Washington Commanders
Strength: The QB situation for the Commanders has been a revolving door for years. Even with the QB situation being terrible, Terry McLaurin has been amazing for this offense. The third year receiver who was selected in the 3rd round out of Ohio State has been a difference maker from his first season. While he only had 77 receptions and 5 TDs last year, McLaurin is often double teamed and still makes plays for this team.
Weakness: The LB corps for the Commanders is extremely weak. The highest rated LB is Cole Holcomb, and he is only rated 41st out of 87 for the LBs by PFF. The Commanders attempted to address the LB position last season by drafting Jammin Davis in the 1st round, but he was a disappointment in his first season. He finished the season as the 66th rated LB, which is not what is expected of your first round pick. The worst part for the Commanders is he wasn’t even their worst LB. They had a LB that was rated below Davis, in David Mayo. If this LB corps can not play better than they did last year, it will be a long season for the Commanders.
Dallas Cowboys
Strength: The Cowboys have several superstars at different positions, such as Demarcus Lawrence, Tyron Smith and Zack Martin. The final superstar and the one I think was their best players last year was Micah Parsons. He was rated the best LB in the NFL last season by PFF and with good reason. Anyone who watched the Cowboys games last season immediately saw the impact Parsons made on the field. He pressured the QB and created havoc all over the field.
Weakness: Neville Gallimore, the DT for the Cowboys, is a cause for concern for the Cowboys. However, I am giving him a pass since he did play until the 14th week of the season in 2021. The bigger concern for me is the 3rd WR for the Cowboys. Heading into the season they are currently carrying James Washington as their 3rd WR. He was ranked as the 111th out of 115 WRs last season. For an offense that lines up in a three WR set as often as the Cowboys, having such a poor 3rd WR is cause for concern.
Philadelphia Eagles
Strength: How can you not choose the LT for the Philadelphia Eagles, Jordan Mailata? Jordan was a former pro Rugby player from Australia who had never played a down of American Football before being drafted in 2018 in the 7th round by the Eagles. He was named the starting LT for the Eagles in 2021 and responded with an amazing year. He finished the season as the 3rd ranked LT. The Eagles rewarded him with a 4 year, $64 Million contract. With a young QB in the backfield, the security knowing you have a behemoth LT protecting you can not be understated.
Weakness: While I am definitely concerned about Davion Taylor at LB, he missed significant time last year and I want to evaluate him after one more season. The biggest weakness to me on this team is the slot WR position is currently being filled by Zach Pascal. He was rated as the 113th out of 115 in the league. Lucky for the Eagles they have two good pass catching WRs in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. They also have a good pass catching TE in Goedert. As a result of the stellar pass catchers surrounding Pascal, hopefully having such a poor slot WR will work out for them.
New York Giants
Strength: The Giants are not a particularly talented club, so it was not easy to find a strength on this team. After looking everything over I think their Safety, Xavier McKinney, is a strength for this team. He is ranked as the 15th safety out of 92 in the NFL. For a safety I would argue the pass coverage grade is the most important and McKinney is rated as the 12th best in the NFL. He also has an above average grade in run defense which makes for a very good NFL safety.
Weakness: Tae Crowder, the starting LB for the Giants, was the worst rated LB in the NFL last season by PFF. He had a run defense rating of 28.4 and a coverage grade of 34.8, both of which are in the bottom 10% for LBs in the NFL. When you have such a poor rating in both run defense and coverage, and you are a LB, it does not bode well for you.