2. Dallas Cowboys
Sitting here at the midway point of the offseason, I believe two things are true about the NFC East.
1. The Dallas Cowboys have closed the gap on the Philadelphia Eagles, and;
2. The distance the Eagles created has shrunk by their own doing
Essentially, the Cowboys have gotten better and the Eagles have also gotten worse. So what have the Cowboys done to get back into the mix for this coming season?
Defensively, this team was a complete mess last year, even beyond just the Micah Parsons trade. The Cowboys had nothing to write home about on that side of the ball, but they've made some necessary moves to upgrade in the trenches and are at least doing it the right way from that perspective: Building from the inside-out.
Quinnen Williams will be expected to play a massive role in this unit's resurgence in 2026, but so will 1st-round picks Malachi Lawrence and Caleb Downs. If the Cowboys can play even league-average defense, their offense is good enough that this team should win at least 10-11 games this season.
1. Philadelphia Eagles
I came this close to putting the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2nd spot on this list, but I couldn't quite do it. Not just yet.
The Eagles are on the cusp of making an AJ Brown trade, which might not be the worst thing in the world. You can't realistically say the Eagles are a better team -- on paper -- without Brown on the depth chart. However, sometimes trades like that can feel like addition by subtraction. Sometimes teams can become a better sum of their parts.
That's the optimistic way of looking at that situation, anyway. The Eagles moved up for Makai Lemon, who was one of my favorite players in the draft. His skill set in combination with guys like DeVonta Smith and newcomer Dontayvion Wicks give the Eagles plenty of talent to spread the ball to, along with the super-underrated pickup of Eli Stowers at tight end in the 2nd round.
The Eagles will be expecting the defense to carry them yet again this year, but if Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley can bounce back, this team is going to be elite once again offensively.
Add us as a preferred source on Google