Football at Four: A Look at the Rest of the NFC East

Football at Four powered by the Inside the Birds Podcast. It is brought to you by the Fanatics Sportsbook at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, the best place for game day tomorrow night. The NFL season kicks off, we'll be there live at the Fanatics Sportsbook at Ocean Casino Resort. And you can watch the NFL kickoff with us at Ocean Casino. Big screens, big bets, game day hits different at Ocean. And to learn more, visit theoceanac.com. Football at Four is back. And of course, Adam Caplan is here. He never went anywhere, but it's back for the 2026 season, which starts tomorrow night. Adam Caplan is here to take a look around the NFC East, as we were just doing our Who's In and Who's Out, Adam, before you came on. We picked our 14 playoff teams, and we both have two NFC East playoff teams. It's just who's going to win that division. Let's take a look around the NFC East. Let's start with Dallas, who a lot of people might be sleeping on. What say you? Yeah, they are, by the odds-makers, they are picked to finish in second. They are largely picked in second. In fact, I don't know of any book that has them favorite. The Eagles are still a slight favorite to win the division. In fact, our show tomorrow, our show tomorrow, the TROPS, at 6 a.m., I'll give you a hint. We go over the win totals from the books. We kind of pick, I asked Geoff for a hard total, give me a hard total, Eagles total wins. We go over the player props, Hertz, Barclay, even Jalex Hunt. We actually did Jalex Hunt's sack prop, which I really like the over, by the way. I won't give you the number, but you have to listen to the show tomorrow. So that's going to be fun. We do a lot of that. On tomorrow's show, but, you know, Dallas, Mike, let's get over the Cowboys. Last year, they were 7-9-1, annually unachieving, but their defense was mostly non-competitive. Their defense has not been quality in a number of years. It's been a lack of discipline, coaching, scheme. Well, you know what? It's kind of like, if you can't beat them, join them. They went out. They got a Vic Fangio disciple, a Christian Parker, and he's a first-year defensive coordinator, a very sharp guy. I talk to people who work with him. Their roster is better now. Kenny Clark, it's a full-season, full offseason. Quinn and Williams, they also traded for last year. Rashaun Gary this year. Donovan Ezraku, who's from South Jersey, came off the hip labrum surgery. He's ready to go. They upgraded their secondary a little bit. They're going to be better, Mike, but how much better remains to be seen. Now, offensively, all 11 starters are back. They are the only NFL team to do that. Denver's close. The problem is, Tyler Smith, their outstanding guard is on injury reserve. He had thumb surgery. He's going to miss at least a month. That's a problem. They're going to go over, and I know they like this kid. It's TJ. Bass has been with them as an contractor for agents since 2023. He'll fill in. Guyton's not a very good left tackle. He's just okay. He's probably a better right tackle. But that's where Terrence Steele is. They've got some problems, Mike, on their offensive line. That to me is a big reason why they're not going to win the division. You know, everybody, when they lost Parsons last year, they were kind of getting mocked and laughed out. Their defense is probably better this year after the trade for Quinn and Williams. Way better. I mean, it's interesting. Again, they get Quinn and Williams during the season. They're talking about, oh, well, we have to be a better run defense. Jerry Jones was obsessed with it. It's all you talk about, how the run defense had to be much better. They get Kenny Clark from Green Bay in the Parsons trade. It's in the twilight of its career. You know, they're not great at linebacker. That's overshown. The best linebackers had a ton of injuries. They traded for D-winners. There's a veteran linebacker who they think fits. And Caleb Downs is the first Trump pick. A lot of people like to probably play more nickel than corner this season. They're going to be better, Mike. And they're moving to a 34 front, which they haven't run in a while, so it's going to take a little bit of time. They're a fun team. They're going to be offensively dominated. I didn't really mention this at running back. Javonte Williams, repeat what he did last year, came out of nowhere. Remember, Denver didn't want him back. He'd been a disappointment coming off three years ago of a multi-ligament knee injury. Hit a career year. He was fantastic. Dak is still very, very