Following my Part 1 and 2 posts of Beyond the Ring: Quarterbacks on the NFL Dynasty Path (Part 1) today I take a look at the other pieces in the elusive dream of building an NFL dynasty in the NFC East.
New York Giants
Here is a list of the Giants players that had an AV of 8 or better in the previous five seasons. Here is what the color coding means
8.0 <= AV < 10 No color
10 <= AV < 15 Light Green
15 <= AV < 20 Darker Green
20 <= AV Darkest Green
AV earned on a different team Grey Text.
| 2024 | Brian Burns | Dexter Lawrence | Malik Nabers | Russell Wilson | |||||
| 2023 | Bobby Okereke | Brian Burns | Dexter Lawrence | Jon Runyan Jr. | Kayvon Thibodeaux | Micah McFadden | Russell Wilson | ||
| 2022 | Andrew Thomas | Bobby Okereke | Brian Burns | Devin Singletary | Dexter Lawrence | Jon Runyan Jr. | Russell Wilson | ||
| 2021 | Brian Burns | Devin Singletary | Jon Runyan Jr. | Russell Wilson | |||||
| 2020 | Dexter Lawrence | Neville Hewitt | Russell Wilson |
From this data and other sources I arrived at a core team for 2026 based on the current roster of players that are good to elite. The list is
| Position | Offense | Defense | Position |
| WR | Malik Nabers | Brian Burns | ED |
| LT | Andrew Thomas | Dexter Lawrence | DL |
| RB | Cam Skattebo | Abdul Carter | ED |
Since AV is not available until the end of the season, I added on rookies Cam Skattebo and Abdul Carter based on their performance to date. While rookie quarterback, Jaxson Dart, looks promising with high potential, it seems premature to add him to this list at this time. The same holds for rookie kicker Ben Sauls.
ESPN had done an analysis on how many good to elite players a team needs to be a Super Bowl contender. They came up with that 40 percent of the team should be good to elite. The team number is determined by players that had 250 plus snaps in the recent year. This would work out to 40 percent of 33 players for the Giants or 13 players. This puts them at 7 players short.
In the first post of this series, Beyond the Ring: Quarterbacks on the NFL Dynasty Path (Part 1) Jaxson Dart was not included in the list of dynasty path favorites. A stat that I find indicative of great quarterback play is the combination of Adjusted Net Yards/Attempt (ANY/A) and Net Yards/Attempt (NY/A). To have both at 7.0 yards or above is very good for a game. Dart has 27% of his games with both. That is just about average for active quarterbacks with over two starts in 2025. His TD% of 4.2 is below the league average for 2025 which is 4.7. His pass success rate of 40.5% is 31st out of 33 quarterbacks that started 8 or more games in 2025. He has an above average QBR of 58.1 which was 17th of 31 qualifying quarterbacks in 2025. Dart excels as a dual threat quarterback. His season nine rushing touchdowns is tie at 14th among 117 Super Bowl era quarterbacks with 400+ yards rushing and 1500+ passing yards in a season. In 2025 his 5.6 rushing yards per attempt is 5th among 14 quarterbacks with 200+ rushing yards. His rushing success rate of 65.4% is third among quarterbacks with 100+ rushing yards. His 37 rushing first downs is fourth among all quarterbacks in 2025.
The third leg of establishing a dynasty is the coach. The Giants are in the process of evaluating a new head coach for 2026. Head coach Brian Daboll was let go in season.
Another leg to the dynasty path is the General Manager. The Giant’s GM is Joe Shoen and has been since January 2022. He has shown good choices in the team’s first round picks for each of his three years. All three are on the core team listed above. He found a gem in his 2023 sixth round pick of DT Dante Stills.
His selection of Jaxson Dart by moving back up into the first round looks like a great move. In the super Bowl era among quarterbacks chosen in the bottom third of the first round or later, Jaxson Dart is tied with Dan Marino for the third most touchdowns of any kind in their rookie season. Since 2018 when pressures were first recorded, Abdul Carter is tenth in pressures for a rookie. Cam Skattebo in his short rookie season had a first down on 30% of his 125 touches. That was tops among running backs in 2025 with over 50 touches. It was fifth best over the last five seasons. These were three of the players under Joe Schoen picked in the 2025 draft. That may be his best draft as a Giant.
