One of the most intriguing storylines from the 2025 offseason was the weaponization of the NFC East division offenses. The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl in February thanks to their passing attack featuring one of the league’s top receiving duos in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. And as is the custom, teams look to the successful franchises as a blueprint for the changes they need to make.
In early free agency, the Washington Commanders, who lost the NFC Championship game to the Eagles, went out and acquired former 49ers top wideout Deebo Samuel. Following the draft, the Dallas Cowboys joined the fray when they traded for George Pickens. Adding top-tier talent to augment Terry McLaurin and CeeDee Lamb, respectively, set up the three teams to have tremendous shoot outs for the foreseeable future.
Brown and Smith and Lamb and Pickens squared off in Week 1, and Week 7 was supposed to be McLaurin and Samuel taking on Lamb and Pickens. Lamb has missed the last several games, but is a full go for the matchup. The problem is that McLaurin has been dealing with a quad injury and was ruled out on Friday. Things have gone from bad to worse as the Commanders have now ruled out Samuel, who has a heel injury, as well.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Dallas Duel of Dynamic Duos Deaded: Commanders downgrade WR Samuel
Reporting by K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
