Cowboys have slipped in NFC East wideout rankings
Wide receivers are one of the key positions to winning in the modern NFL. A simple look at the last few Super Bowl participants will reveal teams loaded with pass catchers. The Los Angeles Rams had Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson, DeSean Jackson, and Odell Beckham Jr. as part of their receiving corps, along with a sidelined Robert Woods. The Cincinnati Bengals brought Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd into the game. In 2021, Tampa Bay Buccaneers overwhelmed opponents with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown, and we know the type of passing attack the Kansas City Chiefs brought to the table.
The NFL knows the value of the receiver position in this new passing league, with the contracts given out to Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Cooper Kupp, and even Christian Kirk this past offseason, wide receiver is one of the more valued positions in the NFL. The key to the NFC East could be how the receiver groups develop and the overall impact that has on each of the team’s offenses. The Dallas Cowboys were once seen as the standard for the division. Are they still?
New York Giants
The Giants have three different receivers who have had solid production in the league. As a rookie, Darius Slayton put up 740 yards and eight touchdowns on under 50 receptions. Sterling Shepard put up 872 yards and four scores mostly as a slot receiver in 2018. Kenny Golladay got big money to go to the Giants because he put up 2,253 yards on 135 receptions and 16 touchdowns in a two-year period on the Detroit Lions. The talent is there, but it hasn’t come together for the unit yet.
Those three wideouts, plus rookie Kadarius Toney all had over 50 targets, but without much production. Golladay was signed for four years for $72 million, but only had 521 yards and scored zero touchdowns. All combined those four players had only 138 receptions, 1,646 yards, and three touchdowns. Maybe under the new leadership of coach Brian Daboll this unit could reach its potential, but it hasn’t shown enough to be more than last in the NFC East.
Dallas Cowboys
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
If the Dallas Cowboys still had Amari Cooper and Cedric Wilson, they would have the top receiving unit in the division without a doubt. Even after trading away Cooper, and Wilson signing with the Miami Dolphins the receivers on Dallas are still very good.
CeeDee Lamb could be the top receiver in the division by year’s end. Last season he had over 1,100 yards and six touchdowns on 79 receptions. That outperformed A.J. Brown, Terry McLaurin, and all other receivers in the division. Lamb had a lot of advantages McLaurin, Brown, and others didn’t. Lamb had by far the best quarterback, he also had Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup as running mates. If he outperforms all the receivers in the division once again this year then their will be no denying him.
Behind Lamb the Cowboys have question marks. How long will the unit be without Gallup, and can he comeback as the same guy in year one after a major injury? Will James Washington be able to go back to the 2019 player when he put up 16.7 yards per reception? Was his decline more about his lack of QB play in Pittsburgh? Rookie third-round pick, Jalen Tolbert, and the rest of the receiving core are all truly unknowns at the NFL level.
Based on the QB and the offensive coaching staff, the Cowboys could be better than the Washington Commanders and even the Philadelphia Eagles, but this is current rankings as it stands today, and they have too many ifs to be higher than third.
Washington Commanders
AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr.)
The case for the Commanders being the second-best wide receiving group in the NFC East is admittedly a shaky one. Comparing Lamb to McLaurin last year, Lamb had a better year, but McLaurin didn’t have a QB anywhere near Prescott’s level. Curtis Samuel has never had an 1,100-yard, six touchdown year like Michael Gallup did, but he was in a run base Carolina Panthers offense before missing most of last season.
Both Dallas and the Commanders have rookies that are unknowns. Jahan Dotson has the better draft pedigree being a first-round pick, but that doesn’t mean that he will be a better player than Tolbert. The reasoning behind the Commanders going in second place is the production the receivers have had with less to work with, and the unknowns surrounding the Cowboys receiving core as a whole.
While Carson Wentz has his faults, one has to assume the passing game in Washington will be much improved and the talent at the wideout position should see major growth.
Philadelphia Eagles
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The Cowboys losing a true WR1 plus a major contributor in Cedric Wilson, plus the Eagles trading for A.J. Brown, made this an easy decision for the top unit in the NFC East. Brown is a true production machine without a huge QB to help him look great. In 43 games almost exclusively with Ryan Tannehill at QB, and a Derrick Henry running game, Brown put up 185 receptions for 2,995 yards, 24 touchdowns. He is a great receiver, who should help elevate Jalen Hurts at QB.
As a rookie, DeVonta Smith had an excellent season. Hurts isn’t exactly Peyton Manning, so Smith getting just under 1,000 yards and five scores with Hurts as his QB is pretty special. Jalen Reagor hasn’t put up those stats in his first two seasons combined. Quez Watkins likely surpassed Reagor as the third option after having a good season in 2021.
The depth behind the top two aren’t great for the Eagles, but having a reliable, star, top-dog receiver, plus a clear ascending star puts them as the best in the NFC East. There’s no way to know if Hurts will rise to the challenge of having that receiving group, but they put a great group in place to test him.
Conclusion
The wide receiver groups in the NFC East could look much different when this article is written up next season. Does Hurts make the big leap as he gets more experience and better weapons? Does Wentz’s return take McLaurin to a new level? What can Lamb prove as the true top receiver on the Cowboys, with Prescott throwing him more targets, and how is Gallup coming off injury? Can Brian Daboll resurrect the career of Golladay, and help Toney make a second-year leap?
When these questions are answered fans will know the order of receivers in this division more clearly, but as of right now the order is set, and the Eagles are on top. Only time will tell if they are caught and why.
You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or at Youtube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast.
