National Football League

Eagles are kings of the NFC East. Can anyone knock them off their perch?

Published Jul. 6, 2023 12:28 p.m. ET

The Philadelphia Eagles were the best team in the NFC last season, and since then the rich have only gotten richer. They kept most of their team together, mitigated their few losses, and even managed to bring in some huge, new additions.

They'll be the favorites in the NFC again, and for good reason. And in the NFC East, the gap might not even be close.

Don't try telling that to their division opponents, though, because at least two of them will head into the 2023 season thinking they've got at least an outside chance to pull off an upset in the NFC East. The Dallas Cowboys, after all, won 12 games last season and they filled their biggest need this offseason — a No. 2 receiver. And the Giants bolstered their own offense over the last few months and are convinced they can build on their surprising, nine-win campaign.

But can either of them really catch the Eagles while Philadelphia's championship window still appears to be wide open? Can they even turn the NFC East into an actual race?

Here's a look at how the rest of the NFC East positioned themselves as contenders this offseason, how they measure up to Philly, and their chances of ending the Eagles' reign:

Dallas Cowboys

Outlook: They were 12-5 in a season in which their starting quarterback (Dak Prescott) missed five games and then threw a ridiculous 15 interceptions in the 12 games he played. Despite his absence, they had the NFL's 11th-ranked offense to go with the NFL's 12th-ranked defense and they seemed to improve them both. A full season of Prescott alone should be enough to make the Cowboys better in 2023. They're still a notch below the Eagles in most areas, but it's close.

Biggest additions: They got the thing they needed most — a No. 2 receiver to take some of the pressure off CeeDee Lamb — when they traded for receiver Brandin Cooks. And they bolstered what was already a pretty good secondary when they acquired veteran CB Stephon Gilmore. Cooks, and possibly a fully healthy Michael Gallup, give the Cowboys a receiving trio that could be among the league's best. It should also help them overcome the loss of TE Dalton Schultz. And if Prescott has more options than just forcing balls to Lamb, his interception totals should drop, too.

Key to catching Philly: Prescott has to stop throwing the ball to the other team. It's really that simple. The Cowboys have the offense and the defense to compete with the Eagles, especially if running back Tony Pollard is healthy and returns to form. But Prescott killed them with turnovers last season. They might have won the division if he wasn't so interception-prone. They probably would've reached the NFC Championship game. Interceptions have always been a little bit of a problem for him, but last year was still alarming. Get that cleaned up and Dallas should be in it until the end.

Chances to win the division: A potentially brutal post-Thanksgiving schedule won't help, but there's no reason they shouldn't be in this race until the end. It would be a surprise — and a major disappointment — if they're ever more than two games behind in the standings.

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New York Giants

Outlook: They surprised everyone — including themselves — by going 9-7-1 and making the playoffs in Brian Daboll's first season as head coach, and they went to work this offseason trying to build on that momentum. They definitely added talent, but it's still hard to figure out exactly what the Giants' foundation really was. Are they the team that started 6-1 last season, the team that finished 3-6, the team that won a playoff game in Minnesota, or the one that got blown out in Philadelphia the next week? They think there's enough good to build on, but there's definitely still some bad.

Biggest additions: They needed to boost their passing game around their newly minted $160 million quarterback, Daniel Jones, so nothing was bigger this offseason than their trade for tight end Darren Waller. If he's healthy, he's got elite potential, and it certainly looks like they plan to build their offense around him. They did add receiving help — free agent Parris Campbell, third-round pick Jalin Hyatt — but Waller was the centerpiece and big-ticket item that could change who they are.

Key to catching Philly: The Giants have to be able to move the ball and score much better than they did last season. Their offense ranked 18th, but almost all of that was because of the running of Jones and Saquon Barkley. If Waller can help open up their passing offense and maybe one or two of their new receivers (or one or two of the returning/recovering ones) can emerge as viable targets they might have something. Without a better passing attack, though, they'd be lucky to get back to 9 wins.

Chances to win the division: Not great, because the Eagles and, to an extent the Cowboys, are at an elite level that the Giants' talent can't match. They got a lot of breaks last season and pulled out a lot of games in the fourth quarter to squeak into the playoffs. They'd need to do all that and more to do it again. And they'd need a big jump from that passing offense that probably still has the fourth-best collection of weapons in the league. It would also help if both the Eagles and Cowboys faltered, but it all seems like a little too much to ask. A down-to-the-wire race for another wild-card berth seems more realistic.

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Washington Commanders

Outlook: They weren't far out of it last season, finishing 8-8-1, and a good argument could be made that they underachieved because of their Carson Wentz-Taylor Heinicke quarterback mess. They had the third-best defense in the NFL, they've got a strong rushing attack and they've got a good array of offensive weapons, so all the other pieces are in place. They obviously hope that quarterback Sam Howell, after just one start and heading into his second season, can help put all those pieces together. Maybe they're right. But until he shows it, it's hard to think of them as anything other than the fourth team in this division.

Biggest additions: They were not huge players in free agency, but even if they were it would've been hard to top the addition of offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. One of the most respected OCs in the NFL, he left the high-powered Chiefs to try to prove himself outside of Andy Reid's shadow. He will bring some version of the Chiefs' West Coast offense to Washington and might have enough weapons to actually run it. Whether or not he has the quarterback to run it … we'll see.

Key to catching Philly: It's Sam Howell, in case anyone hadn't figured that out already. He is simply the key to everything for Washington. They really do have a pretty good team around the quarterback. Think of how different the outlook for this team would be if they had Jalen Hurts running the show, or even Daniel Jones. It is probably wildly unrealistic to even dream of them catching the Eagles in Howell's first full season as a starter. But for the dreamers, the key is most definitely whether Bieniemy can magically turn Howell into even a poor man's version of Patrick Mahomes.

Chances to win the division: Slim to none, unless it turns out that Howell — a fifth-round pick in 2022 and the 144th player taken in that draft — was the NFL's biggest draft miss since Tom Brady.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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