We are 2 weeks away from training camp and about 8 weeks from the regular season. It’s time to take a look at what the Eagles did on their spring vacation and see how the Super Bowl Champions look on their quest to repeat. I wanted to do this as one big article, but damn football is complicated. The series will run in parts all week addressing:
So who got better this offseason? I know it’s hard to get worse for the Giants, but by God they tried. Maybe it’s finally “our year” for the Cowboys, but that would mean Dak Prescott is magically not terrible when it counts. Washington spent a lot of money to not get any younger or better. The Chiefs did very little to fix how badly they got exposed last year. And finally, San Francisco, you didn’t make the cut.
Washington Commanders
[Update: The Commanders have signed Von Miller to a 1/$6.1m contract. Yes, this adds to my criticism that they are just getting older but Miller still grades out as a well above average pass rusher. This is a good move]
Jayden Daniels had a hell of a first year in the league. He protected the ball and made plays. So how did the Commanders reward him for his overachieving? By getting him Deebo Samuel and Laremy Tunsil. What great gifts to compliment the 2021 roster. As for this season? Deebo is coming off a low in usage and disgruntled his way out of SF. The thing that made him special in the past, his running/receiving combination, has virtually disappeared due to his sapped quickness. Tunsil is 31 years old and has always been paid higher than his ability. He is an upgrade, but Washington gave up net 3 draft picks to get him including a 2nd rounder next year. With a 2nd year QB, instead of building a young team, the Commanders are bringing in aging players and wasting draft picks. I don’t get it.
They did bring in an OT in the draft named Josh Conerly. Conerly is big and usually pretty good…except against very athletic pass rushers. The video of him getting beat by Mike Green in the Senior Bowl is pretty damning. From an NFC East perspective, Nolan Smith, Micah Parsons, and Abdul Carter are going to be big problems for him. That being said, investing in the trenches is generally a smart decision.
Even if I don’t agree with the moves, at least Washington addressed its offense. The defense is a different story. For a team that allowed 55 points in the NFC Championship, you would think this would have been a priority. Instead, Washington replaced Jonathan Allen with Jevon Kinlaw, a jarring downgrade, and let Jeremy Chinn and Dante Fowler walk in free agency. They brought in Jonathan Jones, a 32-year-old corner, to help Marshon Lattimore stop AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. Good luck with that. This team is going to get shredded.
Dallas Cowboys
The biggest addition for Dallas has to be the subtraction of Mike McCarthy. The guy just added nothing to the offense and actively sabotaged the team in crunch time. He had to go. In comes Brian Schottenheimer, who has a lot of experience leading mediocre offenses (Jeff Fisher Rams, Russell Wilson Seattle drop-off, the Mark Sanchez Jets) around the league without ever getting the call for the big gig, despite his famous last name, until now. This reeks of Jerry Jones hiring another person he can control that will not have much leeway in trying anything new.
On the field, they took a big swing in acquiring George Pickens from Pittsburgh. Paired with CeeDee Lamb in the slot, this makes for a great tandem on paper and will no doubt have its highlights. There’s a reason it didn’t work out with the Steelers though and it is all about his attitude. Since this is a contract year, Dallas has to hope he can handle the offense going through Lamb instead of him. As for the rest of the field, Dallas only managed to bring in former high round picks who have failed around the league including Solomon Thomas, Kenneth Murray, Kaiir Elam, and Miles Sanders (plus Dante Fowler who was rejuvenated in Washinton last year).
While getting Pickens will make Cowboys fans feel unstoppable, they probably have a Cincinnatti Bengals problem on their hands. Having receivers for a QB is good, but protection is better. For the first time in a long time, the Cowboys don’t have that. With Zack Martin now retired, the Cowboys have Tyler Smith at guard and that’s pretty much it. Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele were bad last season and Cooper Beebe has some big shoes to fill at center. In the draft, they selected Tyler Booker from Alabama who will be expected to start at RG immediately. This unit could be a disaster.
