In 2011, the New York Giants became the first team to win the NFC East with fewer than 10 wins. If everything were right in the world, they would’ve gone on to lose in the wild-card round of the playoffs. Instead, that incredibly mediocre team went on to win the Super Bowl, and the football gods didn’t like that, so they cursed the NFC East with periodic fits of mediocrity.

Since 2011, a team has won the NFC East with single-digit wins three times, and the fourth time is coming this year. So you know what? Let’s have fun with it. Let's build the mid-season All-NFC East roster out of these teams forsaken by the Football Gods.

Spoiler: There isn’t a dominant presence from any of the four teams, because none of them are remotely close to being complete.

The Rubric

This roster is based purely on who is playing right now and how they are playing. It has nothing to do with how well these players have done in the past, or how we think they will do in the future. That’s incredibly important to remember because the first player on the roster is:

Offense

Quarterback

• J.J. McCarthy (Giants)

J.J. McCarthy has played 97 total snaps and started just one game for the Giants. And that’s all it took for him to be the best quarterback in the NFC East — for now. We’ve seen his lows, but he’s looked absurdly good compared to the other quarterbacks in the division. 

What makes it actually impressive is that his good performance(s) came against non-NFC East teams. The other quarterbacks in this division have only been good against the divisional teams, which is absolutely not impressive at all.

Running Back

• Saquon Barkley (Eagles)

You can make an argument that Javonte Williams is the best running back in the NFC East, but it’s wrong. He’s definitely good, and he’s having a better season than Barkley. But that makes sense because the Cowboys’ offense is functional. 

Barkley is playing at about 60 percent of his actual power, behind a less talented and massively worse-coached offensive line — and he’s still changing the game when he’s on the field. 

Wide Receivers:

• CeeDee Lamb (Cowboys)
• Malik Nabers (Giants)
• DeVonta Smith (Eagles)

This is the one position where the All-NFC East team is actually good.  All three of the WR1s are certified studs, plain and simple. None of them are dominant X-Receivers or anything like that, which explains a lot of offensive struggles, but they’re all pretty sick.

Tight End:

• Isaiah Likely (Giants)

Isaiah Likely is just one of the better tight ends in the NFL. He’s a much better receiving threat than he is a blocker, but he’s willing to stick his face in someone’s chest if he’s asked to. He's just not asked to do it all that often. 

Offensive line

• Jordan Mailata (Eagles)
• Tyler Smith (Cowboys)
• Cooper Beebe (Cowboys)
• Sam Cosmi (Commanders)
• Jermaine Eluemunor (Giants)

Mailata, Smith, Beebe and Cosmi are all shoo-ins for their spots. 

If you were to make any All-Pro or Pro Bowl-type team (not just NFC East), Lane Johnson would be your right tackle 10 times out of 10. Now that he’s retired, the average talent of right tackles around the NFL has dropped significantly, especially in the NFC East. 

Luckily, Jermaine Eluemunor has been having a good season. He’s allowed seven total pressures, five QB hits and only one sack. That’s pretty solid. 

Defense

Defensive Tackles

• Quinnen Williams (Cowboys)
• D.J. Reader (Giants)
• Moro Ojomo (Eagles)

Quinnen Williams is still a good football player. He definitely isn’t worth the Cowboys’ 2026 second-round pick and 2027 first-round pick. But he’s still a good ball player. 

One of the big reasons the Giants defense hasn’t been horrible this season is because D.J. Reader has been a pretty good replacement for Dexter Lawrence. He’s an absolute menace against the run, and he’s been pretty solid as a disruptive nose tackle. I don’t really care about his sack and pressure numbers because he’s not a third-down guy; he’s good at being a beefcake. 

Moro Ojomo is consistently outplaying the other Eagles defensive tackles (Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis) even though they're making a combined $63 million more per year than him. Not only is Ojomo a really good ball player, but he's consistently a really good ball player. Consistency is key in this sort of thing. 

EDGE

• K’Lavon Chaisson (Commanders)
• Abdul Carter (Giants)

There are only two teams in the NFC East with a real pass rush: the Commanders and the Giants —and the Giants are getting it done without Brian Burns, which is nuts. A lot of that is because of Abdul Carter turning into a violent, real, and consistent pass rusher. 

K’Lavon Chaisson is a really good pass rusher who gets in the backfield and gets touches on the quarterback. They might not always be legal touches, but he gets the quarterback on the ground. In this division, that’s enough to be a top-tier guy. 

Linebackers

• Sonny Styles (Commanders)
• Arvell Reese (Giants)

The Commanders and the Giants made really good decisions when they drafted Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese in the first round. These two guys are going to be battling each other for Defensive Rookie of the Year for the rest of this season, and down the line, they’ll probably be robbing each other of Pro Bowl nods. 

The fact of the matter is that they’re playing better than Zack Baun right now, and he’s the only other guy who could really be in this conversation. 

Safeties

• Jevon Holland (Giants)
• Nick Cross (Commanders)

None of the safeties in the NFC East are blowing your mind. Our options are the Eagles’ Drew Mukuba and Marcus Epps, the Cowboys’ Malik Hooker and Markquese Bell, the Giants’ Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin and the Commanders' Jeremy Reaves and Nick Cross.

You’re not looking at any of those names and saying, "Those guys rock." So I suppose I would have to say it’s Jevon Holland and Nick Cross. Holland has been pretty clutch for the Giants, and I like Nick Cross’s physicality. If you want to argue for a different second safety, you’re really just picking nits. 

Cornerbacks

• Quinyon Mitchell (Eagles) 
• Deonte Banks (Giants)

Quinyon Mitchell is the only player on the Eagles defense who’s playing up to his talent. He’s an All-Pro-caliber corner, and he’ll probably be right there again by the end of the season.

I put Deonte Banks as the other corner because Joey Porter Jr. can’t stay on the field for the Cowboys. Also, Banks has been good this year.

My rule is that you can criticize guys when they stink, but you have to give them props when they do well. Banks pretty much lost his job to Cor’Dale Flott last season, but he responded and has been a real dude so far.

When you Frankenstein a roster together like this, it actually doesn’t look all that bad. That just means that the head coach will botch the clock while playing for field goals. The offensive coordinator will be brand new to his job and won’t be able to make adjustments. And the defensive coordinator will be running a copycat version of someone else’s defense, and it won’t look or function the right way.

You know, just the way we like it.