Biggest remaining needs for each NFC team heading into the 2023 NFL season

Dallas Cowboys, NFC East – Power back

Detroit Lions v Dallas Cowboys

I feel dirty almost for this being my pick for Dallas here, since I’ve been the number one supporter of Tony Pollard getting the majority of touches in that offense. But I didn’t mean to say they should just cut ties with Ezekiel Elliott and not address the running back position at all otherwise.

By taking Brandin Cooks’ contract off the nearby Texans’ hands, everybody on the O-line coming back and them replacing Dalton Schultz with second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker (to re-organize that almost indistinguishable three-headed tight-end room), this offense stays largely intact if not will be improved personnel-wise.

The question mark is the change at play-caller, as the Cowboys and now-Chargers OC Kellen Moore parted ways, with 25-year veteran assistant Brian Schottenheimer assuming that title and head-man Mike McCarthy designated to call the shots.

Whether that really has a chance of being an upgrade is rather doubtful from my perspective, but if Dak Prescott’s interception luck can get regress toward the mean in a positive sense, this could certainly be a top-ten offense in EPA per play for the third straight season.

With that being said, this has been a two-back system throughout – even though I thought the touches weren’t distributed appropriately – and that’s what McCarthy has run for the majority of his career. While Zeke had his shortcomings in terms of quick-twitch explosiveness at this stage, he was still an excellent decision-maker between the tackles and valuable in short-yardage situations in particular.

Yet, Malik Davis had zero goal-line touches as a UDFA last year and Ronald Jones is a less refined and probably even less dynamic version of Zeke. Especially with Pollard coming off the broken fibula he suffered in the Divisional round against San Francisco, someone to smash it up the middle in those spots and who can help them grind away games late, along with providing solid pass-pro, would make sense.

New York Giants, NFC East – Rangy safety

After bringing back almost all the names from their skill-position group and adding the profiles of Pro Bowl-level tight-end Darren Waller and Tennessee speed demon Jalin Hyatt as a third-round pick, the pieces are starting to actually fit together for the Giants. They’re actually overhauling what kind of roles those guys are about to assume.

That should help Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka not constantly have to create schematic advantages for them through the air and gives them more flexibility with what they can do in the first place.

Defensively, last year’s fifth overall pick Kayvon Thibodeaux flashed in a way that has me confident he could turn himself into a force off the edge, the G-Men quietly added some underrated pieces on the interior line and swapped out their linebacker duo, which was a major weak-area that opponents specifically targeted.

Kayvon Thibodeaux #5 of the New York Giants tackles C.J. Ham #30 of the Minnesota Vikings

This year's first-rounder, Maryland’s Deonte Banks, presents an impressive athletic and IQ profile at corner, who should start alongside Adoree Jackson and Darnay Holmes in nickel sets. I believe they look at Xavier McKinney as a franchise cornerstone on the last year of his rookie deal, but who do they want to start next to him?

After letting Julian Love move on to Seattle in free agency, Jason Pinnock would be the most logical candidate to play deep safety, even though he actually played corner throughout his time in college and took a slight step back as his snaps doubled, coming over from the other New York team.

Bobby McCain and Dane Belton to me are best suited in the slot, depending on if they prioritize man-coverage skills or run defense from that spot. And seventh-rounder Gervarrius Owens probably is more so a designated special teamer this year.

However, they could still use a rangy player on the back end, so they can let the X-man roam around a bit and drop down when they bring pressure, so you still have somebody help clean up if one of the receivers finds some early separation.

Philadelphia Eagles, NFC East – WILL linebacker

This may be the most complete roster in all of football and it’s hard to poke many holes in it. Other than injury concerns throughout the running back room and a drop-off at safety, the main question marks are less based on personnel, but rather on swapping out both coordinators.

Quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson is being elevated and asked to simplify the attack in a similar way to Shane Steichen, which allowed the talent to flourish last season. Sean Desai takes over the defense, which shouldn’t look too different schematically.

Up front, that unit should be pretty nasty, but I believe Philly’s linebacker duo from last year in T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White was the most underrated part of the Eagles’ Super Bowl run. The former provided a lot of stability between the tackles with his ability to diagnose and fit against the runs, while the latter provided plus range on that second level.

Nakobe Dean #17 of the Philadelphia Eagles before a game against the Houston Texans

I was very high on Nakobe Dean in last year’s draft, thanks to the instincts and intelligence he showed for the position at Georgia. However, he spent ten times as many snaps on special teams as defense, where he had just 34 total during the regular season. So in terms of the pros, he’s a fairly unproven asset. And they don’t really have anybody next to him I’d feel too good about.

Nicholas Morrow is currently slated to start on the weak side, but looking at his PFF grade of just 54.0, that ranked 86th among the 116 LBs who played at least 100 snaps this past season. Across just over 1,000 career snaps for Shaun Bradley, about 87% of those were spent on special teams, with zero on defense in 2022.

Christian Elliss has combined for just 29 defensive snaps in his first two seasons and Davion Taylor is barely on the roster anymore, due to poor play and injuries, that originally got him released after his first two years as a former third-round pick.

Washington Commanders, NFC East – Left guard

And finally, in terms of the NFC East, this is a team that sort of feels like it’s at the calm point of an upcoming storm. Washington has now put together three straight seasons with seven or eight wins under Ron Rivera and moved on from Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke, in order to see what they have in last year’s fifth-round pick Sam Howell at quarterback.

For whatever reason they didn’t give Howell any playing time until the season finale – when he looked damn good in a win over the Cowboys. So if he can take advantage of that opportunity and from a broader perspective, if the team can take a step forward, this will decide if the new ownership completely overhauls the decision-makers within the organization.

Meanwhile, Howell is certainly set up to make a strong case for himself, with one of the top WR trios in the league and Eric Bienemy coming in at offensive coordinator. How high he may fly will depend on the stability up front, where EB brought along Andrew Wylie from Kansas City to probably take over at right tackle and move third-year man Sam Cosmi one spot over.

The Commanders also drafted Ricky Stromberg out of Arkansas at the end of the third round, who I believe is the favorite to start at center. That would probably lead to Nick Gates sliding over to left guard, where he’s been a below-average starter when asked to move there. Washington also drafted Braeden Daniels out of Utah as a guy with tackle/guard flexibility, while the other options in Saahdiq Charles or Tyler Larsen are more so fringe roster candidates.

A proven starter would move everybody else down one spot on the depth chart and allow you to only carry guys on gameday that you actually feel okay about.