The May graduation season seems like the ideal time to award superlatives to each NFL team, highlighting the highs and lows of their offseason moves. Last week, superlatives were given to the 16 AFC teams, addressing everything from the Browns’ quarterback additions to the unprecedented inexperience on Patrick Mahomes’ blind side for the Chiefs.
Now, it’s the NFC’s turn. Which team generates envy in the league? Which one is spending much less on one side of the field than any other? And which one is most likely to be in the trade market between now and the start of the season?
We’ll start in Dallas, where the Cowboys seem to place more faith in what they saw at the college level than in what some struggling players have actually accomplished.
NFC EAST
Dallas Cowboys
Superlative: More prone to reviewing their old exploration reports
For some organizations, it’s easier to let go of what you’ve seen than what you believe. Despite other failings, the Cowboys have generally ranked among the league’s best organizations in terms of talent selection and development. Of their top 20 players in the last 30 years, according to approximate value, 19 began their careers with Dallas, with Deion Sanders as the exception. Team owner Jerry Jones generally picks his stars and keeps them until they retire.
If a franchise believes in its scouting process, it might believe that an opportunity exists to exploit. If another team drafts the player it wanted on draft day and that player struggles in that organization, it might seem that player could thrive in a better situation with a fresh start. Added to the fact that most of the player’s contract will have already been paid by the previous team, you have the recipe for what many call a “second draft” philosophy.
Last year, the Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick for Jonathan Mingo, a deal that didn’t yield immediate results, as the wide receiver caught five passes in eight games. The Eagles made a similar move before the season for Jahan Dotson, and although the former Commanders first-round pick had a touchdown reception in Philadelphia’s wild-card win over the Packers, I’m not sure that deal will be on the list of great things general manager Howie Roseman did in 2024.
However, the Cowboys still believe in Mingo, and their offseason was filled with bets on highly drafted players who have struggled to start their careers, players on whom they presumably had excellent grades coming out of college. They traded cornerback Kaiir Elam and linebacker Kenneth Murray, two former first-round picks who have not met expectations in the NFL. Elam couldn’t consistently stay in the starting lineup in Buffalo and was targeted again and again as an injury replacement in the AFC Championship, while Murray has allowed a passer rating over 107 in coverage.
The Cowboys didn’t have to send much more than a last-day trade of a 3rd-round pick, but unlike Mingo and Dotson, Elam and Murray don’t have bargain deals. Elam will earn $2.6 million in 2025, while Dallas inherited the final $7.4 million remaining of the two-year contract Murray signed with the Titans in free agency a year ago. Neither player has even been a solid starter in the NFL, but the Cowboys clearly believe they can develop players who entered the league with significant pedigrees.
Likewise, Dallas went after highly selected players in free agency. It complemented the defensive line with a pair of former top-five picks, Solomon Thomas and Dante Fowler Jr., the latter returning to the organization after an impressive season in Washington. Payton Turner, another first-round pick who never took off in New Orleans, also joined on a one-year deal. In the offensive, the Cowboys added two former second-round players who have battled injuries as professionals in running back Javonte Williams and wide receiver Parris Campbell. They also traded a third-round pick to the Steelers for wide receiver George Pickens, although unlike the other players in this group, Pickens has met expectations on the field. Dallas could see Pickens as undervalued or unappreciated by virtue of the offense he has worked in. On the other hand, he is likely to take Mingo’s place in the starting lineup.Aside from the Pickens trade, none of these deals are dramatic or cost a significant amount. What they have in common, however, is a clear bet the Cowboys are making: that their assessment of what a player was going to do as a professional is more accurate than what that player has actually done elsewhere. Is that a successful strategy? It doesn’t seem to have been with Mingo.
New York Giants
Superlative: More prone to throwing long passes more often
Even the best versions of the Daniel Jones-era Giants offense were more about checking down and grinding out small gains than creating explosive plays. Jones ranked last in the league in passing yards per attempt during his career-best 2022 campaign, and as the Giants tried to expand their offense to be more spectacular in 2023 and 2024, his propensity to hold onto the ball and a mediocre offensive line generally meant those attempts were fruitless. They ranked 24th in deep pass rate last season and 26th in QBR on the deep passes they did attempt. They rank 30th in deep pass rate over the last three seasons.
We often discuss how teams respond to a disappointing coach by hiring his antithesis as a replacement, and perhaps the Giants have done that here in moving on from the Jones era. Their new veteran passers will push it downfield. Over the last three years, Russell Wilson has thrown 13.4% of his passes 20 or more yards downfield, the fourth-highest rate in football. Jameis Winston is right behind him, in sixth place. In between them is Josh Allen, the quarterback that New York coach Brian Daboll helped turn into a superstar in Buffalo.
Those veterans will eventually give way to first-round pick Jaxson Dart, who also pushes the envelope. He ranked third in the nation in deep pass rate in 2024, with a staggering 21.9% of his throws traveling 20 or more yards downfield. He ranked 14th in total QBR on those throws among passers with a minimum of 50 deep attempts. He wasn’t playing in the most pro-style offense at Ole Miss and wasn’t often asked to go deep through a progression, but there’s no doubt about his ability to throw downfield.
The Giants will throw deep passes more often, but can they do it effectively? There are reasons to think the staff should facilitate that. Darius Slayton has been stagnant for years as the nominal deep threat in an offense that doesn’t throw deep passes often or well, so the addition of these field passers should play to his strengths. Malik Nabers can win at all levels, giving New York two receivers who can worry other teams as deep playmakers. As usual, the offensive line looms as the biggest potential concern. The Giants have apparently abandoned the Evan Neal experiment at right tackle, and the team confirmed last week that the 2022 top-10 pick will move to guard full-time. That leaves Jermaine Eluemunor on the right side and Andrew Thomas, returning from a season-ending foot injury, protecting the blind side. If they can give their new quarterbacks time to throw, expect Daboll & Co. to make the difficult camera movement more often.Philadelphia Eagles
Superlative: More prone to inspire envy in other teams
When you go 14-3, overcome the postseason, and stomp an apparently invincible Chiefs team in the Super Bowl, there will be other teams that want what you have. The Eagles responded to a disastrous collapse in 2023 with a fairytale season, and the league’s stars took notice.One of those stars was Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who mentioned Philadelphia as a prototype for what he wanted his own team to do. “The Eagles are paying everyone,” Burrow said in February. “That seems to be the way. Whatever they’re doing.”
Burrow was half right. The Eagles are paying everyone… on one side of the football. On defense, the team that just won the title ranked 17th in cash spending. The Eagles’ roster on that side of the ball was mostly filled with draft picks; the only defenders making more than $10 million were edge rusher Bryce Huff, veteran cornerback Darius Slay, and Super Bowl hero Josh Sweat. Eleven of their 14 most-used players on defense during the Super Bowl were players on rookie contracts or veterans making $5 million or less. This offseason, with Slay, Sweat, Brandon Graham, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson departing, the Eagles are even more frugal on defense. They rank 31st in cash spending on defenders for the 2025 season, with just over $100 million in actual money coming off the books. They could field a Week 1 starting lineup with 10 defensive players on rookie contracts and linebacker Zack Baun as the only veteran earning significant money.
