PFF DISRESPECTS Cowboys With Roster & Position Group Rankings

PFF DISRESPECTS Cowboys With Roster & Position Group Rankings

Before [Music] we dive into today’s show, if you want the Cowboys to return to the playoffs, because let’s be honest, everyone here does except for the Eagles hate watchers. Like the video for me, please and thank you. Don’t be the one who jinxes it. So, Pro Football Focus has ranked every position group in the NFL. sometimes grouping some to like defensive line was not separated out by DT or edge and the top players at each position. So the overall PFF rankings were as follows acknowledging that it was different authors who wrote for each individual subsection. So overall PFF has the Cowboys at 15th among all NFL teams based on their roster. However, quarterback is 17 and Dak Prescott. The running back room was 32nd. The receiving core was 15, the offensive line was 23, the defensive line was 12th, the linebackers were 27, and the secondary was 31. So, I don’t understand how you can claim the Cowboys have a top half of the league roster and yet exactly two of the position groups of the team are top half. That doesn’t make any sense to me. Something isn’t aligning here. Either you’re way too high on your overall roster rankings or you messed up in the individual position tiering. We know there’s not some magical coaching bump right now that they only did top 10 coaches. Shanhammer was not on there. He was a first-time head coach. I think there is some I don’t want to start here. There just some flatout wrong opinions of you. It might be your opinion. You can still be wrong. That is I still I think we should get back to that as a as a society. Anyway, is PFF hating on the Cowboys with these rankings? Let me know in the comments. Why for yes and for no? Go vote the pinned comments of today’s show. Let’s go position by position. The quarterbacks for the most part in the top eight I’m not really going to argue that much about. Like I think you can disagree with where they go. Like I I actually am higher than I think most of you watching on Herz. I don’t think he’s a top five quarterback. I don’t think that’s that’s fair. Um, but I I get everyone else on there and everyone loves Herbert’s arms, so it’s fair. It’s this next batch of quarterbacks that doesn’t make sense to me. You got Jared Goff at nine. Gino Smith is 10. Brock Pie’s 11. Jordan Love’s 12. Baker’s 13. Straoud is 14. Kyler Murray, Trevor Lawrence are 15 and 16. Ahead of Dak Prescott at 17. Before I rant, this is what PFF’s John Kosko wrote about Dak. He’s the epitome of a quarterback who thrives against weaker opponents, but falters when the competition stiffens. He earned a 90 PFF grade in 2023 behind only Lamar, Allen, and Mahomes before a late season collapse ended his MVP bid. By the way, if Pard scores or look doesn’t fumble, he still might win MVP that year. In 2024, the Cowboys stumbled early and a season ending injury set Dak before he could rebound. To rejoin the top 10 combo, he must recapture 2023 form and prove he can deliver against the league’s best. Here’s my issue. If we want to be upset, which is valid and justified and fair about the lack of big-time success, what we’re really arguing here from PFF, is they haven’t won enough playoff games. They haven’t won enough big games in the end. Okay, that’s fair. We can’t use that as an argument to say he’s actually a bottom half QB. Like, how can we make that argument and at the exact same time rank Gino Smith and Kyler Murray and Trevor Lawrence and all these other QBs who actually haven’t done anything better in the postseason than Dak Dak Prescott? How is that fair? How does that make sense? We can’t make the argument be, hey, he does a lot of stuff good. He’s like a top 10 QB, but he’s bad against better teams. So, we’re going to use that argument only to put behind other QBs who are even worse in big games. If Dak Prescott ever played as badly and didn’t want to go back in a game like Kyler Murray did, he would never have lived that down. It’s not the criticism that bothers me. I think it’s mostly fair. It’s the double standard. It’s using the 10, 15% to justify ignoring the other 75, whatever percent, 85%, 90%. It’s a double standard. We can’t say Dak isn’t good enough in big games and put these other QBs ahead of them when they are worse. How does that make That’s not fair. That’s not unbiased opinion. That’s just cherrypicking. So, knowing it’s going to drive controversial responses. Rank Dak Prescott for me among NFL QBs. It 17 is crazy low. It It’s not objectively accurate as far as I’m concerned. If you want to be worried about the injuries, that’s fair, too. I it should be top 15 at minimum. Let me know in the comments of today’s show. Now, what might be more fair is the running back ranking. BFF