Cowboys guard Zack Martin named best interior offensive linemen in the NFL

If you asked a random person who the best player was on the Dallas Cowboys then you would probably mostly receive an answer of Micah Parsons. That is certainly very fair. But if we are talking about non-Micah options, there is a name that would also be deemed fair - guard Zack Martin. If the purpose of the conversation is to identify which player on the team is the best at their position relative to the rest of the NFL, then Martin might very well be the correct choice.

Whether or not you want to split hairs on that conversation is up to you, this isn’t about that; however, this is about Martin and him being named the best in the league as far as what he does.

That is correct. Zack Martin is the best interior offensive lineman in the NFL.

Zack Martin was named the best interior offensive lineman by ESPN’s polling of NFL executives, coaches and scouts

Once upon a time NFL Network unveiled the NFL Top 100 and we all got upset because players were ranked too high or too low. We have since come to calm down a bit and regard the exercise (all due respect to it) as a bit more of a popularity contest with a whole lot of recency bias injected into it. And that is totally fine. It just is what it is.

Another exercise of note is what ESPN does in assembling their best-of rankings. The worldwide leader began this year’s rendition a little over a week ago and is slowly revealing how a collection of executives, coaches and scouts throughout the league rank players in each and every position group.

Sunday they unveiled the list of interior offensive linemen and number one is number 70 - Dallas Cowboys guard Zack Martin.

1. Zack Martin, G, Dallas Cowboys

Highest ranking: 1 | Lowest ranking: 5

Age: 32 | Last year’s ranking: 2

Last season marked a sixth first-team All-Pro nod for Martin, who at age 32 is among the most highly productive players at any position.

He gave up three sacks on a 96% pass block win rate, the eighth-best clip in the league. His 73.8% run block win rate was also impressive.

Martin did not run away with the voting, but he’s still considered the best.

“He’s maybe declined physically a little bit due to age, but he’s so smart and so instinctive that he makes up for any physical shortcoming,” a high-ranking NFL executive said.

Since being drafted by the Cowboys almost a decade ago (2014), Zack Martin has been one of the very best players on the team and one of the best at his position across the league as a whole. He will one day hold a spot in Canton, OH as a reward for his work, and he will hopefully have at least one Super Bowl ring on his finger earned with the Cowboys.

Aside from 2020 (when injuries finally took a more serious toll), Martin has been an All-Pro of some kind and a Pro Bowler in each and every season that he has played. We have seen him kick out to right tackle on a whim as well and not skip a beat doing it, a testament to his versatility as well as his greatness.

There is nothing to be said about Zack Martin at this point that has not already been noted. He is the best interior offensive linemen in the NFL and it appears that the NFL world officially agrees with that.