NFL Cowboys’ top offensive weapons rank among NFL’s best
The offense for the Dallas Cowboys has been one of the best in the NFL over the past few years. They led the league in ppg in 2021, averaging 31.2 points, and followed that up by scoring 27.5 points a game in 2022, good for fourth in the league despite playing five games without starting quarterback Dak Prescott.
Part of that success is because of the talent on offense. Their skill players are highly thought of, according to PFF.com, Dallas has three offensive play makers named near the top of their positions for the 2023 season. Two wide receivers and the new starting running back are listed as being some of the best in the league, which should mean the Cowboys are headed towards another year of good offensive output.
Former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore might be gone, but Mike McCarthy and new OC Brian Schottenheimer take over a unit that has the talent to stay among the best in the league. Here’s who made the list for the Cowboys to be among the 32 best at the RB and WR positions.
RB - Tony Pollard
Pollard has been rising as one of the best complimentary running backs since entering the league in 2019. However, last season proved that not only was Pollard the best RB on the Cowboys, but he was also among the best RBs in the game.
Coming off his first 1,000-yard rushing season, Pollard also scored 12 touchdowns, and averaged 5.2 yards a carry on his way to taking former RB Ezekiel Elliott’s starting job. Here’s what PFF.com had to say about Pollard, ranking him the eighth-best RB in the league.
8. TONY POLLARD, DALLAS COWBOYS
Pollard has been one of the most exciting backs to watch in the NFL over the past two seasons. His 91.0 rushing grade across the past two years ranks fourth in the NFL. He also has the highest yards-per-carry figure (5.3) and the second-highest yards-after-contact average (3.7) in that span. Let’s hope he’s fully healthy this upcoming season. If he is, history tells us he’ll put on a show as RB1 in Dallas.
Pollard is coming off a fractured fibula, but the Cowboys thought enough of him to tag him as their franchise player, guaranteeing him a salary over just north of $10 million. At 26-years old, Pollard is in the prime of his career and should be an elite play maker for at least one more year in Dallas.
WR - CeeDee Lamb
Lamb has been everything the Cowboys have expected, and more, since they drafted him three years ago. When the team tasked him to take over as their No. 1 WR, Lamb responded with his best season, catching 107 passes for 1,359 yards and nine scores. This was despite not having another WR opposite him to take attention away.
Heading into Year 4, Lamb is ready to be even better, and he came in at number nine on the list of the top 32 WRs in the league.
9. CEEDEE LAMB, DALLAS COWBOYS
Lamb’s production should only go up in 2023 now that Brandin Cooks is on the roster to keep defenses on their toes. Last season, with no Amari Cooper, Lamb set career highs in targets, catches, yards, touchdowns and yards per route run. He posted the lowest drop rate of his career and looked like one of the best receivers in the game. This season could be even better.
Seeing Lamb among the top 10 at his position is no surprise, however, he was ranked below rival receivers A.J. Brown (No. 7) of the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington Commanders’ Terry McLaurin (No. 8), respectively. Brown and Lamb has been a lively debate since the former arrived in Philadelphia last season, so choosing between the two is splitting hairs.
But Lamb dwarfed McLaurin in every category in 2022, so it’s difficult to understand how the Cowboys WR isn’t universally considered the better player. An argument for another time, perhaps, but Lamb is clearly one of the league’s best receivers.
WR - Brandin Cooks
The new Cowboys wideout makes an appearance on the list, ranked No. 26. After a down season with the Houston Texans, there appears to be little doubt Cooks can recover to return to his 1,000-yard ways with Prescott.
26. BRANDIN COOKS, DALLAS COWBOYS
Cooks will be moving on to his fifth team in the NFL when he suits up for Dallas this season, but whatever reason teams choose to trade him away with impressive regularity, it’s not because he doesn’t produce. This past season was the first of his Texans tenure that didn’t yield a 1,000-yard season, and he has posted at least one of those for every team he has played for.
Cooks has six seasons where he’s reached 1,000 receiving yards and he’ll bring a missing element to the Cowboys’ offense, speed. Dallas and Prescott need a downfield threat to open the offense up, which is why the team traded for Cooks, who owns a 13.7 career yards per catch average.
Ironically, Cooks’ ranking was four spots below the WR Dallas traded away last offseason, Amari Cooper, who ranked 22nd on the list.
