NFC East Breakdown

Dallas Cowboys: So far this off-season in Dallas it’s been about keeping the vital parts together (coaches and players); letting the market dictate the value on the back-ups, and bargain shop when you can fit it in your budget.

Positives: Keeping Jason Garrett; adding top offensive line coach, Hudson Houck; Todd Grantham, Brett Maxie, Dave Campo; Reggie Herring. Signing Flozell Adams to a long term deal, franchising Ken Hamlin, giving Marion Barber a 1st and 3rd round qualifying offer, Chris Canty a 1st round qualifying offer; and adding Zach Thomas made for a solid off-season to this point.

Negatives: They lost some depth with Jacques Reeves-CB, going to Houston; Nate Jones- CB and Keith Davis- S joining so many others in Miami; and Julius Jones-RB bolting for Seattle. Also lost coaches Tony Soprano, Paul Pasqualoni, Kacy Rodgers, and Todd Bowles. Soprano was a respected coach who should have success fairly early in Miami. Of the assistant coaches to lose, I felt Pasqualoini was the toughest loss and may be the next guy to become a head coach in this league.

Overall: It hurts losing depth, but with two first round picks next month, the Cowboys should be able to replace and likely upgrade the positions they’ve lost to this point. Dallas will need to have a good draft in order to duplicate the same success next season, as they now have a few holes to fill behind their starters but so far have not lost any vital parts. Keeping Garrett was a masterful stroke by Jerry, and they also added some great minds to their defensive staffs that may help it to not bend so much in key moments.

Washington Redskins: Talk about surprises this off-season; the Redskins are the poster child for that, as they haven’t wasted money signing vets past their prime or players that don’t warrant a monster contract. Instead, the Redskins have demonstrated financial restraint and worked at keeping their own guys and waiting for the draft (glad to see someone in D.C. worries about that type of stuff). Granted this off-season wasn’t without its headlines when it appeared they backed into hiring Jim Zorn as their head coach. That move will be highly scrutinized throughout the year and likely will appear to be a boom or bust type decision.

Positives: Keeping valuable back-ups Rock Cartwright and Todd Collins. Both guys realized that sometimes the grass isn’t greener; it’s just different grass. Dumping Brandon Lloyd was a wise move too. Lloyd’s mouth made comments that his game couldn’t back up.

Negatives: Redskins where close to be making a big run with Joe Gibbs, but now have unproven and fall back choice Jim Zorn to control everything. Still can’t figure out what happened with Gregg Williams. Zorn could have the same success that Jason Garrett did calling the plays for Dallas last year, but it’s a huge gamble for Danny Snyder. It’s as if he’s giving the keys to his new Lexus to a 16 year old that just passed his driver’s license. Very surprised he didn’t go with a more established head coach for a few years and let Zorn prepare to run a team.

Overall: Besides the panic, fallback, or desperate hire (whatever you want to call it) of Zorn, the Skins have been quiet this off-season which is a good thing for Redskins fans. Moving Greg Blache from defensive line to defensive coordinator should keep the continuity on the defense. Now they just need to hold onto their picks and get players that will fit Jim Zorn’s scheme. No wild drafts or crazy free agents moves, and Washington should stay in the playoff hunt.

NY Giants: If you look up the phrase, “catching lighting in a bottle”, there should be a picture of the 2007 NY Giants. These Super Bowl Champions were the same team that lost to Green Bay by 22 pts, to Dallas by 10 and 11 pts, Minnesota by 24 pts, Washington by 12 pts and to New England on the last game of the season. With that said, if I wore a hat, it would be off to them for the run they did in the playoffs when it counted and that’s all that matters. So far they’ve played free agency like most Super Bowl Champs, expecting a few guys to bolt and replacing them with similar talent but less expense.

Positives: First was getting Tom Coughlin to a long term contract. That was vital to show who is boss in NY. Next was not overpaying to keep players with limited talent but yet fit their scheme perfectly. Every Super Bowl team loses guys that other teams fall in love with and usually overpay for (insert Raiders: see Larry Brown and Dominic Rhodes). Also, very fortunate that Steve Spagnuolo decided to stick around at least one more year. Additions of Danny Clark, David Carr, and Sammy Knight should lessen any losses the team might have had; and with picks added, the Giants will be fine.

Negatives: Hard to say much of a negative when you end the season the way they did, but they need to make a public show of support of Jeremy Shockey. He may have finally worn out his welcome in NY City. If he is dumped, say to Miami or New Orleans, for a #2nd round pick, that will also show that Eli is the priority in NY. It’s fairly obvious that Manning improved in confidence and decision making once Shockey went down. Also losing both Reggie Torbor and Kawika Mitchell hurts even though they have guys who can step up to replace them; all depth has been lost.

Overall: It’s good to be King of the NFL, but to stay around for a while the Giants need another successful draft to help secure that future. They also need to show a stronger consistency all season long as you can’t expect to have a 2007 type playoff run again.

Philadelphia Eagles: Clearly the most aggressive team in the division this free agency period with the big signing of Asante Samuel on the first day of free agency. The real question becomes, Will they ever give McNabb the top wide receiver he traditionally begs for every off-season? Even though he doesn’t ever really act like it, you would have to think Reid will really feel the heat next off-season if they don’t make a legit run towards the playoffs because of the lack of weapons in his offense.

Positives: Obviously the signing of Asante Samuel is huge, but grabbing DE-Chris Clemons from the Raiders was a nice move. Dan Klecko’s signing was an interesting move that will be worth following this season.

Negatives: Raise your hand if you think the Eagles can win a Super Bowl with Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown as their starting receivers. Someday Philly will make the necessary move and get the #1 WR for McNabb, hopefully it will be while he’s still young enough to really benefit and click with the player. You would have to think this is a make or break season for Andy Reid, who if he continues to be so stubborn about adding a #1 WR and getting Westbrook a backfield mate to share the load, Reid will be out as head man.

Overall: Philadelphia seems to thrive when everyone counts them out or tells them they can’t do something. For all those die hard Eagles fans, I just hope that they trade Lito Sheppard for a #1 wide receiver (say Roy Williams from Detroit) and add a back to take some carries and keep Westbrook closer to 100% near the end of the season. Granted with that said, Philly will probably keep Sheppard and draft an OT in round 1, LB in round 2 and a QB in round 3.

Well there you have it, a month before the draft, a look at how the teams in the NFC East are shaping up. Check back soon for an in-depth look at another division and send me an email on your thoughts to Patrick@footballdialogue.com