The regular season is right around the corner, but preseason rankings still dominate headlines.
The Dallas Cowboys have assembled one of the better offenses over the last few years. With draft picks like Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, and CeeDee Lamb, the offensive side of the ball is clearly the most dominant.
But because of the questions on defense, such as at cornerback, safety, and interior defensive line, the Cowboys aren't typically seen as one of the better overall teams in the NFC.
In previous rankings, Dallas was ranked at No. 8 by both ESPN, and Pro Football Focus back in June.
Not to be outdone or forgotten, The Athletic recently conducted their own poll with five NFL executives to find the best 16 NFC teams.
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The Athletic feels a little better about the Cowboys than the previous rankings did, showing them at No. 7, citing Prescott's injury recovery as a concern:
Dallas Cowboys
Voters bunched New Orleans, Dallas and Minnesota together as teams that could contend for the playoffs without threatening the top teams ultimately. Philadelphia, Arizona and Washington may be in there somewhere also.
“Now you’re in a real, just shake up the bottle, it’s going to come out different every week — who is playing well, who is healthy,” the voter who ranked Dallas eighth said.
There will be no easing into the season with Tampa Bay on the schedule in Week 1.
Dak Prescott
will be facing a Buccaneers defense that chased
Patrick Mahomes
so relentlessly in the Super Bowl that Kansas City felt compelled to remake its offensive line.
“Dak is coming off a major rehab and he gets something else with his arm and you get these odd reports that this is going to be a lingering issue as a thrower,” another voter said. “The whole NFC East, nobody knows what it is. We all know what the questions are for every team. For Dallas, can they at least give themselves a chance defensively? They should be better hiring a coordinator (Dan Quinn) whose defense fits their personnel better.”
Of the five voters, two ranked Dallas at No. 6 while one other had them as low as No. 9.
Compared to the other NFC East teams, the Cowboys are tops. They were ranked best in the division, followed by WFT at No. 10, the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 11, and the New York Giants at No. 15.
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