This is one helluva talented roster right now. Even a lot of the backups are damn good players. Many of the best players are 25 or younger. Probably only 3-4 spots on the roster even available. Great job by the personnel department.
So, let's play a game.
I'm going to rank the starters from best to least best (plus a few more guys that will see a lot of time). I'm going to assume everybody is fully healthy (Lee and Cobb), and some guys will be low just because they are young or just got here. No kickers, punters, specialty guys, or Randy Gregory.
And we're off......
1. Zack Martin - 2nd best Cowboys guard all time behind Larry Allen
2. Zeke Elliott - the heart and hammer of the offense
3. Tyron Smith - still as good as it gets even at 90%
4. Travis Frederick - hoping he's fully recovered to his former incredible self soon
5. Demarcus Lawrence - will handle the contract well
6. Amari Cooper - silky smooth routes are a pleasure to behold
7. Leighton Vander Esch - crazy athleticism and shadowed Lee all offseason
8. Chidobe Awuzie - finished strong last year and about to break out as our best corner
9. Jaylon Smith - if his lateral quickness would return, he could rocket to top five
10. Sean Lee - still the smartest dude on the team
11. Byron Jones - I need to see more, not totally buying it, but last year was good
12. Robert Quinn - bigger acquisition than we realize, will love being here
13. Jason Witten -will look the same steady guy as he did 3 years ago
14. Tyrone Crawford -way underappreciated, good football player
15. Anthony Brown - one of the steadiest players on the team
16. Maliek Collins - dominant at times when his foot is healthy
17. Dak Prescott - biggest year of his career, gotta make the WR corp fast and dynamic with Moore
18. Joe Looney - this is a tremendous backup and a good locker room guy
19. Randall Cobb - like Miles Austin, can he keep his legs together?
20. Jourdan Lewis - talented, but freelances too much
21. La'el Collins - fairly solid, but not as advertised out of college
22. Dorance Armstrong -will become more impactful this year with an offseason
23. Michael Gallup -could go way up the chart, but need to see it
24. Antuan Woods - love this guy, but he tailed off at the end
25. Jeff Heath - better than given credit for, but Iloka looms
26. Xavier Woods - could break out if he prepared to fend off Iloka
27. Connor Williams - will rise when he gets to RT eventually
28. Trysten Hill -who knows, but they're counting on him to get his head on right and play
29. Blake Jarwin - intriguing player late, the coaches love him
30. Taco Charlton - Dude.....
And there are still solid and intriguing guys like Frazier, Pollard, Covington, Thomas, Sua-Filo, Schultz and these track star rookie receivers on the team.
Some really good, promising players are about to get cut. That's a good sign.
Terrific, to the point post!
CBs
Interesting thoughts on Awuzie.
I think he just needs to fine tune the details of his game, especially contested balls.
They asked too much of Byron Jones late in the season. More experience at other positions will make Jones better because he won't try to do too much.
You spot on about Brown and Lewis. I think Brown is only slightly below Jones/Awuzie.
Lewis has a chance to get more playing time if he embraces the Kris Richard style. They could use more Dime like they did against the Saints.
Jaylon Smith / LVE
I think he is OK physically. I doubt he'll even be physically what he was in college but very few LBs are at that level of elite physical ability. Jaylon does need to continue to develop mentally. He got caught out of position more than I expect from him this season.
LVE adapted the NFL very quickly with the help of Lee; however, the Rams had all of the LBs confused in that playoff game. They played Lee more to get his experience in there but it was a day late, dollar short.
Jason Witten
This is about the only one of your comments on which I disagree. Hopefully he'll look better than in 2017 but he dropped significantly even just from 2016 to 2017, IMO. He looked very sluggish in 2017 and they quit using him on some blocks like the pull across the backfield and block the backside DE because he couldn't get there quick enough.
Tyrone Crawford / M.Collins / Hill
He is a better player than most fans give him credit for being; however, he has been a long time starter moved back and forth between DE and DT but does not project to start this year. M.Collins and Trysten Hill are the projected top two 3-tech DTs and Robert Quinn is the projected starter at RDE. If other players stay healthy up to game 1, then SJones might want to move on from Crawford's 7M salary. The status of Hyder and DT Covington could play into that decision also.
Antuan Woods / Covington
They didn't really have another legit option to play 1-tech snaps, especially in the Rams game. DT Covington projects as an ideal 4th DT because he appears to have both 1-tech and 3-tech ability; although, with the report that he dropped 30 pounds that might have changed. Covington played as a 3-4 DE in Houston but also played snaps at NT.
Xavier Woods / Iloka / Heath
I expect them to have Iloka focused on SS. If Iloka becomes the clear cut starter at SS, then Heath has the ability and experience to backup both FS and SS.
It's possible that Iloka and Heath both play snaps at SS based on match-ups. Heath has excellent speed and was OK in coverage but struggled vs the run. Iloka on paper looks ideal as a SS because he is very big and has limited speed; however, he played more as a FS or in 2-deep alignments with the Bengals. I've reviewed him from a few Bengals games but I still not certain about his run defense ability. He was OK but the way they used him meant he wasn't the 1st defender to contact the RB all that often. He was much better in coverage than most fans would think if they focus on his forty time.
Taco (Goal should be to emulate DLaw)
Taco has the physical ability. He looked as good or better physically in college as DLaw; however, DLaw has worked hard to transform himself into a big time NFL player. That includes work in the weight room, mental preparation and scheme knowledge and especially refined technique that's somewhat unique to him.
If Taco gets his head right he should be able to do much of what DLaw does physically. Getting benched for a few games last season will either light a fire under his backside OR it will make his attitude issues worse. The coaches should know which within the 1st week of training camp.
There is a bit a a problem for Taco in that he would be best at LDE in Marinelli's scheme but DLaw obviously plays most of the LDE snaps. They need a big DE to rotate with Robert Quinn at RDE like they did last year with Randy Gregory in the role Quinn will now play. Taco was that big DE when Crawford was starting at DT due to Collins being limited early coming back from injury. This year Taco, Hyder, Crawford and possibly Armstong will be in the mix to get the bulk of those snaps as the #2 RDE.
LG / RT
Connor Williams is one of the players that I'm most interested to follow in training camp. I think they want him to start at LG in 2019 and then move to RT in 2020; however, how much he practices at OT in 2019 is a big unknown.
With Connor Williams, La'el Collins, Cam Fleming, Connor McGovern and Joe Looney in the mix, I see the following possibilities.
XX = Connor McGovern or Joe Looney
LG / RT / Swing Tackle
CW / LC / CF
XX / LC /
CW
LC /
CW / CF
