Eagles surpass Cowboys, now the betting favorite to win NFC East per some sportsbooks

With opening weekend rapidly approaching, people that enjoy wagering now have their eyes set on NFL futures. For most of the offseason, the Cowboys have been a slight odds-on favorite to win the NFC East. However, in the past few days, the Eagles are now slightly favored to win the very coveted, highly contested NFC East crown according to some sportsbooks.

This could have been in large part due to the Cowboys lack of additions this off-season in conjunction with the volume of signings and trades by the Eagles. It doesn’t take a football savant to realize the Cowboys roster has gotten worse and the Eagles better.

Why the all the sudden late change in odds? Public money. The Eagles are more bet on to win their division than any other team. A mixture of a roster revamp, lackluster division, and strength of schedule make this seem like an easy bet. However, if history is any indication of what's to come, when does it ever work like that in the NFC East?

Only two of the last eight NFC East victors were favored the week leading into the respective season, being the 2019 Philadelphia Eagles and 2021 Dallas Cowboys. The last time the favorite won it in consecutive years? Dak Prescott wasn’t anywhere close to entering the NFL. This probably boded well for the Cowboys, being that they are now dethroned as division favorites in some quarters. But optimism might be in short supply.

It seems too easy to pick the Eagles to win the division. A facelifted offense, loads of new defensive weapons, dominant running game and they made the playoffs last year? Seems like a no-brainer! As we know, ‘no-brainers’ don’t exist in the NFC East. Perhaps the division should adopt a popular CBS reality show’s slogan “expect the unexpected.”

It seems like a coping mechanism to drown other NFC East teams to take the spotlight off our own. Either way, we will know a lot more about this team within the next two weeks. With the Cowboys schedule frontloaded and the Eagles the opposite, those odds might continue to move in the Eagles favor as the early season is underway.