In 2024 Schoen and the Giants picked Malik Nabers in the first round. Since 1978 (when all thses stats were recorded) Malik is one of only five wide receivers that in their rookie year had Receiving Yds/Game >= 80, Receiving Success Rate >= 50, Receiving TD >= 7, Receiving Yds >= 1000 and Receiving 1st Downs >= 50. The company he keeps is Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Odell Beckham and Randy Moss.
Ranking his other drafts by Approximate Value (AV) which is only available up to 2024 – his picks when compared to draft position and other teams are in the middle of the league for value. According to the analysis in the post How are the NFL GMs performing in the draft?, Shoen’s drafts together rank as 16th in the league for that timeframe. It has been a significant improvement over the Dave Gettleman years.
The additions of Brian Burns in free agency was originally rated as a risky deal spending that money on Burns. Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report, named the Burns deal among the NFL’s eight riskiest contracts of 2024. However it has really paid off. Burns is having his best season in 2025 in number of sacks, QB Hits and tied in forced fumbles. His two years on the Giants have been his best two years in Solo and Combined tackles. Burns made the Pro Bowl in 2025.
Schoen’s free agency signing of Richie James in 2022 primarily as a returned paid off. Jones in 2022 had the most receptions and tied for the most receiving touchdowns. In 2023 after signing Bobby Okereke, Okereke went on that season to lead the Giants in solo tackles, forced fumbles and combined tackles. PFF listed Okereke among the top 101 players of 2023 saying – His athleticism and range allowed him to post an 82.5 PFF coverage grade, and he allowed an 89.1 passer rating into his coverage, some 15 points lower than the league average for linebackers. The 2024 signing of Devin Singletary has paid off in 2025. Singletary has put up numbers similar to those of Cam Skattebo in rushing attempts, yards, TDs, first downs, Success % and longest.
Sure Schoen has his share of misses and questionable contracts. But all together he has improved the team and is deserving to finish out his contract thru 2026 before alternate plans are considered.
Washington Commanders
Here is a list of the Commanders players that had an AV of 8 or better in the previous five seasons.
| 2024 | Javon Kinlaw | Nick Allegretti | Bobby Wagner | Brandon Coleman | DeMarcus Walker | Frankie Luvu | Samuel Cosmi | Jayden Daniels | Laremy Tunsil | Terry McLaurin | Tyler Biadasz |
| 2023 | Bobby Wagner | Deatrich Wise Jr. | Deebo Samuel | Samuel Cosmi | Laremy Tunsil | Terry McLaurin | Tyler Biadasz | ||||
| 2022 | Andrew Wylie | Austin Ekeler | Bobby Wagner | Daron Payne | Deatrich Wise Jr. | Deebo Samuel | Preston Smith | Marcus Mariota | Laremy Tunsil | Terry McLaurin | Tyler Biadasz |
| 2021 | Austin Ekeler | Bobby Wagner | Deebo Samuel | Shy Tuttle | Marshon Lattimore | Terry McLaurin | |||||
| 2020 | Andrew Wylie | Bobby Wagner | Daron Payne | Robbie Chosen | Marshon Lattimore | Laremy Tunsil | Terry McLaurin |
From this data I arrived at a core team for 2026 based on the current roster of players that are good to elite. The list is
| Position | Offense | Defense | Position |
| QB | Jayden Daniels | Bobby Wagner | LB |
| WR | Terry McLaurin | ||
| WR | Deebo Samuel | ||
| OC | Tyler Biadasz | ||
| OG | Samuel Cosmi | ||
| OT | Laremy Tunsil |
Based on 40% of the 38 players with 250+ snaps the Commanders would need 15 players in the good to elite category to be Super Bowl contenders. They are 8 players short.
In my first post of the series Beyond the Ring: Quarterbacks on the NFL Dynasty Path (Part 1), Jayden Daniels was included in the Dynasty quarterbacks. Looking at the games with a combination of both NY/A and ANY/A of 7.0+ Daniels had six games for 25% of his starts. That ranked 28 out of 48 quarterbacks that had such a game and had a minimum of 5 starts in that timeframe. That falls in the top 58%. His TD% of 4.9 ranked 14th out of 40 for quarterbacks that started 10+ games. That is the top 35% and is above the league average of 4.6%. His pass success rate of 46.4% ranked 19th out of 44 quarterbacks that started 8+ games for a top 43%. His QBR took a dive in 2025, a season in which he suffered multriple injuries and started only seven games. However in his rookie year in 2024 he started 17 games and had a QBR of 67.7. That was fourth best in the leaue that year and is considered in the very good range. Daniels is a dual threat quarterback. Since 1978 he is the only rookie quarterback to have Passing TD % >= 5, Passer Rating >= 100, Rushing Yds >= 400 and Rush Success Rate >= 60. The two rookie quarterbacks that even came close are Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson.
