NFCE POSITION GROUP RANKINGS
A Series by Joey Esquire
In this and subsequent articles I’m going to take a look at the strength of various position groups for the NFCE teams and rank them accordingly. They will be broken down as: QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, Interior DL, Edge, Off-Ball LB, CB, S. If you have any issues or disagreements with the following rankings, keep them to yourselves or write your own article, you lazy fucks.
QUARTERBACK
Might as well start out with a bang, right? The NFCE is lucky insofar as it might be the only division in football in which all four teams are relatively comfortable with their QB situations. Eli has shown some obvious signs of slowing down, and the Redskins have mismanaged Kirk Cousins’ contract situation into something of a clusterfuck, but for 2017, I think we’re all pretty okay with where we stand. I am ranking the QB groups in our division as:
- Washington Redskins
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Dallas Cowboys
- New York Giants
- NEW YORK GIANTS
Depth Chart: Eli Manning, Geno Smith, Davis Webb
2016 Stats:
Maybe I’m being too harsh on Eli, but I think he’s cooked. 2016 was by far Eli’s worst season under Ben McAdoo, and one of his worst seasons as a pro since 2008 or so. He had his worst yards per attempt since 2007, his worst yards per completion in his entire career, his second-lowest QB rating since 2007, all while playing with some decent receiving options in Odell Beckham and Sterling Shepherd, and behind a line that, astonishingly, allowed the third-fewest sacks and the fourth-fewest QB hits in the NFL (this is probably more due to McAdoo’s quick-passing offense than the line not being terrible, because they definitely are terrible). The Giants did add some big pass-catching options to the offense in 2017 in Brandon Marshall and Evan Engram, but I don’t think receivers last year were Eli’s problem; I think he’s just in decline.
As far as depth goes, the Giants have Geno Smith, who is terrible, and drafted Davis Webb in the third round, though I’m not really sure why. Perhaps after Jay Alford, Ramses Barden, Travis Beckum, Chad Jones, Jerrel Jernigan, Jayron Hosley, Damontre Moore, Jay Bromley, Owamagbe Odighizuwa and Darian Thompson, Jerry Reese feels like using a third round pick on a useless and terrible player is kind of his thing, and people will be expecting it of him.
- DALLAS COWBOYS
Depth Chart: Dak Prescott, Kellen Moore
2016 Stats:
Dallas fans will whine about this ranking, and for once they may actually have a legitimate gripe. Look, this isn’t a knock on Dak Prescott at all. But for the star on his helmet, I would actually like Dak Prescott. I think everybody is impressed by just how well Dak efficiently and effectively ran the Cowboys offense last year, en route to a 13-3 record and OROY honors. I don’t mean to take away from that, but I think it deserves to be looked at in context. Dak stepped into an offense featuring a top 5 OL, a top 5 RB, capable receiving options and a game plan that had the highest percentage of run plays in the NFL. He faced one of the shortest average distances to convert on third downs in the NFL. Only four QBs had more time from snap to throw than Dak. The stats are outstanding, especially for a rookie, but what I saw from Dak was a guy who could stand in the pocket, scan the field, find an open player and deliver an accurate ball. That’s not a bad thing; that’s his job (and after the Brandon Weeden/Matt Cassel debacle in 2015, nobody would make the case that the Cowboys offense is as easy as plug-and-play). But what I didn’t see Dak do very much of was hit tight windows, deliver difficult throws or deal with consistent pressure in his face. I think the result is that those stats might be a bit inflated. 2017 will tell us a lot about whether Dak really is a gem that the entire league mis-evaluated in 2016 or if he was a good quarterback putting up great numbers in virtually ideal circumstances. My ranking reflects my bet that it was the latter.
There is also a notion that the Cowboys might lose a step due to the OL reshuffling, but I think losing their weakest link in Free and getting La’el Collins back from injury is more or less a wash, so I don’t expect it to hurt them that much.
As far as depth goes, the Cowboys lose some points here. Frankly it’s astonishing that team that Jordan Hicks almost singlehandedly sent to a 4-12 seasons just two years ago doesn’t have a legitimate backup on the roster at all.
- PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Depth Chart: Carson Wentz, Nick Foles
2016 Stats:
I don’t think it can be overstated how bad the supporting cast around Carson Wentz was in 2016. The Eagles had perhaps the worst WR corps in the league last season. Eagles receivers dropped a whopping 10.6% of passes last season. That’s….. astonishingly bad. The offensive line, which was probably one of the stronger units coming into the season, was in a state of flux for most of the year with suspensions, injuries and the up-and-down (mostly down) play of Jason Kelce. In the 6 games in which the Eagles had a relatively stable starting 5 OL (Peters, Barbre/Seumalo, Kelce, Brooks, Johnson), the Eagles were 5-1, averaged over 27 points per game, Wentz threw 9 TDs to 2 interceptions and was sacked 9 times total. In the 10 other games, the Eagles were 2-8, averaged just over 20 points per game, Wentz threw 7 TDs to 12 interceptions and was sacked 24 times. And yet in spite of that, we saw some really special plays from Wentz last year, particularly early in the season.
At the end of last season, I said the two things the Eagles offense needed most were a jump ball WR and a deep speed threat. They signed Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith. They also bolstered the depth on the offensive line. I think the supporting cast will be much stronger in 2017, and, like Dak, I expect we will earn a lot about Wentz.
As far as depth goes, the Eagles have the best backup QB in the division and probably one of the better backups in the NFL in Nick Foles. Technically they also have Matt McGloin and Jerod Evans, but I don’t expect either to be on the team out of camp.
- WASHINGTON REDSKINS
Depth Chart: Kirk Cousins, Colt McCoy, Nate Sudfeld
2016 Stats:
Kirk Cousins is already better than I ever thought he’d be, so what the hell do I know? Bottom line is I think he is probably the best combination of skills and experience in the division. I think his stats paint a rosier picture than his game film, but I do think Jay Gruden’s offense agrees with him and, like Dak, he did a really good job of finding the open man and delivering the ball. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the Redskins also had a really, really good supporting cast around Kirk, including a ridiculously underrated offensive line and really strong pass catchers, but I should also point out that the run game for the Redskins was inconsistent at best, and the playcalling, especially in the red zone, was pretty poor at times. Bottom line is Kirk ran a really effective and efficient offense that did a good job of moving the ball, and he’s done it now in back-to-back seasons.
2017 does present a new challenge for Kirk having lost his two outside WRs, especially Desean. I think Pryor is a good player and will do a good job filling in, and if Doctson rebounds from injury he should be a good player as well. Plus they will still have Reed, Davis and Crowder, which is not a bad group by themselves.
The Redskins have Colt McCoy who does have some starter experience, but is pretty awful. And they like talking about some guy named Sudfeld as if he is important, but he’s not.
Next we’ll look at RBs, and I may look to lump some of these together so I don’t have to write a whole article for each one.
