BTB Roundtable: Determining the best players at each position group across the NFC East

Earlier this week BTB’s own Connor Livesay had quite the interesting tweet. He listed who he thought was the best team within the NFC East at different position groups. Shockingly, all of Twitter did not agree and there was a lot of discussion as a result.

It’s hard to figure out who the best anything is through a collection of teams. Sure some things are obvious, but some things are really difficult. The NFC East features a number of different position groups that have talent throughout it, but if you had to choose one from each what would you do?

This was a question merited a larger discussion than even Twitter can hold, so Tony Casillas and I discussed it in more detail on the latest episode of The 75O. Things are indeed obvious at say linebacker or in the run game, but what about the defensive line? Heck, what about offensive line? What about quarterback?

As you can imagine there are a lot of thoughts on this subject so we solicited feedback from the finest Cowboys minds on all of the interwebs. Welcome to the latest BTB Roundtable where front page writers deposited their two cents. There are a varying number of ways that you can shape these answers and we have a hodgepodge of results to prove it.

A quick note here, the “pass catchers” group does include that team’s tight end when you figure out who’s the best. It’s much more practical to figure it out that way versus trying to go off wide receivers and tight ends as separate entities. It’s one group of pass-catchers.

Quarterback is obviously a huge point of contention

Dak Prescott or Carson Wentz, those are the only two choices. The reasons for which someone will choose one or the other typically are so strong that they can’t be swayed off of their point, all of us have been in debates over this enough to know that.

In many ways this is what the NFC East will come down to for some time. Whoever the better quarterback is will be the one to propel his team to new heights and uncharted waters. We’re obviously all hoping it’s Prescott, but there’s reason to believe that it’s Wentz.

The run game might only be important for the Cowboys

OCC never fails to put a unique twist on things and he might be right that “who cares” is a fair assertion on who has the best run game. For Dallas their run game is so much of their identity, but it doesn’t hold the same level of importance for Philadelphia.

Tony Casillas made an interesting case (albeit a short one) for Saquon Barkley when we discussed this position on The 75O. He noted that Barkley made a lot out of nothing in New York which merits some praise.

Tony: The best running game in the NFC East was close for me. Saquon Barkley was a beast last year as a rookie on a bad offense, but Zeke is collectively the best running back in the division. Can’t wait to see who has a better career.

Perhaps the run game is going to be more vital for the G-Men in the future, it might need to be with no Odell Beckham Jr. and Daniel Jones in tow.

Watch out for that Washington defensive line

It’s easy to see that plenty of us are worried about what the Redskins are going to be doing with the front of their defense. They’re somewhat on the verge of having one of the better overall units in the NFL there, it’s going to be tough sledding for the Cowboys (and everyone else).

Perhaps that will be Washington’s calling card. Try to disrupt things up front and hope that that’s enough to get it done. They seem like they’re going to have the personnel to do it, just a matter of time to see if it can reach fruition.

Doug Pederson is widely respected

As far as RJ Ochoa is concerned, the decision as to who the best coach in the NFC East isn’t very close. It’s hardly even close.

Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl (again, nice note from OCC) and flirted with it again while trying to repeat. He did a majority of that, well he did the important parts, with Nick Foles at quarterback over Carson Wentz.

I’m of the opinion that Jason Garrett is a fine head coach, but I wouldn’t put him in Pederson’s neighborhood. Nevertheless there are those that would take Garrett as the superior leader of men across the entire NFC East.