Preseason All-NFC East team: Offense edition

How many Eagles players are among the best in the NFC East?

Dak Prescott and Jalen Hurts
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports

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.

Quarterback: Dak Prescott, Cowboys

Jalen Hurts was the easy choice here a year ago after he was the MVP runner-up to Patrick Mahomes in 2022. However, Prescott very clearly had the better season as a passer in 2023. 

 NFCE QBsComp-Att (Comp %) Yards (YPA) TD-INT Rating 
 Dak Prescott410-590 (69.5%) 4516 (7.7) 36-9 105.9 
 Jalen Hurts352-538 (65.4%) 3858 (7.2) 23-15 89.1 


It will be interesting to see if the Commanders' Jayden Daniels will get consideration here next year.

Running back: Saquon Barkley, Eagles

Barkley finished fourth in the NFL in 2022 with 1,312 rushing yards. In 2023, the Giants cycled through three ineffective quarterbacks, and there were times when Brian Daboll just gave the ball to Barkley over and over because he did not trust his passing attack. In 14 games, Barkley carried 247 times for 962 yards and 6 TDs, with a yards per carry average of 3.89. While 3.89 yards per carry isn't good, it was a hell of a lot better than all the other Giants' backs, none of whom rushed for better than 2.82 yards per carry.

Whatever it is that you think of Barkley and the contract the Eagles gave him this offseason, there's no question that he's the best back in the NFC East.

Wide receiver: CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys, A.J. Brown, Eagles, Terry McLaurin, Commanders

Lamb and Brown are obvious. It’s the third spot that is debatable between McLaurin and DeVonta Smith. McLaurin has four straight seasons with at least 1,000 yards, which is particularly impressive given the crap quarterbacks he has had to play with, so I gave him the nod. 

Tight end: Jake Ferguson, Cowboys

In his second season, Ferguson had 71 catches for 761 yards and 5 TDs. Dallas Goedert had 59 catches for 592 yards and 3 TDs in 2023, and he has missed eight games over the last two seasons.

Offensive tackle: Jordan Mailata, Eagles, Lane Johnson, Eagles

Andrew Thomas is a very good left tackle, but Mailata had a stellar season in 2023, while Thomas missed seven games and still gave up more sacks, per PFF.

Johnson remains the best right tackle in the NFL.

Guard: Zack Martin, Cowboys, Landon Dickerson, Eagles

Martin is still a star player after 10 years in the NFL. Dickerson was a Pro Bowl selection in 2022 and 2023, and is currently the highest-paid guard in the NFL. I would have Dickerson marginally ahead of the Cowboys' Tyler Smith, who also deserves a mention here.

Center: Tyler Biadasz, Commanders

It used to be easy to just plug Jason Kelce in here and move on, but no more. Biadasz is far from a special player, but he has the most starting experience in the division, by far:

 NFC East projected starting centersStarts 
 Tyler Biadasz, Commanders53 
John Michael Schmitz, Giants 13 
Cam Jurgens, Eagles 11 
Cooper Beebe (?), Cowboys 


Biadasz is a prime candidate to be replaced next year.

Second team All-NFC East

Quarterback: Jalen Hurts, Eagles

Running back: Austin Ekeler, Commanders

Wide receiver: DeVonta Smith, Eagles, Malik Nabers, Giants, Darius Slayton, Giants

Tight end: Dallas Goedert, Eagles

Offensive tackle: Andrew Thomas, Giants, Jermaine Eluemunor, Giants

Guard: Tyler Smith, Cowboys, Sam Cosmi, Commanders

Center: Cam Jurgens, Eagles

Totals

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 14 
Cowboys 
Commanders 
Giants 

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