The Cowboys are going to have to continue their ability to evaluate talent this offseason.
Five players from the Dallas Cowboys were selected to the Pro Bowl this season. Congratulations to CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, Tyler Smith, Brandon Aubrey, and KaVontae Turpin. That ties them with the Kansas City Chiefs for the fifth most selections in the league.
The other teams with more players selected are as follows:
- Baltimore Ravens = 9
- Detroit Lions = 7
- Minnesota Vikings = 6
- Philadelphia Eagles = 6
All these other teams, including the Chiefs, are division leaders headed to the playoffs. The NFC North is still up for grabs as that division will be decided Sunday night. Both the Lions and Vikings have a 14-2 record. The Cowboys and their 7-9 record are the anomaly. The team will finish with a losing record despite being in the top five in Pro Bowl Selections.
Of course, one of the reasons for the team’s lackluster performance can be attributed to injuries as several star players have missed extensive time. Five more players who were Pro Bowl selections last year or the year before have been out for a large part of the season.
- DeMarcus Lawrence = 13 games
- DaRon Bland = 10 games
- Dak Prescott = 9 games
- Zack Martin = 7 games
- Trevon Diggs = 6 games
The Cowboys have a lot of good players on their roster and this will be a stronger team once they get healthier thanks to the excellent drafting from Will McClay and the Cowboys’ player personnel department. Of the five Pro Bowlers this year, two are special teams players who were USFL standouts. The other three are the Cowboys’ first-round picks in three consecutive years, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Another thing interesting about this year’s Pro Bowl selections comes from players the Cowboys didn’t even select. You might remember the 2021 NFL Draft when the Cowboys were honed in on a cornerback, but both Jaycee Horn and Patrick Surtain II were selected immediately before the Cowboys were on the clock.
After being washed out at cornerback, the Cowboys pivoted and traded back a couple of spots because they knew that either Micah Parsons or Rashawn Slater would be available. As it turned out, both were, and the Cowboys selected Parsons. What started as a bad sequence of events landed them the best player in the entire draft. That’s pretty lucky.
But the Cowboys make their own luck by how they evaluate players. While we aren’t afforded the luxury of a draft board selfie, we know enough about the Cowboys’ pre-draft visits and the stories about how things went down in that draft. There is a good chance that their draft board looked very similar to when these players were selected.
- Pick 8: Jaycee Horn (one Pro Bowl)
- Pick 9: Patrick Surtain II (three Pro Bowls)
- Pick 12: Micah Parsons (four Pro Bowls)
- Pick 13: Rashawn Slater (two Pro Bowls)
Looking back, how could the Cowboys go wrong? All the players we heard buzz about are also All-Pro selections, except for one, Jaycee Horn. Entering the year, one could say that the Cowboys avoided disaster by having Horn swiped beneath them by the Carolina Panthers because he hadn’t done anything over the first three years of his career. However, injuries have plagued him as he’s had trouble staying healthy. This year, he was finally healthy and smothered receivers, allowing the second-lowest catch percentage in the league this season. He was the Panthers’ only Pro Bowl selection.
With the benefit of hindsight, any of the players the Cowboys sought after in the first round of this draft are all good players. Granted, nobody wants to exchange Parsons, but it’s good to know the Cowboys had this group of players figured out well. In 2021, they picked 12th. At the moment, they hold the 13th spot in the draft order. When the time comes, hopefully, the Cowboys’ scouting department can once again find the shining star.
