Eagles open as early favorites to win the NFC East in 2019

Ready for a way-too-early look ahead to the 2019 season? If so, Westgate Superbook has posted some opening odds for this year’s NFL divisions. Here’s a look:

As you can see, the Philadelphia Eagles are the early favorites to win the NFC East at even money. This seems to reflect positively on their offseason moves to this point: trading for DeSean Jackson, signing Malik Jackson, etc.

For the uninitiated, this means you can potentially receive the same amount of money you bet on the Eagles to win. If you bet $100 on the Eagles to win the division and they do, you win $100.

There’s certainly reason to believe the Eagles can win the NFC East this season. Doug Pederson is the best coach in the division and Carson Wentz is the best quarterback in the division. Those are two very big reasons to bet on Philly.

Of course, some will question if Wentz can stay healthy. He does need to be more available than he was in the past two seasons. It should help that Wentz is now two years removed from ACL/LCL surgery and has a full offseason to get ready for 2019.

Wentz’s Eagles should also benefit from the division not exactly being rife with competition. The Giants are aimless and Washington is going to quarterbacked by either Case Keenum or Colt McCoy this year. It’d be pretty surprising if one of them grabbed the division crown.

The Cowboys are clearly the Eagles’ biggest threat to winning the NFC East. Dallas won the division last year and they beat Philly twice (thanks in part to some major help from the refs). They have some good, young talent.

They also have Jason Garrett and Dak Prescott, who have had their moments but ultimately figure to limit the team’s ceiling. Plus, we all know history is not on the Cowboys’ side when it comes to repeating as NFC East champions because there hasn’t been a back-to-back winner since 2004.

Again, it’s way too early too know what the 2019 Eagles look like for sure. Philly still has some major areas to address, such as a running back. We’ll also see what they come away with in the 2019 NFL Draft.

For now, there’s reason to believe they’ll be competing for NFC East supremacy in 2019. They’re not favored by accident.

When it comes to the bigger picture, the Eagles recently saw their Super Bowl odds get shorter. Philadelphia is now tied for the seventh best title odds, per BetOnline.AG:

Super Bowl odds for both the Cowboys and Giants got longer while Washington remained at their spot near the bottom of the list.

The Saints, Rams, and Bears are the only NFC teams with shorter odds than the Eagles.