good. Pickens is in a contract drive. CD Lamb is great. Got his big contract. Fulanoi is really good. He's a good third receiver. And Jake Ferguson, a very underrated tight end. They're really good at offense. It's just that. Can they get the defense to play at an acceptable level? That's the big question. All right. Dallas, obviously, you know, the consensus almost for second place, but the New York Giants, a lot of people like this giant team, mainly because they have changed the coach. Obviously, Harbaugh gives them a much more, you know, credible head coach than they had in the past. But what does he have to work with here in this Giants team? Yeah, first of all, Mike, how about this one? The Giants, they admitted they totally screwed up the Darius Slayton extension. They never should have done it. Three years, 36 million, they fully guaranteed 22 million. They cut them after year one. They cut them yesterday. And they owe them 9.75 million. Even if you retire, they owe them that money. That's really bad. Just shame their GM has actually had a pretty good off season, but this is a terrible, it's a bad move. They really screwed up Odo Beckham Jr.'s back. They actually only have four receivers on the roster. They're going to have to add a fifth. You can't go into a game with four. But remember now, the Lake Navers is coming off the tourniquet. He looked good in late workouts in August. Malakoff Field told them this is the guy they target in the draft. They wanted him badly. Who's out of Notre Dame is a big physical receiver, Donald Mooney, a regular slot receiver, who could run, by the way. Now, the question is, can they finally, Mike, put together a quality offensive line? They extended John Runyon's contract. Remember his dad who played for the Eagles. Malinova, the first-round pick. And then Andrew Thomas, he's been hampered with hamstring injuries throughout his entire career. He was drafted 2020. Franchise left tackle, if he could ever play 15 games, that's been the problem. And Jermaine Illuminaud came over from the Raiders, has been a guard and a right tackle. He's going to stay at right tackle. Malinova is supposed to stay at guard, their first-round pick. They could actually have a good offensive line. They add, I'd say likely, they're going to use a fullback now, with Kim Scadaboo. Patrick Ricard is the highest-paid fullback of the National Football League. Things are changing, Mike. They're changing their offense. They're changing their defensive scheme, which is going to be much more aggressive. Under Jannard Wilson, who you might remember, Jannard Wilson, the Eagles' former defensive backs coach. Matt Nagy will call the plays with help from Greg Roman, Atlantic City's own. And Greg will help him with passing game concepts and also a little bit more of the run game. They're a fun team, Mike. I'm going to pick them to be nine and eight. I think they're going to surprise people. They're not going to get in the playoffs, but they're going to have a winning record. That's the way I see it. By the way, they open up against the Cowboys on Sunday night football. So a pair of NFC East games start things off for week number one. The Cowboys are 16 and two against the Giants since the start of the 2017 season. But we will see if that changes with the New Look Giants here. Man, they've been drafting defense for years. It feels like one of these years, one of these defensive players has to kind of blossom for them, right? I mean, it feels like they just keep drafting edge rushers and edge rushers. Maybe it's Reese that finally is the one they hit on. They took Carter a year ago. We shall see. But they got the makings of something here. I like it. Yeah. And I love John Harbaugh was with the Giants about three weeks ago. They run the longest practice of the National Football League. That's something that John does. You know, the special teams, they spent 45 minutes on special teams when I was there. For a two and a half plus hour practice. So, Harbaugh Reese, by the way, is going to play linebackers. He's not going to play edge rush. Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Kevon Thibodeau. That's an excellent threesome. Now, they brought in Tremayet Edmonds, who did not play well with the Bears last season. They gave him a big contract. This was... Greg Cosell will be back with us at Inside the Birds, by the way. We'll do the Inside the Tape show where we break down the Eagles tape each week. Greg said Edmonds tape was bad, and I could not believe the contract that he got. They're not great a corner. That's a problem for them. But you're right with the pass rush. Arvel Resort, a good training camp, the first round pick. I just like the discipline that Harvard is going to bring in. They're going to be better. The vision could be better, Mike. Now, Washington, I talked about them on Friday, Mike, with what I didn't talk about is what I expect from them in the season terms of record. Earlier this offseason, when Pencil didn't get hurt, and they thought they knew what they had at center, Allegretti's going to be back for week one. Nick Allegretti's moving from guard to center. They're a mess at left tackle, Mike. That's a major problem for a right-handed quarterback that's a blind side. That really worries me. They've got issues at corner. Russell Douglas might have to start. That's not good. He's 31 years old. Super Bowl winner nine years ago with the Eagles, Mike. Give Russell credit. He's still playing. They really significantly upgraded the front seven, mostly through for agencies, a little bit with the draft of Sonny Styles. It's going to be hard for them to have a winning record. By the way, Dan Quinn, if they don't make the playoffs, will be in a major hot seat, really hot. Yeah, I think, you know, you look at Washington, 12-5 in 2024, 5-12 last season. Is that because, you know, Daniels was hurt last year or is this roster just deteriorated? You know, obviously, they were not good, 2-5 without him last year. Mike, they were the oldest team in the National Football League this season. That's never something you want to lead in. Adam Peters, the general manager, acknowledged that, that obviously was a mistake. And they got younger, significantly younger, by the way. They still have some older players that can't, that they're not going to walk away from contracts, but they got younger. I do believe, though, I'm going to vote, actually, in the show that we do tomorrow. I'll give you a nugget here. I actually have Jayden Daniels as my comeback player of the year. Now, can they get a good left tackle out of Brandon Coleman and DJ Humphrey as a journeyman for a first-round pick for the Cardinals? That's my concern. The right side is locked out with Sam Cosby, and Connelly was tremendous as a rookie. I'm concerned about that left side and its center, so three guys on the offensive line I'm concerned about, but they'll be good enough for the receiver. Diggs is going to be their possession receiver. McCormick's good. Anthony Williams is going to be their slot. Trelaun Burks actually looked good last season before he got hurt. They're tight in groups okay. They'll have a running back by committee with Kraski American. Rashad White will handle third down and goal line and pass protection. They'll be okay. They're going to be like, if they would have had Tunsel Mike, that's how much two or three wins means to me. I would have given them ten wins. I'm giving them seven. I got them in seven and ten, but they will be better. All right. Well, if they can do something that no other team has done, win in Philadelphia. They will have beaten the Eagles here in Philadelphia. That is the game on Sunday right here on 973 ESPN. And of course the Eagles are right now a four and a half point favorite with the over under 46 and a half. The Eagles, by the way, Nick Sirianni is one of two head coaches in the NFL currently who has never lost a season opener. He is five and oh, and as you mentioned, they are the favorite to win the ESPN. Plus 115 is the money if you want to hit on that. Should be a fun season. We got two NSC East games to open up the Sunday slate. Do you like these division matchups right out of the shoots? Yeah. I mean, we'll talk more about the matchups on Friday. I definitely like the Eagles. I'd seen the number go down to 5.5 yesterday. So that's kind of, I guess it depends on the book. Yeah, I guess it depends on the book. Right, right. But how much was the over under? 46.5. I'm under. I love the under. Now see, Geoff's an over guy when we look at the points spreads each week on Inside the Birds. We preview the game. Yeah, I see something like 2013, something like that. I just don't see either team looking great week one. No, I just changed to a different app. It's 44.5 elsewhere. Still like the under, Mike. Still like the under. I'd be very surprised if this is a fairly high-scoring image. Don't see it. All right, Adam Caplan, on Friday, we will break down all the matchups to watch for the Eagles and the Commanders. Of course, you could listen to it right here on 973 ESPN. All right, Adam. Thank you. All right, there we go. Our first look at the NFC East. Adam Caplan breaks it down for us here.