NFL Draft Review: NFC East Winners and Losers

Ken Kelly Posted On June 4, 2014

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The NFC East is always an interesting division to watch due to its inevitable competitiveness and the fact we know to expect the unexpected. With some of fantasy football’s most explosive players like Dez Bryant and LeSean McCoy as well as up coming players like Robert Griffin III and Nick Foles, this division promises to be a treasure trove for statistical performance for years to come. Add in some significant rookie wide receiver additions in the forms of Jordan Matthews and Odell Beckham, Jr. and it’s time to go through the division and seek out our NFL Draft winners and losers.

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Winners

DeMarco Murray, RB DAL

The Cowboys failed to address the running back position again in the year’s draft, leaving Murray with yet another chance to prove he can stay healthy and carry the load in the backfield. There’s no doubting his talent as he’s one of the most effective running backs in the league when healthy, but that’s just not something he’s proven we can count on. With that being said, he did play in 14 of the 16 possible games last year, which was a career high. Murray is one of the biggest boom or bust players in dynasty leagues, but the Cowboys certainly left him with the keys to the car, so to speak.

Tony Romo, QB DAL

When the Cowboys were on the clock and Johnny Manziel was still on the board, owners of Romo must have felt those few minutes lasted a lifetime. In the end, Dallas re-affirmed their dedication to him by passing on Manziel and thus avoiding what would have been the biggest circus we’ve seen in years. Time is running short on his winning window, but he’ll still be a very viable low-end QB1 in the short-term, especially without having the need to look over his shoulder.

Nick Foles, QB PHI

Foles just has a total embarrassment of riches at this point. After the addition of Darren Sproles to the backfield earlier this off-season, the Eagles drafted Vanderbilt receiver Jordan Matthews, who could prove to be the long-term WR1 for Philadelphia, especially after they kicked DeSean Jackson to the curb. Matthews was incredibly productive over the past two seasons in the SEC as he posted over 200 catches and 2,800 receiving yards. While expecting the same touchdown-to-interception ratio from Foles next season is just plain silly, he has the table set and will have no excuses to perform less than admirably.

Losers

Riley Cooper, WR PHI

The Eagles surprised everyone when they signed Cooper to a hefty five-year, $22.5 million contract extension with a whopping $10 million guaranteed. Cooper is a good player, but those numbers don’t really seem to match the production he’s posted during his four years with the Eagles. Matthews will surely push Cooper for playing time early and it won’t be much of a surprise to see him get more targets than Cooper as early as this season. In the end, Cooper may end up being a better player in reality than fantasy.

Roy Helu, RB WAS

If you have any idea what to expect from Lache Seastrunk, please let me know. Of all the players in this year’s class, he may be the biggest mystery. He has the size of a third down back, but hasn’t shown any consistency catching the ball. Helu has long been a bit of a dynasty tease, but Seastrunk could eat into his touches if he can improve in the passing game. Regardless, the road to the starting job should Alfred Morris get injured isn’t so clear for Helu at this point. Remember, this regime didn’t draft Helu, so they won’t show any favoritism.

Damaris Johnson, WR PHI

The drafting of Matthews immediately throws a big bucket of cold water on the sleeper appeal of Johnson. It’s going to take the loss of Jeremy Maclin via free agency next season or an injury or two to put Johnson back on the radar. As such, he can be safely dropped, even in deep dynasty leagues.

Jerrel Jernigan, WR NYG

The drafting of Odell Beckham, Jr. immediately muddies the water in regards to the depth chart of the Giants. We know Victor Cruz is going to get his targets, but most of them may come from the slot. If that happens, Rueben Randle should be able to maintain most of his value playing on the outside opposite Beckham. Regardless, Beckham’s presence puts a nice little roadblock in front of Jernigan and last year’s late season riser is going to have a tough time maintaining any type of value in dynasty leagues.

Rashad Jennings, RB NYG

It’s possible David Wilson returns and takes a big chunk of carries away from the newly signed free agent in Jennings. It’s possible rookie Andre Williams pushes him in camp and carves out a role of his own. It’s possible all three of these players void out the value of the others. Really, anything is possible at the moment. The drafting of Williams just puts more cloud cover over the situation.

Andre Roberts, WR WAS

After the Redskins acquired DeSean Jackson, it put a huge dent into the value of Roberts, who was slated to start opposite Pierre Garcon. To make matters worse, the Redskins drafted Ryan Grant, who has been an early star of rookie camps. The Redskins are now talking about using Roberts on special teams and that’s a bad sign for how consistently involved they think he’s going to be in the offense. I’ve seen Roberts dropped in several of my own leagues and I haven’t exactly run to the waiver wire to acquire him.

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Ken Kelly

Co-Founder at DynastyLeagueFootball

Ken is a corporate trainer by day an a tireless editor of dynasty content by night. His passion for the World Champion Seattle Seahawks is second only to his love of fantasy football and the dynasty format.

Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK