The NC East and the 2022 Draft.
It is often said that you build your NFL team to win your division first. That is, after all, the path of least resistance into the playoffs.
The Dallas Cowboys vanquished their divisional foes with relative ease in 2021 going a perfect 6-0 against the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, and Washington Commanders (the Washington Football Team at the time). Odds are that they will drop at least a game in the division this coming season, but it’s not like the NFC East has gotten more intimidating this offseason.
Every week myself and Bleeding Green Nation’s Brandon Gowton get together to discuss the state of the division on the NFC East Mixtape. This week was a special treat as we were joined by both Ed Valentine from Big Blue View and Bryan Stabbe from Hogs Haven so representation from all four divisional blogs was present. Make sure to subscribe to the Blogging The Boys podcast network wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss any of our shows and so we continue to prove who the best of the group is. Apple devices can subscribe here and Spotify users can subscribe here.
With everyone present and accounted for we discussed the coming draft, but specifically went around the horn a few times discussing what each of the other teams could do that would upset us from the perspective of our own team.
The group was in total unison as far as what they do not want to see the Cowboys do.
Nobody in the division wants to see the Cowboys address the offensive line
While there are things throughout every draft that shock us in some way, shape, form, or fashion, it seems safe to say that it is impossible for the Dallas Cowboys to go all of next week without drafting an offensive lineman and namely a new starter at left guard.
Obviously the Cowboys could address this need, their most glaring need at the moment, in the first round if the board presents itself in that way. Boston College’s Zion Johnson and Texas A&M’s Kenyon Green are names we have been talking about for a long time now. They are bonafide Day 1 starters on this team which is what nobody in the division wants to see.
In a wild world someone like Mississippi State tackle Charles Cross would be there and the Cowboys could go in that direction. The overall point is that every team is frightened at the thought of Dallas going back to their bread and butter so to speak.
On the other side of that coin, Hogs Haven’s Bryan Stabbe did note that he would be excited to see Dallas draft a wide receiver. The Cowboys have effectively spent two of their last three first-rounders at the position in trading for Amari Cooper and drafting CeeDee Lamb, not to mention handing out two big deals in that time to Cooper and Michael Gallup this offseason, so Stabbe’s point was that he would be fine with them continuing to allocate their premium resources there. That is bold but not ridiculous.
However you feel in terms of who you want you are unlikely going to be swayed by the opinions of people with focuses on the Cowboys’ top rivals, but just know that they are hoping Dallas does not fortify their offensive line.