Pro Football Focus released their top 50 players heading into the 2020 season this week, only naming one Dallas Cowboy to the list.
That Cowboy, as discussed earlier this week, is offensive lineman Zack Martin. There’s no question that Martin deserved his spot, though 46th overall felt way too low for a top-two guard in the NFL.
“Few players have been as consistently excellent as Zack Martin since he entered the league. Five of his six starting seasons have seen him earn an overall PFF grade of at least 85.9, and the sixth was 79.1. Last season, he allowed no sacks at all, was flagged just twice all year and earned a solid run-blocking grade. He has now been penalized just five times in four seasons.”
Still – at least he earned the recognition at all. No other Cowboys were named to the top 50, and considering how consistently applauded they are for their roster talent this feels wrong.
Here are three players which have a strong case for being “snubbed” from the PFF top 50.
Amari Cooper
Amari Cooper has been nothing short of amazing since joining the Cowboys midway through the 2018 season. Last year, he had his best season to date, going for 1,189 yards and 8 touchdowns on 79 receptions.
Cooper and Dak Prescott have developed quite the chemistry, and should be thought of as one of the league’s best combinations. For whatever reason they aren’t, but the numbers say Amari Cooper should be considered for this top 50 list.
DeMarcus Lawrence
This might be the most egregious miss here. DeMarcus Lawrence being left off of this list completely feels like a crime, even if his sack numbers dipped in 2019.
As PFF would be the first to point out, sacks aren’t an accurate representation of how a pass rusher played, and anyone who evaluates the game knows how dynamic a pass rusher Lawrence is. I do understand the argument that he didn’t play up to the ability as some of the other pass rushers on this list, though.
Lawrence is the best player on the Cowboys defense, and he’ll certainly need to play like a top 50 type player if this team is to make a Super Bowl run in 2020.
Tyron Smith
Despite his struggles with his back in recent years, Tyron Smith remains one of the league’s best left tackles. Without question.
While it seems like Smith is an aging veteran at this point, he’s still only 29 years old. And still playing at an extremely high level. We also know how important Tyron Smith is to the Cowboys offense as a whole, as the entire infrastructure seems to fall whenever he is out of the lineup.
Still, though, I can’t be too mad at the list. There’s a lot of talented players in this league, and only 50 spots in a top 50.
