz as the second-teamer over the Giants' and Cowboys' young starting centers, John Michael Schmitz and Cooper Beebe.
Second team: Tyler Biadasz, Commanders
We'll give two points for first-team nods, one point for second-team. Good? Good. I mean, who cares?
| Team | First-team | Second-team | Totals |
| Eagles | 7 | 2 | 16 |
| Commanders | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Cowboys | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Giants | 0 | 4 | 4 |
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