Tag: NFLPA All Pro

Cowboys land just 1 player on Players’ All-Pro Team for 2024

From @ToddBrock24f7: KaVontae Turpin was selected by active NFL players as the best kick return man in the game. He’s the only Cowboy to make the 2024 squad.

For the third year in a row, the NFL Players’ Association has put together its own all-star squad, voted on solely by players choosing the best of the best at their own positions and the positions they line up against.

The Players’ All-Pro Team was started last year as “the first true representation of players recognizing the best of us,” according to then-NFLPA president and former Browns center JC Tretter. (The honor is not to be confused with the All-Pro award; that roster will be revealed by the Associated Press in the coming days.)

This year, only one Cowboys player meets that criterion. KaVontae Turpin was chosen as the Players’ All-Pro-Team kick returner for 2024.

Turpin led the league with 904 kick return yards, and his 33.5-yard average was tops among all specialists who returned a dozen or more kicks this season. He was one of just seven NFL players to return a kick for a touchdown in 2024.

His 99-yard spin-move score in the Week 12 win over Washington stands as perhaps the most memorable play of the Cowboys’ season and one of the most-replayed moments on an NFL field all year.

The 2023 team featured five Cowboys (CeeDee Lamb, Zack Martin, Tyler Smith, DaRon Bland, Brandon Aubrey) representing all three phases of the game. But, just like everything else on the field in Dallas, 2024 saw a disappointing dropoff.

Turpin previously made the 2023 Players’ All-Pro Team, as the punt returner. Martin was also included on that inaugural squad.

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To determine the Players’ All-Pro Team, active players vote only for their own position group and the position group(s) they line up directly against. Players get one vote only for each of those slots and are not allowed to vote for themselves. Designated player leaders from each team vote for special teamers. Players who missed five or more games as of Week 15 were ineligible for the vote.

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5 Cowboys make NFLPA All-Pro list, but 2 best players miss out

5 Cowboys players made the NFLPA list but left off quarterback Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons. | From @ArmyChiefW3

The NFLPA released its second annual All-Pro roster on Wednesday. It’s not to be confused with the AP All-Pro list that comes out later. This year’s selections included five members of the Dallas Cowboys.

Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, right guard Zack Martin and left guard Tyler Smith made the team on offense while cornerback DaRon Bland and kicker Brandon Aubrey made the list on their sides of the ball. Smith ended up in a tie with Cleveland guard Joel Bitoni, even though Smith did not make the initial Pro Bowl Roster.

As those players celebrate a great achievement, Cowboys fans will find it puzzling that their two most important players did not get selected. Quarterback Dak Prescott led the league in almost every statistical passing category yet was left off the first-team in favor of Lamar Jackson who threw for 12 fewer touchdowns and 841 fewer yards.

Jackson earning the best record in the NFL is apparently more of an indication of greatness than statistics are for an individual award.

Equally as puzzling was the decision to leave pass rusher Micah Parsons off the list as well. While it would be hard to argue against the case for Clevelands’ Myles Garrett, placing the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby over Parsons seems a bit questionable.

While Crosby registered 14.5 sacks compared to Parsons’s 14, the Dallas defender led the league in pressures with 103 compared to Crosby’s 94. According to PFF, Parsons had a higher overall grade, a higher pass rush grade, more quarterback hits and more quarterback hurries.

While a better record appears enough to overtake the quarterback discussion, it does nothing for a tightly-contested comparison among defenders.