In the past decade PFF, or Pro Football Focus, has become a household name for their analysis and player grading systems. Recently, PFF published their list of the top 101 NFL players, since the 2010-2011 season. A number of Dallas Cowboys or former Cowboys made the list, including a trio of offensive linemen that should come as no surprise.
Before getting into the rankings a look at some of the criteria used. Rather than focusing on things like talent and potential, this list focus on measurable aspects of the game, such as production, efficiency and performance over the last 10 seasons. The ranking also values postseason performance, total playing time in the decade, and it was created with a “all positions created equal” mentality.
Without further ado, let’s look at the Cowboys that cracked PFF’s top 101 players of the last decade.
34. Travis Frederick, C
No. 34 on the #PFFAllDecade101@tfrederick72 pic.twitter.com/6xHd8dNbP4
— PFF (@PFF) May 13, 2020
PFF: “It’s a shame that illness curtailed a career that was trending towards being one of the greatest in NFL history. Frederick hit the ground running as a pro and graded above 85.0 for the first five seasons of his career before Guillain-Barre syndrome forced him to miss the entirety of the 2018 season. He returned in 2019 and played the whole season, but he wasn’t the same player (though he was still very solid), so he chose to walk away. Even five years of Frederick’s best play is enough to see him rank among the best players of the past decade.”
43. Tyron Smith, T
No. 43 on the #PFFAllDecade101
Tyron Smith pic.twitter.com/eRiOZ32tON
— PFF (@PFF) May 13, 2020
PFF: “One of the most talented offensive linemen of all time, Tyron Smith has battled through injuries and still ended up as one of the best players of the decade. His peak play was as good as that of any tackle in NFL history. His 2015 regular season grade of 95.0 is the best single-season mark we have ever given to a tackle, and even though he suffered a number of injuries over the second half of the decade, he has never graded below 75.0 overall. Tyron Smith is the player every young offensive lineman wishes he could be — he has been one of the best players of the past decade in the trenches.”
51. Zack Martin, G
No. 51 on the #PFFAllDecade101
Zack Martin pic.twitter.com/Fp1cyZNksi
— PFF (@PFF) May 12, 2020
PFF: “One of the most consistently dominant linemen in the league every year, Zack Martin may have been the third-most-heralded lineman on his own offensive line for the better part of his career, often taking a backseat while Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick were heavily praised. However, the past few seasons have seen him elevate his game and earn far more recognition in his own right. Going up against — and largely shutting down — Fletcher Cox twice a season within the NFC East will help in that regard, and Martin has now earned an overall PFF grade above 85.0 in five of his first six seasons in the NFL.”
75. Dez Bryant, WR
No. 75 on the #PFFAllDecade101@DezBryant pic.twitter.com/brmaPizxIo
— PFF (@PFF) May 11, 2020
PFF: “Late-career Dez Bryant became solely a possession receiver, but he was a true game-changer at his peak and a worthy heir to Michael Irvin’s No. 88 jersey in Dallas. Only 40 wide receivers caught 400 or more passes over the course of the decade. Meanwhile, Bryant caught 359 passes that moved the chains alone. He also broke 87 tackles and was singularly difficult to bring to the ground one on one at his best. For his career, Bryant produced a 101.9 passer rating for his quarterbacks when targeted.”
Those four players are the only players that made the list after spending the majority of the decade in Dallas. Two defensive linemen with recent connections also made the cut; recent signing Gerald McCoy, as well as Michael Bennett, who spent this past season with Dallas before leaving in the offseason.
72. Gerald McCoy, DT
PFF: “How fitting that Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy — forever compared as draft prospects — end up one after another on the PFF Top 101 of the decade. McCoy is one of just five interior defenders to have notched 400 or more total pressures over the decade and was regularly the lone threat along the Tampa Bay defensive line that seemed impressively unable to surround him with any kind of assistance. McCoy has been one of the most consistently disruptive defensive tackles of the last decade.”
74.Michael Bennett, DL
PFF: “Michael Bennett, at his best, was a unique force along the defensive line. Ostensibly an edge rusher, he would spend considerable time inside as a defensive tackle and use his child-sized shoulder pads combined with his speed and quickness to knife through the defensive line and wreak havoc in the backfield. Only Von Miller and Cameron Wake had more total pressures over the decade than Bennett did, and no defensive lineman tackled the runner closer to the line of scrimmage on average than he did. For the decade, his average tackle depth was just half a yard downfield against the run.”
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