2024 NFC East Race: Reasons Why Both The Cowboys and Eagles Can Win Division

Another year, another offseason in which this statistic about the NFC East’s parity rings true: the NFC East division has had 19 consecutive seasons without a repeat champion. Andy Reid’s and Donovan McNabb’s 2001-04 Philadelphia Eagles remain the last squad to win this division in successive years.

It will be an uphill battle for the Dallas Cowboys, the 2023 NFC East champion, to end this streak following an offseason that was rebranded from “all in” to get it done with less” after the team saw eight players, including five starters, depart in free agency, tied for the third-most Dallas has lost in a single offseason in franchise history.

Those departures were directly connected to owner and general manager Jerry Jones being unable to re-sign 2023 NFL MVP runner-up quarterback Dak Prescott and 2023 receptions leader wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to long-term extensions ahead of free agency in March.

That would have spread out their cap hits, providing more room to make moves this offseason. However, they still have many pieces in place from their Cowboys squads that have won 12 games in each of the last three seasons.

The Philadelphia Eagles, who stumbled to an 11-6 finish to the regular season after a 10-1 start, aggressively revamped all aspects of their operation for 2024. They have two new coordinators (offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio), and they were aggressive in free agency, signing Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley (three years, $37.75 million) and the second-highest quarterback pressure generator in the NFL last season (21.3%) in edge rusher Bryce Huff (three years, $51.1 million) — after trading Pro Bowler Haason Reddick to the New York Jets.

Both the New York Giants and Washington Commanders are in the midst of rebuilds. The G-Men let Barkley walk in order to address the interior of their offensive line, signing former Packers guard Jon Runyan Jr. (three years, $30 million) and former Raiders guard Jermaine Eluemunor (two years, $14 million). Those signings were massive because the Giants surrendered 85 sacks last season, the most in the NFL and the second-most in a single season in NFL history, trailing only the 1986 Eagles (104). As general manager Joe Schoen put it on the season premiere of “Hard Knocks” last week, “Pat Mahomes, he can’t f—ing win behind that.” New York also dealt three picks (a 2024 second, a 2024 fifth and a 2025 fifth) in exchange for two-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns in a trade with the Carolina Panthers, a transaction that subsequently led to re-signing Burns to a five-year, $141 million extension. Selecting LSU All-American wide receiver Malik Nabers sixth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft gives Daniel Jones a new No. 1 target in what is perhaps his last chance to prove he can be the long-term answer for the Giants.

Washington enters 2024 with a new regime from top to bottom with new owner Josh Harris, new general manager Adam Peters, new head coach Dan Quinn and new face-of-the-franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels — the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner out of LSU that they selected second overall in the 2024 draft. Quinn, who spent the last three seasons coordinating top five defenses with the Cowboys, is tasked with turning around a Commanders defense that ranked dead last in the league in scoring defense (30.5 points per game), total defense (388.9 total yards allowed per game), passing touchdowns allowed (39) and passer rating allowed (105.7). Washington remains stout up front defensively, but there appear to be too many question marks in the secondary for the Commanders to overtake the Cowboys and Eagles in the upcoming season.

Now that the scene is set, let’s take a closer look at the two legitimate contenders for the 2024 NFC East crown, the Cowboys and Eagles, and why each could emerge victorious at the conclusion of the regular season.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys’ hopes to repeat as NFC East champions hinge on their big three — Prescott, Lamb and three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons — replicating their 2023 production in 2024 despite having to “get it done with less” in the words of Jones.

Prescott became the first Cowboys quarterback to lead the NFL in passing touchdowns outright after throwing for 36 in 2023, McCarty’s first season calling the offensive plays in Dallas. Entering Year 2 with McCarthy on the headset, Prescott feels he and the offense are able to reach new heights in 2024 after being able to focus on content beyond the fundamentals during the team’s spring offseason program.

“You’re on the 500 level now,” Prescott said at Cowboys minicamp. “You’re talking these plays and particular game situations, down and distances, not just the breaks, the alignments and things like that. We’re getting into the nuts and bolts …  being in Year 2, everything is faster.”

