You'd be hard-pressed to name a Dallas Cowboys player who's received more criticism over the last two seasons than right tackle Terence Steele. Dak Prescott naturally dominates the national discourse, but among Cowboys fans, few players have taken more heat than Steele.
What's awkward is that left tackle Tyler Guyton is about the only Cowboys player who's received as much criticism as Steele. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the guys responsible for protecting Prescott's flanks, but we digress.
For all of Steele's shortcomings, his career has been an undeniable success story for an undrafted free agent. The fact that he's been the Cowboys' starting right tackle since 2020 makes it easy to forget his unlikely path, but it shouldn't overshadow what he's accomplished.
Steele's journey was just recognized by Pro Football Focus' Daire Carragher, who named Steele to PFF's all-undrafted team.
"Terence Steele has been Mr. Available for the Dallas Cowboys, with over 1,100 snaps in each of his last three seasons. Respectable grades of 70.4 and 64.7 in his last two years, and he has surrendered only two sacks over his last eight outings," Carragher wrote.
Terence Steele hasn't been as bad as some Dallas Cowboys fans think
A lot of Cowboys fans -- including myself -- must confront the uncomfortable truth that Steele is a serviceable starting right tackle and the least of Dallas' concerns.
The team blindsided just about everyone when it gave Steele a five-year, $86.8 million extension during the 2023 offseason. While he was coming off a breakout year, he had also torn his ACL just months earlier and had always been inconsistent in pass protection.
In the three seasons since signing the contract, Steele has not earned a pass-blocking grade north of 60.0 while allowing 23 sacks and an average of 49.0 pressures, per PFF advanced stats.
However, he's excelled as a run-blocker, posting a 74.5 grade over the last two years. The Cowboys' passing game is a juggernaut, but its success starts with a physical rushing attack, and Steele has been instrumental in establishing that identity.
And, to Carragher's point, Steele has been the definition of an Iron Man post-ACL surgery, starting all 51 regular-season games since 2023 with respective snap shares of 99 percent, 100 percent, and 99 percent to boot. Most teams would kill for that kind of durability anywhere along the offensive line, let alone at tackle.
Very few undrafted free agents go on to make an NFL roster, making it all the more impressive that Steele walked into the league as a starting right tackle. That doesn't mean he should still be graded on that curve, but it doesn't hurt to stop and smell the roses now and again.
Nobody's saying that Steele deserves an apology, but the way some fans have been ready to run him out of town, you'd think he belongs on the roster bubble. Could the Cowboys do better at RT? No doubt, but they can also do much worse.
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