Dallas Cowboys 2020 rookie grades: Touted class delivers mixed bag

The Dallas Cowboys 2020 rookies came into the NFL with a ton of fanfare for the draft class and some lived up to the hype while others faltered. 

The Dallas Cowboys 2020 rookie class was one of the big topics of the offseason. Not only did they shock the world with the CeeDee Lamb pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft but they proceeded to find great value with almost every selection in the subsequent rounds. They were one of the big winners of the draft with the hopes that the rookies would contribute to a serious playoff run.

Of course, things went south for the Cowboys once quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a devastating injury that ended his season. Dallas, who was even trying to find their footing under new head coach Mike McCarthy prior to the injury, never recovered and missed out on the playoffs.

While it may not have been the season that fans had hoped for in terms of overall success, Dallas still got a good look at the majority of their talented first-year players. Subsequently, let’s take a look at the Cowboys 2020 rookies and hand out grades for how they performed in their inaugural season suiting up for America’s Team.

Dallas Cowboys 2020 rookie grades for the entire class

It was one of the most shocking moments of the 2020 NFL Draft when the Dallas Cowboys spurned taking a defensive player as many expected them to when they, instead, selected Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. The hope was that the highly touted pass-catcher would make the offense near unstoppable.

Unfortunately, the Dak Prescott injury threw a monkey wrench into the proceedings. The offense experienced a litany of issues as they turned to Andy Dalton at quarterback, which hindered Lamb’s overall potential production and the effectiveness of the unit as a whole. Even then, though, Lamb still showed that he’s a special talent.

Lamb caught 74 of 111 targets on the season for an impressive 935 yards and five touchdowns. Doing that with a backup quarterback for three-quarters of the season can’t be understated, especially in an offense with Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup.

Perhaps the most promising sign from Lamb was his flashes of elite versatility. He rushed 10 times for 82 yards and a touchdown on the season while also averaging 7.2 yards per punt return and taking his lone kick return 47 yards to the house on an onside kick attempt.

There were some untimely drops from Lamb throughout the season. But with Prescott hopefully re-signing and returning for the 2021 campaign, there’s every reason to believe that big, big things are in store for the wide receiver and that he was well worth the first-round pick spent on him.