Dak Prescott 2023 season

NFL QB RANK
Completion Pct	69.5%	2nd
Pass Yards	4,516	3rd
Pass Yards/Att	7.7	6th
Pass TD	36	1st
TD-INT	36-9	2nd
Passer Rating	105.9	2nd
Expected Points Added/Play	0.18	2nd

Prescott’s average time to throw of 2.85 seconds, the 10th-fastest in the NFL last season among 32 qualified quarterbacks, will also have to become faster following the free agency losses of eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith (New York Jets) and Pro Bowl center Tyler Biadasz (Washington Commanders) this offseason. Dallas replaced both in the 2024 NFL Draft, drafting offensive tackle Tyler Guyton 29th overall out of Oklahoma and interior offensive lineman Cooper Beebe, the back-to-back Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year, 73rd overall out of Kansas State. Fortunately, the Cowboys offensive line room still contains nine-time Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin and Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith.

Lamb also remains one of the NFL’s best after leading the league in catches with 135 a year ago, but Dallas needs to extend the 25-year-old since he is in the midst of holdout and not wanting to play out the final year of his rookie deal in 2024.

CeeDee Lamb NFL ranks (2023 season)

NFL RANK
Receptions	135*	1st
Receiving yards	1,749*	2nd
Receiving TD	12	3rd
Scrimmage yards	1,862	2nd
Scrimmage TD	14	6th

* Single-season Cowboys record

Defensively, Dallas was also a top-five unit, allowing 18.5 points per game — the fifth-fewest in the NFL in 2023. The driving reason for that success was their pass rush, a unit that led the NFL in quarterback pressure rate a year ago with a 45% clip.

Parsons led the NFL in nearly every key pass rush metric last season, which of course drove the Cowboys’ league-leading pressure rate as a team: quarterback pressures (103), quarterback pressure rate (21.8%) and pass-rush win rate (35.3%). His career-high 14 sacks were tied for the seventh most in the NFL with 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, and Parsons accomplished all that he did while being the subject of double teams at the highest rate of pass rushes for any edge defender (35%), according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

His presence along with veteran Pro Bowler DeMarcus Lawrence will once again be crucial up front to support a once again thin linebacking core led by 32-year-old Erick Kendricks, who came over in free agency, with third-year backer Damone Clark and second-year backer DeMarvion Overshown, coming off of a torn ACL he suffered in his first preseason, also being relied on to contribute in a meaningful way. Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs is set to return from a torn ACL he suffered in practice of Week 3 last season, which should provide a boost alongside 2023 interceptions leader DaRon Bland.

New defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, the former Minnesota Vikings head coach who previously held this same role in Dallas from 2000-2006, will look to make some minor tweaks to an already successful unit.

“It’s like I told the defense the first day I got here,” Zimmer said in May. “‘This is a different deal for me. Usually when I come in, the defense is not good.’ And they’re pretty darn good. … We have to advance some of the things they were doing good and try to improve on the things they weren’t doing as good.”

As long as the Cowboys can maintain the status quo despite some changes around the margins, Dallas possesses a path to repeat as NFC East champions.

Philadelphia Eagles

After a dreamy run to an NFC title and Super Bowl LVII appearance in 2022, the Eagles had a nightmare 2023: they became the second team ever to finish with seven or more losses, including the postseason, along with the 1986 New York Jets.

The issue was mostly on the defensive side of the ball, which ranked 31st in both scoring defense (30.6 points per game allowed) and total defense (396.7 total yards per game allowed) across their final seven games after the 10-1 start. Philly also allowed points on 54% of opposing offenses’ drives in their last seven games, the highest rate in the NFL. Much of their problems defensively came from the back end of their defense when defending against the pass: the Eagles ranked 31st in 2023 in passing yards per game allowed (252.7), passing touchdowns allowed (35) and completions allowed (425) .

That’s why general manager Howie Roseman utilized his first two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft on corners: Toledo All-American  Quinyon Mitchell (22nd overall) and Iowa All-American Cooper DeJean (40th overall). He also brought back safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was a key piece of their 2022 squad, on a three-year, $27 million deal after he spent 2023 with the Detroit Lions. Those roster moves plus the hiring of Vic Fangio, the father of the modern two-high safety shell defenses that have proliferated today’s NFL, as the Eagles defensive coordinator should get that side of the ball back on track.

Getting back to a much more complementary style of football that will allow quarterback Jalen Hurts to run a more balanced offense should lead to rebound more toward the player he was in 2022, a Second-Team All-Pro and NFL MVP runner-up, than the player he was in 2023, one who had 20 turnovers — the fourth-most in the NFL. New offensive coordinator Kellen Moore will be tasked with re-discovering some of the magic he had with Prescott as the Cowboys OC from 2019-2022 with his latest quarterback protege in Philadelphia.

Should the Eagles defense more closely resemble their 2022 form, so too should its offense, which puts the franchise in a prime position to regain its status as the NFC East’s champion.

Garrett Purdell:

MSN