ranked him 32nd in the NFL. And look, I I get it. I get it. It’s worth mentioning it’s running backs and not the running game overall here, but Javvante Williams wasn’t that great in in Denver. My Sanders wasn’t good in Carolina, period. Jaden Blue I like was a fifth round pick. Deuce vaugh Phil Moff haven’t done anything and we’re late day three picks. So I get the running back room being rated. That that’s honestly fair. It’s also you would argue the least impactful grouping here. The pass catcher rankings I also don’t really get. I think the top eight I think to put these in the in the top 10 like yeah Eagles, Bucks, Bengals, Lions, Niners, Vikings, Dolphins, Rams, those are all great passcatching units. Dallas being 15th behind teams like the Bears and the Texans and the Falcons and the Ravens and the Commanders. Like Lamb is better than every single one of those teams number one wide receivers. M I don’t think you can argue any of those teams number two receivers are better than George Pickkins. that a couple of the tight ends, Travis Kelce, you know, Mark Andrews, Isisa Likely, better tight ends, but like Jaylen Pulbert was more productive than most of those teams number three receivers. What I think really happened here was a kind of unfairly double counted the backs in the passion, which if you already graded the running back rooms, why isn’t this just wide receiver tight ends? This feels too low for me. Like this feels like it’s only five, whatever. still feels several slots below where it should be. CD Lamb was PFF’s number six receiver. These are all based on their own rankings, by the way, individual articles. Jake Ferguson was number 17 at tight ends behind Taesm Hill, which didn’t make any sense to me. George Pickkins, by the way, is not in the top 32. We’ll come back to to Pickkins. Ferguson, maybe you can argue like a couple spots. It’s not off by a lot because he struggled last year. So, I I’m okay with that. at PFS top receivers. I honestly I I don’t know how you can argue Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase behind AJ Brown. I I just I don’t agree with that. I wouldn’t argue Lamb ahead of those guys. You want to put Brown at three? Okay. I would flip Aman Pukanakua like I behind Lamb. Oh, top six. Top six. That’s fine. George Pickkins among the qualifying wide receivers graded out last year by PFF. He was 24th in their overall grades. So him not being 32nd is weird. You put Debo in front of him. Debo’s built like me right now. That’s not a good thing. I don’t I don’t know how. And this is not a PFL specific thing. We went from like the Steelers and Pickkins and Metaf being ranked as a top five wide receiver, top 10 wide receiver duo and then not doing it with a better receiver in CD Lamb. That’s weird to me. A lot more of this to come, but this Cowboys hoodie is on sale. chatsports.com/cowboys hoodie. Link will be in the comments section and the description of today’s show. It was 90. Now it’s down all the way to 54 bucks. Links in the comments and the description of today’s show. Let’s go to the offensive line. PF Ricking the Cowboys at 23. And I think this unit has more room for up and down in terms of where they sit. Maybe not that much down. Uh, notable player ranks, no tackles, ranked in the top 32. I get it. Tyler Smith was sixth among guards. Cooper BB 16th among centers. He was behind Bottish. I actually disagree. He was better than Bottish was down the stretch. Either way, uh, Zultan Budet was the PFF guy who wrote the O line write up. He said of team strength not long ago. The Cowboys O line is full question marks. Tyler Gayton’s rookie season uh, yielded just a 49.4 PFF grade. That was 30 73rd. initially Gen to the starters who are early in their careers, Baby and Tyler Booker, who should replace Zack Martin. I think the like let’s pause and not anoint it as an elite unit is fair. Like if Gayton’s bad this year, this unit might just stink. There is the possibility the youth movement doesn’t work or it’s really up and down and inconsistent. So I think you can argue it should be a little bit higher. It should be maybe closer to league average with upside. Like if you were doing like range of outcomes, the Cowboys one’s got a pretty big range of outcomes. I think it’s still a little bit on the back end of the of the ranking from PFF to where it should be. And you guys know I am a Cowboys fan. I will always tell it to you straight. