Cowboys skill positions get torched in ESPN league-wide ranking

The Dallas Cowboys have a couple of stars in CeeDee Lamb abd Jake Ferguson but outside of that, their skill positions are severely lacking.

Dallas Cowboys, Jalen Tolbert, Jake Ferguson / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Dallas Cowboys director of player personnel Stephen Jones has become famous for his quote "We like our guys" whenever questioned about his desire to improve the roster. While that might be true, Bill Barnwell of ESPN does not like their guys.

Barnwell released a ranking of every team's skill position players, which consists of wide receivers, running backs, and tight ends. The Cowboys fell to the bottom half of the rankings, coming in at 18th overall.

It would be tempting to say this is due to a questionable running back committee that features Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle, Royce Freeman, and Deuce Vaughn. That's not entirely true, however, as Barnwell says in his intro he puts more weight on wideouts — since the NFL does. He then points out the Cowboys have more questions than answers outside of CeeDee Lamb. His biggest concern is the decline of Brandin Cooks.

Brandin Cooks has fallen off noticeably over the past two seasons. After averaging north of 2.0 yards per route run in each of his first two seasons with the Texans, Cooks dropped to 1.7 in 2022 and then just 1.3 in Dallas last season. His saving grace last year was a plus-8.2% catch rate over expectation, which might owe more to Prescott than Cooks, given that Lamb was at plus-10.3% and Jalen Tolbert was also north of 7%.

- Bill Barnwell, ESPN

For reference, the Cowboys were seventh on the list in 2023 with Tony Pollard coming off a strong season and Michael Gallup being in the mix along with Cooks.

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In all honesty, it seems a little surprising the Cowboys didn't fall farther down the list. They have star players in Lamb and tight end Jake Ferguson but the depth behind each is suspect. Behind Lamb and Cooks, Dallas has Jalent Tolbert, Jalen Brooks, KaVontae Turpin, and Ryan Flournoy at wideout.

At tight end, Luke Schoonmaker is the primary option behind Ferguson and he had all of eight receptions as a rookie. He's joined by Peyton Hendershot, John Stephens, Jr., and undrafted free agent Brevyn Spann-Ford.

After looking at the depth charts, it's clear the stars are elevating the team around them. Which makes it even more confusing that the front office is playing hardball in current contract negotiations.