NFL Network’s Gerald McCoy on Giants & Cowboys as His NFC Sleeper Teams

Gerald McCoy tried to sneak the Dallas Cowboys past the sleeper-team judges, and the judges pushed back.

Asked for a sleeper in each conference, McCoy answered with a question. Are the Cowboys considered a sleeper team? Rich's ruling was no, though the set noted Dallas did miss the playoffs last season, and eventually the panel let him have it anyway.

"The Cowboys are not considered a sleeper team. I believe they are," McCoy said. "They should be considered a sleeper team. If y'all don't accept the Cowboys, I go Giants."

The Giants were accepted, and McCoy's reasoning there is about culture before talent.

"I believe Harbaugh, he's going to bring back that Tom Coughlin type mindset," he said. "That hard-nosed style of football that Tom Coughlin brought to the New York Giants."

The supporting evidence came from a recruiting visit McCoy took to Baltimore after leaving Tampa. He was told about Lamar Jackson in a way that stuck with him.

"He said, listen, y'all seen him as a rookie. But what a lot of people haven't seen is we've been building an offense to fit this kid," McCoy recalled.

He is careful with the comparison. Jaxson Dart is not Lamar Jackson. But McCoy sees a similar skill set, and he expects the Giants to build around it rather than force a system on it.

Odell Beckham Jr.'s return fits the same logic. McCoy does not think New York brought him back to be the Odell of old. He thinks Beckham is depth, an added piece, and the mind in the receiver room who coaches the young guys.

Add a draft class McCoy likes and a defense he thinks is well constructed, and his conclusion was measured rather than loud. "I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants snuck into the playoffs."

Then Rich cycled back to Dallas with a follow-up designed to make McCoy commit. If the Cowboys are a sleeper, do they stay awake long enough to reach the NFC Championship game?

"Yeah, I believe they can," McCoy said, which prompted a crack from the set about him handing out candy to everybody.

His actual case is a defensive tackle argument, which is exactly what you would expect from him. Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams as the tandem that makes everything go. Rashan Gary added on the edge. And Caleb Downs, who McCoy calls arguably the best defensive player in the draft.

Downs is where McCoy got most animated, because he sees him as the answer to a leaguewide shortage.

"The NFL is lacking true linebackers that can cover and tackle," he said. "So what are you doing? You're going out and getting your Derwin James's or your Caleb Downs's. He can be a safety, but then you can add him in the box. He could be a linebacker slash coverage guy. And you don't really need a mic in this defense because that's what Caleb will be."

He also flagged Jaishawn Barham, the linebacker out of Michigan, and reminded Rich they had talked about him before. McCoy brought up the game Barham missed a half of because of a targeting call, which Rich dismissed as stupid, a penalty for hitting a quarterback he was in the process of sacking.

"He's the real thing, though," McCoy said. "What happens once he touches the field? The whole game changes."

His closing prediction was the kind that ages loudly in either direction.

"People are going to make fun of the Cowboys, but at the end of the year they could be a problem," McCoy said. "Telling you."

The Giants and Cowboys endorsements together lit up the set, and Rich made sure McCoy knew what he had done to TJ.