Power rankings, by their very nature, are meant to stir up debate. Just like mock drafts and draft report cards, power rankings are one person’s attempt to definitively quantify football things when there’s no actual… you know, football… happening.
Even when that person is one of the game’s most tapped-in insiders, it’s pure subjective opinion.
But that won’t keep Cowboys fans from feeling their blood pressure rise as they peruse Peter King’s 2022 power rankings in his latest Football Morning in America column.
King has this year’s edition of the Cowboys ranked 15th in the league: just a hair above the mathematical middle of the road.
Worse yet, he has the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 9.
King defends his rankings thusly:
“I picked the Eagles ahead of Dallas because the Eagles got significantly better this offseason and Dallas worse, with the subtraction of two key contributors (Amari Cooper and Randy Gregory) and the addition of none. Oh, and the two best pieces of protection for Prescott, tackle Tyron Smith and guard Zack Martin, both turn 32 this season and have missed 26 games, combined, due to injury the last two years. On their best day, the Cowboys can play with everyone except maybe Buffalo. Problem is, they don’t have enough best days.”
King isn’t alone in that uncertainty regarding the Dallas offensive line.
NFL.com’s Marc Sessler calls the group the Cowboys’ biggest remaining offseason priority, especially once you get past the aforementioned Smith and Martin.
Sessler writes:
“The remaining front five, though, rests on shifting sands after La’el Collins landed with the Bengals. Tyler Biadasz is slotted at center, with Terence Steele hanging out at right tackle. First-rounder Tyler Smith played tackle at Tulsa, but he now finds himself in a tussle with Connor McGovern for left guard. It’s no help that McGovern refused to emerge as a clear-cut starter last season, but the scenery looks brighter if Tyler Smith’s road-grading abilities pan out in Year 1.”
Things should indeed start to get gradually clearer as OTAs commence on Tuesday. But Tyler Smith’s readiness to step in on Day One will be among the most-asked questions of the summer in Frisco, and his level of play will no doubt be a genuine factor in the Cowboys’ success (or lack thereof) this season.
In the meantime, Cowboys fans may be able to find consolation regarding King’s power-ranking dis by looking to his own words.
He had the Cowboys pegged at No. 21 at this time a year ago. And he gave himself a C-minus for his overall rankings of the entire league, where he had the Cleveland Browns 4th, the Indianapolis Colts 9th, the 12-5 Titans at No. 18, and the eventual AFC champion Bengals ranked 27th.
“I’m not great at this,” King admits in the very first paragraph of his column.
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