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad, sometimes it’s somewhere in between. If you if you want that type of coverage, hit the sub button right now. Let’s go to the defensive line. PF ranking them 12th here. I would have loved to have seen their pure edge, pure defensive line rankings, like DTS. Micah was their number two edge. You know, ESPN ranked him third on their rankings, so that’s accurate. OSA was the number 25 defensive lineman, which allow me to explain what Let me show you what Zolan said because I think it explains it pretty well. The Dallas Dline was one of the worst units against the run in 2024, but still boasts elite edge defender Micah Parsons, who graded out third among NFL players. Oseri from the inside placing 12th with a pass with his pass rushing grade. The Cowboys unit could rank significantly higher by just being average against the run in 2025, which would be an improvement from last season. I think that’s fair. I would argue at times it wasn’t just the interior of the defensive line that was to blame for that, but I do think, you know, like a top five pass rush and like, you know, bottom fiveish, bottom 10ish run defense, 12th is is reasonable. Now, for some more low rankings, the linebackers are 27th where they just they don’t have high praise. Was not surprised by it because PFF hates Kenneth Murray. Uh Dalton Wasserman writing Dallas is linebacker in the field with familiar names, but not a track record of leap production. Overshon’s going to miss a portion of the season. Kenneth Murray’s posted sub 55 PFF grades in each of his five seasons. Jack Samborn’s a rotational player who’s familiar with DC. Matt Eberfloose. Deone Clark and Maurice Leaf predicted serviceable depth with low production ceilings. I would love to know how PFF would have ranked this linebacking core if it had a healthy Demarian oversh I’m very curious about that. Got the secondary to go here, but grade the Cowboys roster for me. A, B, C, D, or F? Let me know in the comments of today’s show. Outside of the quarterback, and maybe even including it, this one makes least amount of sense to me. The secondary ranking, 31st among all NFL teams. I think there are some valid concerns with this unit. I’ve talked about one another corner. That’s fine. This is a joke to me. They’re behind the Dolphins who have one safety and like zero corners. What are we doing out here? Happens to be the exact same guy that wrote the Dak Prescott one. The Cowboys strength two years ago, but injuries coached and keed unit death. Don Bland followed his record set in 203 campaign with a difficult 2024 one after returning from injury. Diggs been replicated 11 INT year from 2021 track totaling eight picks while missing time injuries. While there is still talent in this group, the prime years of these players may already be behind them unless an infusion of youth sparks uh uh provides a a spark. Look, even with the I think injury stuff being valid, and I get the diggs concerns, what are we doing with the Romland? Why are we acting like a guy in his fourth year is cooked? That’s an outlier if that’s the case. He just turned 26 years old. What do you mean his prime is gone? How does that make any sense? And I would be more inclined to agree with this if they had mentioned anything about the safety unit cuz they ranked Deron Bland 32 among corners. I think that’s kind of low, but whatever. They had Hooker as their 17th best safety. There’s no way Donovan Wilson brings that unit down in in its entirety. That I don’t get it. Pick pick a lane here. You’re not being consistent. and consistency or or lack thereof bothers me. So, back to the pin comment, then I want to give you one other example and one more piece of conversation here. Is PFF hate on the Cowboys? It’s the pin comment. Remember, Y for yes, N for no. This is very similar to this is online talk, so it’s not real, but one day you’ll have people saying the Cowboys got bad players. CD Lamb’s not that good, Eagles fans. Diggs is not that good. Bland’s bad. Micah stinks. The next day, oh, it’s a loaded roster. They’re so good. They’re top half. That’s a great example where the overall team’s top 15 and yet none of the units actually grade out that highly. So which is it? Where are you wrong? It ends up being used to drag down a few select players or it’s the quarterback or the receiver or the edge, the high paid guys of oh it’s a loaded team but actually we hate all the individual players. How does that make any sense? A dissenting opinion I want to show you is the Sharp Football Rankings. Warren Sharp’s uh site. 13th ranked quarterback still last in the back field. The receiver tight end room goes up to number eight after being down at number 15. Offensive line jumps up several spots to 16 right on the league average. The front, including linebackers, stays at number 12 and the secondary goes to 24. So, you know, linebackers include the front seven, 12 and 27 to just 12. Doesn’t that grouping feel a little bit more fair and accurate? Isn’t that like more in line with like what I think would make sense? What what you think would make sense? I certainly think so. Let me know if you do as well. [Music]

