At this point in the offseason, NFL rosters are pretty much set, at least in terms of players expected to make any kind of reasonable impact. And so, let's take a look at the NFC East and determine which team has the best players at each position. Yesterday, we started with the offense. Today, we'll look at the defense.
Edge defenders: Micah Parsons, Cowboys; Brian Burns, Giants
Parsons was the only obvious first-team All-NFC East edge rusher. Thereafter, I really struggled with who to place opposite him. I landed on Burns, who isn't a star player but who you can count on for 8+ sacks in any season. He probably has the highest floor of any of the other contenders for that spot.
I gave Nolan Smith strong consideration after the light went on for him in October of his second season. He had 10.5 sacks in his final 16 games, and led the NFL with 4 postseason sacks. He blossomed into an all-around good starter last season, and has a chance to be even better in 2025. If so, he could be a first-teamer next year.
Every year readers balk at rookies being included in this exercise, but third overall pick Abdul Carter has a chance to be really good in his first season. He's a special talent.
Second team: Nolan Smith, Eagles, Abdul Carter, Giants
Interior defensive line: Dexter Lawrence, Giants; Jalen Carter, Eagles
Lawrence and Carter are by far the two best interior defensive linemen in the division. Lawrence is probably the Giants' best overall player, and Carter was the best player on the best defense in the NFL in 2024. They were obvious choices.
Osa Odighizuwa is an undersized-but-disruptive lineman who the Cowboys were kinda forced to overpay this offseason. Daron Payne wasn't great in 2024, but he's still probably the best of the rest.
Second team: Osa Odighizuwa, Cowboys; DaRon Payne, Commanders
Off-ball linebacker: Zack Baun, Eagles; Bobby Wagner, Commanders
Baun went from a little-used edge rusher with the Saints to a bonafide star with the Eagles as an off-ball linebacker. He was named First-Team All-Pro, Pro Bowler, and finished in the top five in NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting. So, you know, he's in.
Of the two Commanders linebackers, Wagner was more integral to Washington's success last season than Frankie Luvu, in my opinion. I can recall in the locker room after the Eagles' regular season home win against Washington that Cam Jurgens said Wagner was consistently calling out what the Eagles were going to do pre-snap, and the Eagles' offense only got going in that game after they went into hurry-up mode, which didn't allow Wagner enough time to diagnose what was going to be run. Wagner changed the Eagles' entire game plan.
But also, Wagner had 132 tackles, 2 sacks, and 4 pass breakups. He makes first-team over Luvu, who had some gaudy prestige stats (8 sacks, 4 of which were gifts, in my opinion), but who also plays out of control, misses a ton of tackles, and if we're being honest kinda stunk in the playoffs. In my view he has gone from a player widely regarded as underrated to overrated.
Luvu still gets in on our second team, though, along with the Giants' Bobby Okereke. There'd be some debate if Nakobe Dean should make second team here if he hadn't torn his patellar tendon in the playoffs. I'd take him over Luvu.
Second team: Bobby Okereke, Giants; Frankie Luvu, Commanders
Cornerback: Quinyon Mitchell, Eagles; Cooper DeJean, Eagles; DaRon Bland, Cowboys
Mitchell and DeJean had outstanding rookie seasons, and both players elevated their games in the playoffs.
After intercepting 9 passes with 5 pick-sixes in 2023, Bland missed the first 10 games of the 2024 regular season with a stress fracture in his foot. His absence was a very underrated part of the Cowboys' awful 2024 season. He'll presumably be healthy again in 2025.
Mike Sainristil had a good rookie season for the Commanders, and Paulson Adebo should bring some competency to the Giants' secondary. They're in as second teamers.
The last spot was between Commanders ninth-year pro Marshon Lattimore and Giants second-year pro Dru Phillips. Lattimore only played in two regular season games for the Commanders, and he got cooked in the playoffs, allowing 10 of 14 targets to be completed on him for 172 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, and an opposing QB rating of 136.6, per PFF. He also committed 3 penalties, and PFF had him down for 3 missed tackles. Give me Phillips.
It's probably also worth noting that the Cowboys' Trevon Diggs would normally be included here, but he is likely to miss a chunk of the 2025 season after having surgery on his knee for a chondral tissue graft procedure.
Second team: Mike Sanristil, Commanders; Paulson Adebo, Giants; Dru Phillips, Giants
Safety: Jevon Holland, Giants; Reed Blankenship, Eagles
C.J. Gardner-Johnson (6 INTs) and Reed Blankenship (4 INTs) combined for 10 INTs in 2024. No other safeties in the NFC East had more than two. CJGJ was probably the best safety in the NFC East before the Eagles traded him to Houston.
Blankenship is a sure tackler and he gets his hands on a lot of footballs (7 INTs, 17 PBUs the last two seasons). He's in.
Holland signed with the Giants on a three-year deal worth $45 million. Over his four-year career in Miami, Holland had 301 tackles, 5 sacks, 25 pass breakups, 5 forced fumbles, and 5 INTs. He's a good player, but those stats don't scream, "Pay this guy $15 million/year" to me. Still, he's probably better than the other vets in the division.
This might be the weakest position in the NFC East.
Second team: Malik Hooker, Cowboys; Quan Martin, Commanders
Defensive totals
We'll give two points for first-team nods, one point for second-team. Good? Good. I mean, who cares?
| Team | First-team | Second-team | Total |
| Eagles | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| Giants | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| Cowboys | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Commanders | 1 | 4 | 6 |
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