Dan Quinn is the head coach of the Commanders and has been for the last two seasons. His record is 16-17 or 0.485. His first season in 2024 with rookie Jayden Daniels the team went 12-5 and made it to the Conference Champioship but lost. As for close losses, over the span of seasons from 2024 to 2025, the Commanders come in tie at eighth for least wth only seven games.
The General Manager, Adam Peters, has been GM since 2024. Given only two years it is difficult to do an assessment of his drafts. Based on the analysis in the post How are the NFL GMs performing in the draft? which is only for the 2024 draft he has done average. The Jayden Daniel’s pick at number two appears to have been good. Daniels earned a 20 AV his rookie year. Since the 2012 draft there have only been nine picks to do that.
Dallas Cowboys
Here is a list of the Cowboys players that had an AV of 8 or better in the previous five seasons.
| 2024 | CeeDee Lamb | George Pickens | Kenny Clark | Quinnen Williams | |||||||||
| 2023 | CeeDee Lamb | Dak Prescott | DaRon Bland | George Pickens | Jadeveon Clowney | Terence Steele | Kenny Clark | Logan Wilson | Osa Odighizuwa | Quinnen Williams | Tyler Smith | Jake Ferguson | |
| 2022 | CeeDee Lamb | Dak Prescott | Kenny Clark | Logan Wilson | Osa Odighizuwa | Quinnen Williams | Trevon Diggs | Tyler Smith | Miles Sanders | ||||
| 2021 | CeeDee Lamb | Dak Prescott | Javonte Williams | Kenny Clark | Logan Wilson | Trevon Diggs | |||||||
| 2020 | CeeDee Lamb | Terence Steele | Kenneth Murray |
From this data and additional sources I arrived at the following core team of good to elite players.
| Position | Offense | Defense | Position |
| OG | Tyler Smith | Quinnen Williams | DL |
| OG | Tyler Booker | Osa Odighizuwa | DL |
| QB | Dak Prescott | Kenny Clark | DL |
| WR | CeeDee Lamb | Jadeveon Clowney | ED |
| WR | George Pickens | Donovan Ezeiruaku | ED |
Since AV was not available for the rookies I added rookies Tyler Booker and Donovan Ezeiruaku. They made the ESPN all rookie first team and second team respectively.
All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Forty percent of the team 2024 snaps of 250+ would be 40% of 40 or 16 players. This would be the number of good to elite players needed to be a Super Bowl contender according to the ESPN analysis. This puts the team at six players short.
In the first post of this series, Beyond the Ring: Quarterbacks on the NFL Dynasty Path (Part 1) Dak Prescott made the list of dynasty path favorites. In looking at number of games with an ANY/A and NY/A of both 7+ for active quarterbacks since 2016 (Dak’s start), Dak comes in at number seven of seventy-six quarterbacks games with 42% of his games. His career TD% of 5.1 is well above the league average of 4.5. In fact it is eleventh best for that timeframe. His passing success rate of 49.5% is also eighth best. He and Brock Purdy led the league in QBR for the 2023 season. His QBR of 71.9 this season would be considered very good.
Brian Schottenheimer is the head coach of the Cowboys in his first season. His coaching record is 7-8-1 or 0.469. If you count up the number of close losses each team had in 2025 with 1st having the least then the Cowboys come in at a five way tie for second with only 2 close losses.
Jerry Jones is the President/General Manager and has been since 1989. Looking at draft picks from a value view since 2012 with regard to pick position (as posted in How are the NFL GMs performing in the draft?) Jones had only 1 draft in the bottom third of the league, 2 in the middle and the other ten in the top third of the league. In ranking the drafts for 2011-2024 by the refrred analysis Jones and the Cowboys come in tie at third for the best drafts. He has drafted five Hall of Fame players in his tenure. His best draft since 2012 is most likely 2014 when he drafted Zach Martin and Demarcus Lawrence.
Philadelphia Eagles
Here is a list of the Eagles players that had an AV of 8 or better in the previous five seasons.
| 2024 | A.J. Brown | Cam Jurgens | DeVonta Smith | Jalen Carter | Jalen Hurts | Jordan Davis | Jordan Mailata | Landon Dickerson | Lane Johnson | Nakobe Dean | Saquon Barkley | Zack Baun |
| 2023 | A.J. Brown | DeVonta Smith | Jalen Hurts | Jordan Mailata | Landon Dickerson | Lane Johnson | Sam Howell | |||||
| 2022 | A.J. Brown | DeVonta Smith | Jalen Hurts | Jordan Mailata | Landon Dickerson | Lane Johnson | Saquon Barkley | |||||
| 2021 | A.J. Brown | AJ Dillon | DeVonta Smith | Jalen Hurts | Lane Johnson | Dallas Goedert | ||||||
| 2020 | A.J. Brown | Brandon Graham |
From this data and other sources I arrived at a core team for 2026 based on the current roster of players that are good to elite.
| Position | Offense | Defense | Position |
| QB | Jalen Hurts | Zack Baun | LB |
| WR | DeVonta Smith | Jordan Davis | DL |
| WR | A.J. Brown | Jihaad Campbell | LB |
| RB | Saquon Barkley | Quinyon Mitchell | CB |
| OT | Lane Johnson | Cooper DeJean | CB |
| OG | Landon Dickerson | Moro Ojomo | DL |
| LT | Jordan Mailata |
I added rookie Jihaad Campbell who does not have AV values yet but made PFF’s list of the top 15 NFL rookies through Week 14. Also Moro Ojomo who is having a breakout season in his third year with 6 sacks, 6 TFLs and 12 QB hits. Second year cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean both made the Pro Bowl.
Based on the roster size of 2025 the Eagles would need 12 players in the good to elite category to be Super Bowl contenders. Based on this analysis they have 13 or 1 more than enough.
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In the first post of this series, Beyond the Ring: Quarterbacks on the NFL Dynasty Path (Part 1) Jalen Hurts made the list of dynasty path favorites. In looking at number of games with an ANY/A and NY/A of both 7+ since 2020 (Hurts’ start), Hurts comes in 18th among 61 active quarterbacks with more than ten starts in percent of games with 32%. That is good for the top 30%. His career TD% of 4.6 is just above the league average of 4.5. That is in the top 40%. His passing success rate of 45% is 34th among 61 active quarterbacks. His QBR in 2025 of 55.3 is down from the last three seasons in which he was above 60. Jalen Hurts is a dual threat quarterback. For his career of 2020 thru 2025, Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels are the only two active quarterbacks that have Passer Rating >= 90, Passing TD % >= 4.5, Pass Intercept. % <= 1.9, Rush Success Rate >= 55 and Yds/Rushing Att >= 4.5.
Nick Sirianni is the head coach and has been since 2021. His record is 59-25 or 0.702. All of his five seasons have been winning seasons. In looking at close losses for that timeframe he comes in with the least amount of close losses than any other team. He is fourth in the most blowout wins with fifteen.
Howie Roseman is the General Manager and has been since 2010. I had done an analysis on draft value picks based on draft position linked in earlier paragraphs. Based on that analysis that goes back to the 2012 draft the Eagles would come in ninth in best total drafts from 2012 – 2024. In this analysis his best rated draft was 2018 when he drafted Dallas Goedert, Avonte Maddox, Josh Sweat, Matt Pryor and Jordan Mailata. Of the thirteen drafts from 2012-2024 he has six ranked in the top third, four in the middle third and three in the bottom third. His 2023 and 2024 drafts ranked in the top third by picking players such as Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Tyler Steen and Kelee Ringo in 2023. Then in 2024 he picked Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
Conclusion
A quick high level summary table of the NFC East is as follows. The use of the term Dynasty signifies that the peices are in place but it still would need to come together.
| QB | Team | Head Coach | GM re draft | |
| Giants | Above Average | 7 players short | Searching | Above Average |
| Commanders | Above Average | 8 players short | Good | Average |
| Cowboys | Dynasty | 6 players short | Average | Top Ten |
| Eagles | Dynasty | Dynasty | Dynasty | Top Ten |
Feature image: The_Triplets, Ron St. Angelo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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