The Dallas Cowboys are racing toward the deadline to get franchise quarterback Dak Prescott inked to a long-term contract. At stake is nothing less than the future of the sport’s flagship team for the next five years or more.
Get Prescott signed, and the Cowboys are an immediate contender for the next half-dozen Super Bowls. Let July 15 pass without a deal, and Prescott is still wearing the star for 2020 for sure… but anything beyond that is a dicey proposition. And according to ESPN, that could be wasting an impressive- and dramatically improved- array of offensive talent that the organization has put into place around Prescott over the past two seasons.
Bill Barnwell, staff writer for the Worldwide Leader, has put each team’s roster under the microscope and ranked all 32 clubs based on the skill-position talent surrounding their quarterback. While he emphatically points out that his list does not factor in the impact of the quarterback, offensive line, or scheme, it’s still an accurate barometer of how good a team may be.
New column: I ranked each NFL team's weapons from 32-1 https://t.co/ZnDtf2DSGX
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) July 13, 2020
Barnwell places the Cowboys third-best in the NFL, and tops in the NFC. That’s way, way, way up from a dismal ranking of 30th in 2018.
Only the Chiefs and Browns are slotted higher on the list, ranked 1 and 2, respectively.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott looks to be a force once again for the Cowboys. Now the league leader in rushing yards per game over three of the past four seasons has complementary threats in the receiving corps, preventing defenses from being able to stack the box against him.
Investing in the playmaking positions was the key, Barnwell says. Of course, trading for Amari Cooper turned out to be a shrewd move. But the rapid ascension of Michael Gallup has been just as important. “The only third-round pick to produce more yards in his second season as a pro is Mike Wallace,” Barnwell writes, “with Gallup coming in ahead of guys such as T.Y. Hilton, Kenny Golladay, and Terrell Owens.”
Add to the mix the highly-touted rookie CeeDee Lamb, “who would profile as the No. 1 wideout for a handful of teams right now,” and Dallas is loaded at wide receiver.
The only reason the Cowboys don’t rank higher than third, Barnwell nitpicks, is having a less-than-elite name playing tight end. New starter Blake Jarwin “was productive in a small sample last season, ranking eighth in the league in yards per route run and 11th in yards per target. There’s no way he is going to see significant volume with the other four guys in this offense ahead of him, but if Jarwin can maintain that sort of efficiency, Dallas won’t have any weaknesses.”
Unless, that is, they decide to rely on a backup rifleman to handle that stockpile of next-gen firepower as their long-range plan of attack.
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