PFF has released their rankings for all the different position groups and the top players at each spot. And their rankings for the Cowboys were surprisingly low! Cowboys Report host Tom Downey breaks down the PFF roster rankings for the Cowboys and what he thinks are some inaccuracies with the rankings!

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PFF Rankings & Grades for each position group:
Total Roster: #15
Running Backs: #32
Receiving Corps: #15
Offensive Line: #23
Defensive Line: #12
Linebackers: #27
Secondary: #31

Notable PFF Rankings for the Top Cowboys players:
Dak Prescott: #17
CeeDee Lamb: #6 WR
Jake Ferguson: #17 TE
George Pickens: Not Ranked
Tyler Smith: #6 OG
Cooper Beebe: #16 C
Micah Parsons: #2 EDGE
Osa Odighizuwa: #25 DT
Daron Bland: #32 CB
Malik Hooker: #17 SAF

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PFF’s QB Rankings and their rationale for Dak Prescott’s grade:
#1: Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
#2: Joe Burrow (Bengals)
#3: Lamar Jackson (Ravens)
#4: Josh Allen (Bills)
#5: Jalen Hurts (Eagles)
#6: Jayden Daniels (Commanders)
#7: Matthew Stafford (Rams)
#8: Justin Herbert (Chargers)
#9: Jared Goff (Lions)
#10: Geno Smith (Raiders)
#11: Brock Purdy (49ers)
#12: Jordan Love (Packers)
#13: Baker Mayfield (Bucs)
#14: CJ Stroud (Texans)
#15: Kyler Murray (Cardinals)
#16: Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars)
#17: Dak Prescott (Cowboys)

“Prescott remains the epitome of a quarterback who thrives against weaker opponents but falters when the competition stiffens. He earned a 90.0 PFF grade in 2023 — behind only Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes — before a late-season collapse ended his MVP bid. In 2024, the Cowboys stumbled early, and a season-ending injury sidelined Prescott before he could rebound. To rejoin the top-10 conversation, he must recapture that 2023 form and prove he can deliver against the league’s best.” – PFF

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2024 Cowboys Stats Leaders (Rushing):
Rico Dowdle: 235 carries, 1,079 yards, 1 TD
KaVontae Turpin: 16 carries, 92 yards
Deuce Vaughn: 17 carries, 70 yards
CeeDee Lamb: 14 carries, 70 yards
Dak Prescott: 13 carries, 54 yards, 1 TD
Hunter Luepke: 12 carries, 38 yards

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Agree or disagree with Cowboys Report host Tom Downey by commenting on today’s video:
– Is PFF Hating on the Cowboys? Type ‘Y’ for Yes, ‘N’ for No
– Rank Dak Prescott among NFL QBs
– Grade the Cowboys roster: A, B, C, D or F!

Sharp Football’s Rankings for position groups:
Quarterback: 13th
Running Backs: 32nd
WR/TE: 8th
Offensive Line: 16th
Front 7: 12th
Secondary: 24th

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