New York Giants
The Giants faced two no-brainer decisions heading into the offseason. First, select Abdul Carter with the #3 overall pick. That’s objectively a great move even if the team has two underperforming EDGEs on their team already. Nailed it. Second, get rid of Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll. Oooh, just missed on that one. New York is bringing back their bumbling decision-making duo for a 4th season. Since neither has done anything to show they have any idea what they are doing, you have to assume they are only sticking around so ownership doesn’t have to pay them and their replacements this season.
For their likely last stand, they are betting on 3rd round QB prospect Jaxson Dart who they traded up to draft at #25. This is interesting for several reasons. The Giants brought in Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston (both for some reason) to play QB. That means Dart won’t be expected to start or even be the primary backup. However, if Wilson struggles (and there’s no reason to think he won’t), does that mean the team will bring in Winston or turn the keys over to their rookie? If it’s Winston and the team is still bad, does that mean Daboll and Schoen finally lose their job? Will the next regime be as enamored with Dart as they are? If they bring in Dart and he looks bad, they are in the same spot. About the only way these two keep their job is if Dart gets the keys early and takes off, but that isn’t likely going to happen. There’s no problem with drafting Dart, but it should have been a new brain trust making that decision, not these two dunderheads. Absolute worst case scenario is that the Giants win some games but Wilson looks bad. He’s eventually replaced by Winston who does the same. Now fans are clamoring for Dart, but the Giants are just close enough to the playoffs to be blinded. Dart comes in, doesn’t impress and the Giants not only miss the playoffs but lose out on a high draft pick as well.
The Giants brought in safety Jevon Holland for roughly the same amount of money they did not pay First Team All Pro Xavier McKinney the year before. Though this should improve the team this season, Holland is a clear downgrade from who they could have had. His mishandling was kind of lost in last year’s disastrous Saquon Barkley ascension to Philadelphia where he had one of the best seasons of all time and won the Super Bowl. It’s just another glaring example of the mismanagement of the franchise. This team is going to be better, but it’s still a mess that doesn’t know how to clean itself up.
Kansas City Chiefs
Coming into the season, I would have told you that our two biggest rivals were the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s hard to call either of them rivals now. SF has basically hit the reset button this year and has no intention of competing so they’re out. KC looked the scary final boss in a video game that was impossible to beat, except the Eagles came into the fight so overpowered that it ended up a joke. Can they really be a rival after that embarrassing Super Bowl ass-kicking?
It doesn’t help that the Chiefs did very little to improve their glaring deficiencies. Despite drafting Josh Simmons and bringing in a backup from SF, the offensive line might be worse this year without Joe Thuney. Mahomes was running for his life in the Super Bowl and management did him no favors. He does get Rashee Rice back though after injury last season. This seems to be much like the all-weapons/no-protection problem in Dallas, albeit with a far superior QB.
As for the defense, Chris Jones makes up for many deficiencies, but he is now 31 and does not have much help on that side, especially in the secondary. All in all, they are relying on an offensive machine to outscore everyone like they used to. The only problem is that they have not seen that level of production for a few years now and Mahomes will have even less time to throw than usual. He’s still the best, but that might not be good enough anymore.
Others
The Lions probably got robbed of the chance to legitimately challenge the Eagles last season due to injury after injury. There’s no way Washington could have competed against a full-strength Detroit team. That’s the NFL though. They should be back next season as long as they can get past the improved Vikings. The NFL’s most improved roster is complete across the board except for the QB position. The team was buttressed last year by the out of nowhere play of Sam Darnold who is now in Seattle. They will turn to second year rookie JJ McCarthy. The whole team is in his hands. The biggest challenge to the Eagles supremacy last year came from the Los Angeles Rams. Had Jalen Carter not become superhuman on the final two plays of the game, the Eagles likely would have lost in disastrous fashion. It was that close.
Someone will step up to challenge the Eagles. We’ll just have to wait and see who that is.
Philly Front Office 
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