ESPN's Matthew Berry says Cowboys have worst receiver corps in the NFL

Earlier this offseason, new Houston Texans safety Tyrann Mathieu took a shot at the Dallas Cowboys secondary saying nobody in it was better than him.

One of the members of that secondary, Kavon Frazier, had a bit to say about that and even went as far as poking fun at Mathieu’s nickname. Jourdan Lewis also subtweeted Tyrann; the Cowboys clearly took notice.

Every day in practice the secondary goes up against the Cowboys receivers. It looks like they’ll both have some motivation in the form of doubters as the wideouts are the latest to have their talents called into question.

ESPN’s Matthew Berry called them the worst receiving corps in the NFL. The worst.

In TMR’s (Talented Mr. Roto) defense, his job is to evaluate NFL players from a fantasy-led perspective. He’s trying to project which wide receivers will tally the most fantasy points, aka rack up the most yardage and score the most touchdowns.

That being said though, do the Cowboys really have the worst receiving group in the league? Sure well-known faces like Dez Bryant and Jason Witten (obviously not a receiver but you get the point) are gone. Brice Butler is also out, and the Cowboys traded away Ryan Switzer. No one is denying the group has experienced quite the turnover.

People challenged Berry on his take, but he stood firm. After being probed about these teams specifically, he said that the 49ers, Jets, Dolphins, and Bills all had better groups. He even mentioned Buffalo’s Kelvin Benjamin as individually being better than any Cowboy.

Buffalo’s quarterbacks are AJ McCarron and rookie Josh Allen, so if you’re relying on one of them to make the Bills receivers better than the Cowboys even in a fantasy world, you’re kind of up a creek without a paddle. Dak Prescott is far better than either of them.

This is a point Matthew Berry himself actually agrees with, and it’s one that either speaks to how highly he believes in Dak individually or how he expects the Cowboys receivers to be just fine. In his early 2018 PPR rankings (last updated on May 9th) he has Prescott ranked as the 18th quarterback. Neither McCarron or Allen are even in his top 30. Dolphins and Jets quarterbacks Ryan Tannehill and Josh McCown are ranked 30th and 31st by Berry, respectively, yet he believes their pass-catchers to be superior to those in Dallas as well.

Berry may be factoring in Dak Prescott’s rushing ability in his ranking of him, but how can he believe him to be so significantly more valuable than any Bills (plus Jets and Dolphins) quarterback in a fantasy world yet believe the Cowboys receivers are so significantly worse than the rest?

On top of this, not that statistics indicate who is necessarily better, but his take about Kelvin Benjamin looks weak next to Allen Hurns for example.

• Kelvin Benjamin, 2017 (Carolina and Buffalo): 14 games, 48 receptions, 692 yards, 3 touchdowns
• Allen Hurns, 2017 (Jacksonville): 10 games, 39 catches, 484 yards, 2 touchdowns

The Cowboys have a new-look group of wide receivers, but this doesn’t at all necessarily indicate that they’re the worst in the NFL or that they’ll be the worst in terms of production.

People doubt what they don’t know, and Matthew Berry is one of the best fantasy football analysts in the world, he’s just doing his job. Will he be proven correct? Or is this take too hot? You decide.