There are certain markers to indicate that football season is getting closer. By the time the Little League World Series comes around you know things are serious in that regard.
Another landmark of this variety in recent years has been ESPN’s positional rankings. Something they do now is take notes from executives, coaches, and scouts across the league to assemble rankings at positions. The point here is that this is supposed to be coming from the perspective of the people closest to the game and who
would be in the know.
On Tuesday ESPN dropped their cornerback rankings and it isn’t a shock that no Dallas Cowboys were listed. We are coming off of one of the worst defensive seasons in Cowboys franchise history, after all.
The top 10 cornerbacks listed, if you were curious:
- Pat Surtain II, Broncos
- Derek Stingley Jr., Texans
- Christian Gonzalez, Patriots
- Devon Witherspoon, Seahawks
- Trent McDuffie, Rams
- Quinyon Mitchell, Eagles
- Denzel Ward, Browns
- Jaycee Horn, Panthers
- Sauce Gardner, Colts
- Cooper DeJean, Eagles
Even with the Cowboys corners being left off of this list, there is something here that should be exciting for all of us. Consider that Surtain, Mitchell, and DeJean all have histories of working with new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Dallas will have a player on this list next year, but you can understand excitement coming from that perspective.
While the Cowboys did not have a player even listed in the next category of honorable mentions, they did have someone show up under “also receiving votes” in DaRon Bland.
There were four honorable mentions and 10 who also received votes. So from a mathematical perspective the Cowboys have one of the best 24 cornerbacks in the NFL by this particular measurement system. That’s hardly anything to write home about, but it is something for Christian Parker to work on clearly.
Do you think that ranking is fair? Or should DaRon Bland be higher? Heck, should he be lower?
Let us know in the comments below.
