FOX Sports has been ranking the depth charts of all 32 teams at each position group. The good news? Dallas has the best WR/TE group in all of football. They recognize the excellence of TNT and Jason Witten, plus the depth behind them. In fact, they think Jason Witten might be the 2nd best TE in the league. (BigBlueShoe, are you still holding onto the belief that Dallas Clark is somehow better than Jason Witten)?
The addition of Terrell Owens is a major reason why the Cowboys are ranked first, but this is far from a one-man show. Terry Glenn provides an excellent deep threat, and Jason Witten may be the game's second best tight end. Throw in the intriguing Patrick Crayton, and this is a complete unit that will confound opposing defenses with its depth and versatility. Despite the talent, the Cowboys have three major question marks. The first is age. Will Owens and Glenn start to decline as they turn 32? Second, with so many options, will there be enough footballs to spread around? And finally, how much will these guys be held back by the mediocrity that surrounds them on the Cowboys' offense?
Now the bad news. At QB and RB we didn't fare so well.
QB
Drew Bledsoe is just an average quarterback at this point. Each additional year saps a little bit of his ability, with a greater chance that he'll miss games due to the aches and pains that come with age. Tony Romo is a big fat question mark, and Drew Henson is a cautionary tale about talented young athletes who can't commit to a single sport. Are you listening, Jeff Samardzija?
Maybe a little harsh on Bledsoe, he's still one of the better QB's in the league. The problem is we have nothing behind him, at least nothing that has been proven in games yet. If we had a veteran QB at backup I'm sure our ranking would've been much higher.
RB
Like the Bears and Vikings, the Cowboys are a team whose running backs are fairly deep but don't show much superstar upside. Julius Jones has a tendency to get banged up, and that tends to get him stowed in Bill Parcells' doghouse. Marion Barber showed some ability as a rookie, but it was the ability to play up to the level of about ... Julius Jones.
As much as we like Julius in Dallas, they are right in the fact that he hasn't proven himself as a top-tier back for all 16 games of a season. Until he does that, people will still have doubts. But the combination of JJ and MB3 should provide Dallas plenty of firepower to keep defenses honest. And if Julius can stay healthy, we might have one of the better running attacks in the league.