Pre-Week 1 NFC East Power Rankings 2024: Commanders improve as Eagles and Cowboys battle for top

The NFC East is the most successful division in the NFL, with 13 Super Bowl wins among the teams. This is the only division where every team has won at least one Super Bowl. The East is also very competitive, with no team repeating as winners since 2004 when the Philadelphia Eagles won it four times in a row (2001-2004).

The Dallas Cowboys won the East in 2023 and will look to do the same this season. However, some feel they have taken a small step back, so that may be a struggle.

Pre-Week 1 NFC East Power Rankings 2024

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#4. NY Giants

NFC East: New York Giants at New York Jets - Source: Imagn

Daniel "Danny Dimes" Jones and the Giants finished third in the NFC East in 2023, but do not look to have improved much. The departure of RB Saquon Barkley to divisional rival Eagles sticks out, however, they did improve at WR.

Jones will hope to return to the team to their 2022 winning season when they finished 9-7 and advanced to the divisional round in the playoffs. However, last season was a disaster for the QB.

The campaign started with a 40-0 loss to the Cowboys. The performance in Week 2 was better as they beat the Arizona Cardinals 31-28, where Jones threw for 2 touchdowns and 327 passing yards. That was the last time Jones threw a touchdown all season, as he endured a string of poor performances before an injury in Week 5.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better this season, as the addition of talented receiver Malik Nabers might not be enough to move the needle for NY.

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#3. Washington Commanders

NFC East: Washington Commanders at Miami Dolphins - Source: Imagn

Quarterback Jayden Daniels was drafted by the Commanders with the second overall pick and has a lot of potential. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner had an amazing 2023 season, throwing for 3,812 passing yards and 40 touchdowns in 12 games. Washington hopes he can replicate the same performance in the NFL.

The Commanders ended last season on an eight-game losing streak and were tied as the second-worst team in the NFC Conference. The team will be hoping for a turnaround year similar to what the Houston Texans experienced last season, with the inflow of new players and the overall vibe of the team seeming promising.

The new head coach, Dan Quinn, is a defensive genius, having been the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys from 2021 to 2023. He led Dallas to a top-five defense in the league, up from 21st when he joined them. The Commanders also have a new general manager, Adam Peters, from the San Francisco 49ers.

This prediction leans strongly on vibe rather than proven records, but there’s always that one team that shocks the league every season. There’s no reason why the Commanders can't finish third in the NFC East.

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#2. Philadelphia Eagles

NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles Training Camp - Source: Imagn

The Eagles started the 2023 season spectacularly after losing the Super Bowl to the KC Chiefs, winning 10 of their first 11 games. However, they then went through what has been called a supernatural funk, losing five of their last six before crashing out at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

Despite their impressive run of victories, they did not look strong in terms of performance to finish the season. They often relied on the "tush-push" play, which seemed indefensible against the Eagles but was unsuccessfully emulated by many teams. It will be interesting to see if it will be so effective again, especially with Eagles center Jason Kelce retiring.

It has been reported that quarterback Jalen Hurts was nursing an injury last season and had also fallen out with the head coach Nick Sirianni, creating a strange vibe within the team.

Kelce's absence will be felt by Hurts, as Kelce was vital to the team’s morale and one of the locker room leaders. Hurts had played almost every snap of his NFL career with Kelce.

The inclusion of a new offensive coordinator and talks of the reported beef between the QB and head coach squashed should help the Eagles. They look set for a playoff run but are likely to lose out on the NFC East to Dallas again.

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#1. Dallas Cowboys

NFC East: Pro Bowl Skills Competition - Source: Imagn

In what is predicted to be the first repeat winner in 20 years in the NFC East, the Cowboys might surprise most, though they are not without their issues. The team has not signed quarterback Dak Prescott to an extension, and Jerry Jones has hinted that Dak might not get paid going into the new season, which has raised a lot of eyebrows.

Let’s also not forget that CeeDee Lamb missed all of the off-season due to a contract holdout with the club before securing a $30M+ per year deal for 4 years.

On the flip side, the Cowboys players and coach have a lot to prove and won’t want to have a season less successful than last year's, where they won 12 regular-season games. The head coach, defensive coordinator, and linebacker Micah Parsons are all expected to have some form of contract negotiations with the team’s ownership.

From Prescott's perspective, he will want to give the regular season his best shot, knowing that other teams in search of a QB might be willing to make him the highest-paid NFL player.

The Cowboys are still a good team overall, though their biggest divisional rival, the Eagles, upgraded their running game by acquiring Saquon Barkley from the Giants. The Cowboys are still favored to lead the division, and Lamb will want to showcase that the pressure of getting a new contract was not misplaced.