Ranking the Dallas Cowboys 10 best players on the roster

1. Zack Martin, Guard

Back in 2014, the Dallas Cowboys were being linked to one of the more polarizing players in the draft — Johnny Manziel. The Texas A&M product was exciting to watch during his collegiate career and he made no secret that he wanted to be in Dallas. And even team owner Jerry Jones said it would be a fairytale to bring Johny Football to Big D.

Then, the stars all aligned. When the Cowboys were on the clock at No. 14 overall, Johnny Football was still sitting there looking for an NFL home and the draft pundits were ready to explode with their hot takes on whether Dallas just landed a star or made their biggest draft mistake since passing on Randy Moss.

Dallas silenced all those hot takes by taking Notre Dame offensive lineman Zack Martin, who was one of the better overall prospects in the class and deemed a can’t miss pick by just about everyone who studied the draft. And that take proved to be correct.

Martin, who played tackle for the Irish, kicked inside to right guard and started all 16 games as a rookie. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team as well as the Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro. Since then, he has only improved and now has a Pro Bowl in every season as well as four nominations to the All-Pro First Team and two to the second team. He was also recently named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.

It’s hard to find anyone who has a critique of Martin as he was the No. 3 guard in the NFL according to PFF (subscription required) last season and the highest-rated player on the Cowboys roster.

That’s why Dallas had no problems making him the highest-paid guard as of 2018, when they gave him a six-year contract extension worth $84 million.

Martin may not be the guy who racks up statistics and plays a thankless position, but he’s still the best player on this roster and was a much better selection than the one Jerry Jones wanted so desperately to make.