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Earlier this week, I wrote a post in which I proposed a list of the top ten Cowboys players under the age of 25. The post generated quite a lively debate for a post published early on a Sunday morning.
For the most part, the list of ten young Cowboys players was either seen as a positive sign of good things to come or as a negative reminder of bad things in the recent past, as well as anything in between. In some rare instances it was seen as the sign of the impending apocalypse.
One person who read the post with a particularly keen eye is our good friend and favorite closet Cowboys fan JimmyK, who reapplied the idea to the entire NFC east, and asked the following question on his own blog: "NFC East youth: Which bEast team has the best under 25 talent?"
Today it's my turn to reapply Jimmy's post, so after the break, we'll take a look at the top ten guys under 25 that Jimmy identified for each NFC East team.
In contrast to my original list, which excluded any Cowboys player who will turn 25 by the end of the year, Jimmy included all players under the age of 25 as per today, so his list differs slightly from mine, but not significantly. So without further ado, here are the top ten NFC East players under the age of 25, courtesy of Blogging The BEast.com:
| Cowboys | Eagles | Giants | Redskins | |||||||||
| Rank | Player | POS | Exp | Player | POS | Exp | Player | POS | Exp | Player | POS | Exp |
| 1 | Tyron Smith | LT | 1 | LeSean McCoy | RB | 3 | Jason Pierre-Paul | DE | 2 | Robert Griffin III | QB | R |
| 2 | Dez Bryant | WR | 2 | Jeremy Maclin | WR | 3 | Hakeem Nicks | WR | 3 | Ryan Kerrigan | OLB | 1 |
| 3 | DeMarco Murray | RB | 1 | Jason Kelce | OC | 1 | Linval Joseph | DT | 2 | Trent Williams | LT | 2 |
| 4 | Morris Claiborne | CB | R | Nate Allen | S | 2 | Prince Amukamara | CB | 1 | Roy Helu | RB | 1 |
| 5 | Bruce Carter | LB | 1 | Brian Rolle | LB | 1 | David Wilson | RB | R | Leonard Hankerson | WR | 1 |
| 6 | Tyrone Crawford | DE | R | Brandon Graham | DE | 2 | Jacquian Williams | LB | 1 | Perry Riley | LB | 2 |
| 7 | Sean Lissemore | DE | 2 | Kurt Coleman | S | 2 | Reuben Randle | WR | R | Jarvis Jenkins | DE | 1 |
| 8 | Victor Butler | OLB | 3 | Fletcher Cox | DT | R | Henry Hynoski | FB | 1 | Josh LeRibeus | OG | R |
| 9 | Josh Brent | NT | 2 | Mychal Kendricks | LB | R | Marvin Austin | DT | 1 | Keenan Robinson | LB | R |
| 10 | Phil Costa | OC | 2 | Vinny Curry | DE | R | Mark Herzlich | LB | 1 | DeJon Gomes | S | 1 |
As you review the table, note that the Eagles and Redskins have three rookies on their teams, while the Giants and Cowboys only have two, and as much as we all love our draft picks, none of them have yet made it out of training camp, much less played an NFL down.
Also, keep in mind that the five hardest positions to fill on any team are QB, LT, CB1, WR1, and pass rusher. The Redskins are the only team with a QB on this list, the three other teams all have QBs over 30 years of age. All four teams have a running back in their top five, yet RB is arguably one of the easier positions to fill, while there are only two cornerbacks and left tackles on the entire list.
As you carefully peruse the names on this NFC list, how do you feel the Cowboys stack up?