(Photo: Clutchpoints)
1. Philadelphia Eagles: All they needed was that one piece to help put them over the top and that ended up being Saquon Barkley and what an impact he had as he ended up having the best season of his career and really sent a message to the New York Giants by signing with the rival and the rest is history. After a 2-2 start, the Eagles reeled off ten consecutive victories, won the NFC East, clinched the two-seed in the NFC Playoffs and won the NFC for the second time three seasons and faced the Chiefs again in the Super Bowl, but this time, they got the job done and bought another Lombardi Trophy to South Philadelphia. The Eagles have the best offensive core in the NFL in Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown which leads me to say as long as those four are there, they will be in the race. This team had zero weaknesses last year, and they enter this season looking to repeat as Super Bowl champs.
2. Washington Commanders: What a season they had in 2024. First, they drafted Jayden Daniels, and he introduced himself on the NFL stage leading the Washington Commanders to their best season in quite some time. They also struck gold hiring Dan Quinn as their Head Coach, and he had my vote for Coach of the Year until I saw what Kevin O’Connell did with the Minnesota Vikings. After nine games, Washington was 7-2 which was their best start since 1996. Now, how will Jayden build off that rookie season? I’m a firm believer in building around your Quarterback and Washington added a weapon to Jayden’s arsenal by acquiring Deebo Samuel from the San Francisco 49ers. The Commanders beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round, stunned the Lions in the divisional round, the top seeded Lions at that and were a game away from the Super Bowl where they fell short to the eventual NFC champion Eagles in the NFC Championship game. The future is bright for this team.
3. Dallas Cowboys: They hurt my stomach and I mean this in the most professional way possible. Signing Dak Prescott to the contract extension the day the season started was one thing, but they didn’t address other areas of the offense outside extending CeeDee Lamb, and he deserved every penny of the contract extension the team gave him. I’ve called on the Dallas Cowboys to stick to their game plan which is running the football and that in return opens the passing lanes up for Dak. Dallas was so inconsistent last year and struggled to get much of anything going, especially at home where they had a record of 2-7. Only if they had signed Derrick Henry, things would’ve panned out differently for them and 2020 was the first time they failed to qualify for the postseason. Mike McCarthy is out as Head Coach and Brian Schottenheimer has been named as Mike’s heir apparent. It boils down to health when it comes to this team and with a healthy Dak, they can win football games.
4. New York Giants: They’re a mess and there’s no other way around it. Yes, they did make the playoffs in Brian Daboll’s first season as Head Coach which was in 2022, but what have they done since then? Besides give Daniel Jones a contract extension and releasing Saquon Barkley only to watch him win a Super Bowl with the Eagles. I can give the Giants a little credit because they have been building in the draft, it was Malik Nabers last season and this year, they selected Abdul Carter, the EDGE rusher from Penn State. They also signed Russell Wilson to a one-year deal and also drafted Jaxson Dart, a Quarterback from Ole Miss. Russ will be the bookmark until Jaxson can learn the game at the professional level. I think the Giants will be a more improved team this year, but not necessarily a playoff team if that makes sense.
2025 Predictions
1. Eagles (12-5)
2. Commanders (10-7)
3. Cowboys (10-7)
4. Giants (6-11)
For the first time in 21 seasons, we will have a repeat division winner in the East and I like the Eagles to take this division once again. At this moment, they are the best out of the four in the East, and I’m still trying to figure out things with the other teams. What will the Commanders do for an encore in 2025? Will Dak and the Cowboys remain healthy and the Giants, well, you get a mention from me. I can see Jalen Hurts proving himself to the people who are still doubting him and I have no questions whatsoever about their offense. It’s the defense where I’m looking because they did lose a few key pieces from last year’s title team such as Brandon Graham to retirement, Milton Williams to the Patriots, Josh Sweat to the Arizona Cardinals and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Darius Slay. It’ll be the next man up for the Eagles defense, and they will mesh just fine. Furthermore, it should be another exciting year in South Philly at the Linc.
