ESPN ranks Dallas Cowboys offensive firepower near top five

We are at the part of the summer where the NFL starts to buzz again. Rankings are often a huge part of this period, but how do the Dallas Cowboys stack up?

The Dallas Cowboys are primed to have a huge season. Dak Prescott will have had a full offseason of work with his receiving core, which includes second-year guy Michael Gallup and second-year Cowboy Amari Cooper, while the offensive line will probably be the most healthy it has been over the last two seasons. Ezekiel Elliott was also able to skirt by a suspension after meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on last week.

While the defense was the key to their success last year, as they should be again this year, that unit should get quite a bit more help from the offensive side of the ball during this upcoming season.

As we put forth the notion on last week that the Cowboys will have one of the most explosive trio’s at the core skill positions this upcoming season, those positions being running back, wide receiver, and quarterback, ESPN has now ranked the entire league based on their offensive arsenals. To be more specific, ESPN Staff Writer Bill Barnwell did the honors.

Getting right to the meat of things, he ranked the Dallas Cowboys as the number six overall offensive arsenal. This was ahead of teams like quarterback Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, and Phillip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Cowboys at sixth overall was up massively from last year’s ranking of 30th overall, but here is a quote from the Dallas Cowboys section of that ESPN article that goes into a bit more detail.

"Talk about a swing! The Cowboys headed into 2018 with Ezekiel Elliott and a laughably bad receiving corps, but one year later, there’s a lot to like for Dak Prescott. The trade for Amari Cooper revitalized Dallas’s passing game; Prescott posted a 104.6 passer rating with the star wideout on the field and an 86.8 rating with Cooper sidelined or in Oakland. Michael Gallup got better as the year went along, finishing with a 119-yard performance against the Rams during the postseason."

Barnwell also went on to mention how that even though Jason Witten is 37-years old, he should still be able to make an impact, in general and relative to the lackluster impact made from the position last season. The only teams that ranked ahead of the Cowboys were the Minnesota Vikings, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cleveland Browns, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Los Angeles Rams.

As far as the rest of the NFC East, the Philadelphia Eagles ranked just ahead of the Cowboys as mentioned, as the number four overall offensive arsenal. Somehow after losing wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns, the New York Giants ranked just a bit behind the Cowboys at number eight overall, but I guess that’s what a running back like Saquon Barkley does for you. The Washington Redskins were near the bottom with a rank of 28th.

This all makes for interesting fodder and debate, but everything still must be proven and/or backed up between the lines on the field. For our and the season’s sake, let’s hope this is closer to clairvoyance than click bait.