NFL Roster Analysis and Ranking: Cowboys Top 5 with Cooks, Gilmore & Mazi?

The Dallas Cowboys have a roster brimming with talent, but when stacked up against the rest of the NFL, where does it rank?

The Dallas Cowboys are in genuine Super Bowl contention, and for that to even be said, the roster has to be one of the best in the league.

After an offseason that only saw one true full-time starter leave (Dalton Schultz), Dallas retained most of its roster and added in key pieces in Brandin Cooks and Stephon Gilmore.

The Cowboys are in the thick of the NFC and Super Bowl conversation, but how good is their roster? Our Corbin K. Smith has Dallas in the No. 3 slot in the NFC. And ... According to ESPN, Dallas has the sixth-best group in the NFL.

The teams above Dallas include the Cincinnati Bengals (No. 5), Miami Dolphins (No. 4), Buffalo Bills (No. 3), Philadelphia Eagles (No. 2), and the Kansas City Chiefs landing on top.

For most, that seems about right, with the Eagles above Dallas being somewhat of a beard-scratcher, given how many starters they have lost, but that's a topic for another day. Let's look at Dallas' starting roster as it stands.

The Cowboys have the 'biggest draft steal' at quarterback in Dak Prescott, receivers in CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, and Michael Gallup as the new "Big Three," the "Four Horsemen" in tight ends Luke Schoonmaker, Jake Ferguson, Peyton Hendershot, and Sean McKeon, and Tony Pollard as the lead back. So points should not be too hard to come by.

The offensive line looks stout as Tyron Smith, Tyler Smith, Tyler Biadasz, Zach Martin and Terence Steele (rehabbing nicely) make up the "best five."

Defensively is where the Cowboys could be considered elite. Led by Micah Parsons, the Dallas defensive front is fearsome and has added Stephon Gilmore to pair with Trevon Diggs at corner.

Other proven guys in DeMarcus Lawrence, Dorance Armstrong, Osa Odighizuwa, Sam Willams, Leighton Vander Esch, Johnathan Hankins, DaRon Bland, Dante Fowler, and the safety trio of Jayron Kearse, Donovan Wilson, and Malik Hooker round out coordinator Dan Quinn's defense.

We then add in top rookie Mazi Smith ... And we suddenly see why Dallas is ranked so high.

There aren't too many roster holes in this version of the Cowboys, but some unknowns. Will Prescott get a handle on his interception woes and prove last year was an outlier? Can Pollard carry an All-Pro load? Will the tight end unit be able to cover the loss of Schultz? Does Mazi make run-stopping a Dallas strength?

Those are just some questions aimed at Dallas right now, and they will be answered in due time. But having the third-best roster in the conference and sixth-best roster in football is nothing to turn your nose up at ... though it counts for nothing unless the Cowboys can finally deliver on their much-hyped potential.

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