NFL 2024 Division Previews; NFC East Edition; Eagles Reclaim Division, Commanders Lay Dormant

Over the next pair of months, I will be going through each division and giving an overall projection of how they could perform in the upcoming season. The record projection should be taken with a grain of salt as we are still months out before the season even starts and roster changes and injuries will occur in that time.

1) Philadelphia Eagles – Projected Record 12-5

A tale of two seasons within one last year was the 2023 Philadelphia Eagles. They started so strongly, winning almost every game for over half the season and then all of a sudden they couldn’t put a win together if their literal season depended on it and it did. They lost their lead in the NFC standings from 1st seed to losing the division to the Cowboys and getting bounced in the first round to the Buccaneers.

That team can not show up again this season or it will be an unbelievably average season for their talent’s standards. They did lose some important pieces none more than Jason Kelce who called it a career, the future Hall of Famer did so much for the Eagles, not only their line but their locker room, and won’t be easy to replace. They did however work on their weaknesses quite a bit, especially at corner two young, elite talented corners in the draft, Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. While they’re rookies and could have some lapses, expect some real splash plays from both of them. I’m also betting on Jalen Hurts to come back strong and with his elite receiving duo, I expect to see the first half of the season Hurts we saw last year more consistently and that leads to a division title.

2) Dallas Cowboys – Projected Record 10-7

The Cowboys were explosive at times last season and got hot at a great time, right when the Eagles started to fade. They built this momentum by creating turnovers and moving the ball quickly and their fans had good reason to be excited over the postseason. Then in their first playoff game, they were quickly embarrassed by the youngest team in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers. Regardless of how talented the Packers are, they’re extremely young, finally the Cowboys had experience over the Packers with Aaron Rodgers gone and it didn’t seem to matter, and now after that disappointment, they have to rally back for another season with more or less the same crew.

How will that crew fair? It’s tough to pinpoint even if they’re still one of the more talented rosters, there is some tension currently considering quarterback Dak Prescott is in a contract year and it’s unclear if the Cowboys are willing to pay an exuberant amount of money to a quarterback who has put up some solid stats but has not translated to postseason success. Their talent will win them a good amount of games around 9-12 I would imagine, but their window could be closing with either losing their quarterback or signing him to a massive deal that could limit the rest of their roster.

3) New York Giants – Projected Record 5-12

The Giants are coming off a pretty lousy season last year going 6-11, it wasn’t too long ago this team was in the playoffs and now that feels quite distant. The offense was terrible last season and the games that Daniel Jones was healthy for were some of the worst performances from the offense. Jones, who had just got a pretty big contract, which to me was a bit of a surprise due to the fact he had not accomplished much at all, and his quarterback rating of 70 last season was not a good sign.

For this upcoming season, I have little faith in how the offense will perform this time around. They lost Saquon Barkley, the offense line is not good, and the receiving core is extremely thin outside of first-round Malik Nabers who should be a blast to watch but his production might not match his talent this season if the offense fails to produce, Defensively this team seems solid, especially with trade for Brian Burns to add some legit elite speed rushing off the edge. Still, this team is not ready to compete with their big division rivals an d will likely have a good pick for the draft, maybe for a quarterback.

4) Washington Commanders – Projected Record 4-13

The Commanders finished 4-13 a season ago and with the second overall pick, they went with Jayden Daniels. They went with Daniels after what was a turnover-filled season with Sam Howell at quarterback. Howell had some decent moments a season ago, putting up some high yardage numbers but way too many turnovers and it would sink them. Defensively it was expected their defensive line would be solid, and help carry them to wins, but that was not the case, their defense was atrocious and trading Montez Sweat to Chicago did them no favors as well.

Looking forward to this season I have them at only 4 wins again, which will be disappointing for Commanders fans but this team has a long way to go. The run game is not good, the line is not great, the defense will most likely be pretty bad and who knows how long it’ll take Daniels to translate to the NFL, especially with his thin frame, it would not be a surprise to see him struggle with some early injuries in his career.