Despite a disaster of an offseason, the Cowboys still have much premium talent on both sides of the ball. A couple can be argued as the best players at their position in the league, while others have arguments to be top-10 players in the league at their position. Going into 2022, Dallas has a solid roster that should contend for a playoff spot.
Here are my top five players on the Cowboys’ roster right now:
1. G Zack Martin
The best guard and one of the best offensive linemen in the league, Martin continues to be one of the NFL’s elite players. He hasn’t given up more than one sack in a season since 2018 and is arguably coming off his best season with a career-high 93.4 Pro Football Focus grade.
Martin earned his seventh Pro Bowl and fifth First-team All-Pro selection last season. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer and the anchor in Dallas’ offensive line. Going into the 2022 season, Martin is undoubtedly the best player the Cowboys employ.
2. LB Micah Parsons
Selected with the 12th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Parsons quickly burst onto the scene. The rookie dominated from start to finish, earning unanimous Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. Parsons led the NFL in pass-rush win rate and pressure rate and ranked second in tackles for loss, third in quarterback knockdowns, fourth in QB hits and sixth in sacks.
Parsons wasn’t bad in coverage either, with quarterbacks recording a passer rating of 71.4 when targeting him. His list of awards includes First-team All-Pro, the NFL’s Butkus Award and Pro Football Writers of America’s Rookie of the Year. An exciting 2022 season is in store for Parsons.
3. OT Tyron Smith
Smith is another key member of the Cowboys’ offensive line, allowing just two sacks last season and zero tackles for loss. He also allowed a quarterback pressure on just 2.4% of snaps, ranking second amongst tackles last season.
Smith’s PFF grade of 90.2 was topped by only one tackle — the San Francisco 49ers’ Trent Williams. He’s also coming off his eighth Pro Bowl selection in 2021. He still struggles with injuries, having not played a full season since 2015. But when Smith is healthy, he’s one of the best tackles in the league.
4. QB Dak Prescott
It doesn’t matter what you think of Prescott; he’s easily a top-five player on Dallas’ roster. After suffering a compound ankle fracture in 2020, he came back firing in 2021 to set a franchise record for touchdown passes in a season with 37. Prescott also completed a career-high 68.8 percent of his passes.
The seventh-year veteran also ranked third in passer rating, seventh in passing yards and threw just 10 interceptions. Against 2021 playoff teams in the regular season (Buccaneers, Cardinals, Chiefs, Eagles, Patriots, Raiders), Prescott threw 19 touchdowns with a 110.6 passer rating and just four interceptions. He’s one of the league’s better quarterbacks and should have a great 2022 season.
5. CB Trevon Diggs
One of the league’s most polarizing players, Diggs edges out edge rusher Demarcus Lawrence for the fifth spot. Last season, he became the first player to record 11 interceptions in 41 years. Those 11 INTs also set a franchise record. He also ranked second in the NFL with 21 passes defended.
Obviously, Diggs can improve in coverage. According to Pro Football Reference, he gave up a league-high 965 yards in 2021. However, his interceptions had a considerable impact on the Cowboys, with Dallas scoring 44 points off his INTs. Quarterbacks also had a 55.8 passer rating and a 52.4 completion percentage when targeting Diggs. Those numbers ranked top-20 in the league, with the former ranking sixth.
