The Dallas Cowboys have their own issues to take care of if they're going to climb back into relevance in the NFC East this coming season, but the path to finishing higher than third place in the division might be more difficult than anticipated.
The New York Giants didn't have an offseason that's generating a lot of positive hype in the NFL media world, but they might have gotten the best defensive player in the entire incoming class. First-round pick Abdul Carter, a star pass rusher out of Penn State, has been having an outstanding rookie training camp for the Giants.
This wouldn't be all that off-putting, except for the fact that the Giants already had some of the best talent on their defensive line in the NFL before adding Carter. Now, they've got another weapon in the pass rush department.
Cowboys may have another problem on their hands with Giants rookie Abdul Carter
Abdul Carter just got by Evan Neal with ease for a sack on Russell Wilson. Got there so fast that the coaches actually blew the play dead. #Giants
— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) August 6, 2025
The Giants already had Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, and Kayvon Thibodeaux on their defensive front. Now, they've added another potentially elite player for that unit. Let's not forget they added former Cowboy Chauncey Golston in free agency as well.
Everyone knows that if you can win in the trenches -- on either side of the ball -- you can have sustained success in the NFL.
The quarterback situation for the Giants is not the most inspiring in the NFL, but they can get by until they figure out the long-term situation with Jaxson Dart or someone else. But if you can get to the quarterback, you might win some ugly games, but you might be in a lot of one-score games.
And Brian Daboll won with less at QB back in 2022 when he had Daniel Jones in his first year with the team.
Again, the Cowboys have their own former Penn State pass rusher to be thinking about right now. It's all anyone in the Cowboys fan base can think about. But what's been going on at Giants training camp is probably worth paying attention to, because the Cowboys are not guaranteed to be finishing better than third place this coming season. They're not even guaranteed third place.
The Giants, for all their faults, are going to be able to get pressure on the quarterback and be a force on the defensive front. The addition of Abdul Carter makes everyone on that defensive line better.
If the selections of Carter and Dart work out for the Giants, it could be really bad news for the Cowboys.