2022 Offseason Assessment Tournament: 1st-Round (DAL v. NYG)
Same intro everyday: Our annual series taking a look at each NFL team’s offseason (free agency, draft, trades) moves and assessing their impact for the upcoming season – simply speaking, 'did all of the offseason moves, en masse, project to make the team better or worse for just the upcoming campaign (not worried about the long-term effect)'?
We’ll list the key adds and losses for each team competing and then comment on them and anoint a winner that will move on to the next round, until we get down to the final two (the 'Super Bowl') and we name a winner for the top offseason (to date). Our way to review and judge what each of these teams have done halfway through the offseason.
1st-Round Matchup…
DALLAS COWBOYS
Key Adds:
OL Tyler Smith (#24 pick), EDGE Sam Williams (#56 pick), OL Matt Waletzko (pick #155). LB Damone Clark (pick #176), DE Dante Fowler (FA), WR James Washington (FA)
Key Losses:
OL La’El Collins (cut), WR Amari Cooper (trade), TE Blake Jarwin (cut), WR Cedric Wilson (FA), DE Randy Gregory (FA), OG Connor Williams (FA)
vs.
NEW YORK GIANTS
Key Adds:
Kayvon Thibodeaux (#5 pick), OL Evan Neal (#7 pick), WR Wan’Dale Robinson (pick #43), TE Daniel Bellinger (#112), TE Ricky Seals-Jones (FA), QB Tyrod Taylor (FA)
Key Losses:
CB Logan Ryan (cut), TE Kyle Rudolph (cut), TE Evan Engram (FA), LB Lorenzo Carter (FA), DT Austin Johnson (FA), SAF Jabrill Peppers (FA), OG Will Hernandez (FA)
Wow, Dallas hasn’t had a very good offseason…amiright? They dealt away Amari Cooper and lost several solid/good free agents otherwise…and didn’t really land anything much in free agency and then didn’t have the greatest draft either. If the NFC East is up-for-grabs, and everyone has a shot…but with Dallas seen as the odds-on favorite going into this calendar year…the ‘Boys appear to be coming back to the pack, not pushing ahead of the pack.
Tyler Smith is handy. Sam Williams could be a shock stud edge. The loss of Amari hurt but losing Cedrick Wilson stings too.
The Giants go into this offseason as arguably the worst team in the NFC East, but not that far off (because the division is so weak)…but maybe with a big offseason, perhaps in this mediocre division they could make a push? And if they made a move to improve their worst situation – quarterback? Well, looking at their offseason key +/- moves…it doesn’t look like they made much progress. Getting Evan Neal was big/nice, but outside of that it’s relying on Thibodeaux to come through…and that could be tenuous.
It’s quite possible the Giants lost 3-4-5 contributors/starters but have an OL upgrade/Evan Neal to show for it on the other side. Lorenzo Carter gone and Thibodeaux in…that may not be as big an upgrade as you think (or an upgrade at all) – we’ll see if talent or mental makeup wins out.
Let’s say Dallas evened out on the edge with Williams-Fowler in and Gregory out, actually it’s an upgrade I believe…but let’s call it a ‘no change’ at the edge. And let’s say the move from Carter to Thibodeaux for NYG is similar to what Dallas did on the edge…no real change (for 2022). If we ignore all that edge rusher maneuvering and focus on the fact that Dallas has a lost Amari for 2022 to show for their offseason big effect…then I don’t see how Dallas is ‘better’ today. NYG has the Neal upgrade with the Ryan-Engram-Peppers-Hernandez losses.
I guess NYG gets a slight bump better by just getting Neal and everything else washing itself out or the backups not far off what they lost (in a simplistic sense)…versus Dallas really losing ground with all their moves considered together, especially with Amari (for 2022). Reluctantly, and unimpressively the edge to the better offseason (so far) goes to NYG over Dallas here, but it’s close.
WINNER: The New York Giants, who go on to face the winner of PHI v. WSH in the next round.
