Inside The Star
For a team with a “top-heavy” roster, you can debate who the Dallas Cowboys cornerstones are all day. It’s a group filled with former All-Pros, high-potential young guys, and players teetering on a career crossroads.
It is also a costly 53-man roster; soon, Dallas will have three players worth over $35M per season.
They have a new head coach running the show in this critical bounce-back season, and key players returning from injuries that plagued their 2024 campaigns. Yet, as anti-climactic as it sounds, the year is likely to be dictated by their top-five players.
If the Cowboys’ best are not healthy and productive, their chances of competing for a Super Bowl plummet. They just don’t have the depth to push through that.
So, who are those top dogs? Let’s rank them and find out. Here are Dallas’ top-five players in 2025.
Is this a hot take? Yes. Ranking an unproven commodity with two ACL tears over guys like DaRon Bland, Trevon Diggs, or George Pickens is far from the norm, but that is how good I believe DeMarvion Overshown is.
Dallas’s best linebacker, the former Texas Longhorn was a shooting star in 2024, totaling 90 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and five sacks in just 13 games.
That devastating injury ended his year, but this kid is flat out determined to make it back.
Work ethic won’t solve all of his problems, as re-tearing an ACL with an even more severe injury could limit his previous talent.
However, if he does make the return he’s been hyping up and hits the field at 100%, I think we’re talking about an All-Pro linebacker and one of the Cowboys cornerstones for years to come. “Agent 0” is the real deal.
It is all about health for Dak Prescott. If he’s on the field, he is as important of a player as one can be for Dallas, but the injuries have started to pile up.
After a career-year in 2023, the veteran quarterback struggled early in the year and then tore his hamstring off the bone, ending his and the Cowboys season prematurely. It was a sight Dallas’s fans remember all too well.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott (hamstring) to undergo season-ending surgery Wednesday. (via @tompelissero) pic.twitter.com/KWr1V1zJhs
— NFL (@NFL) November 12, 2024
Due to that injury history and his increasing age, he slides to fourth in the pure talent ranking here. That does not speak to just how critical he is for this team.
In terms of general importance, he is number one.
Can he return to being the 35+ touchdown guy we’ve seen in the past, or are the injuries going to derail his 30s, much like they did with Tony Romo?
When the front office selected Tyler Smith in the first round a few years ago, we...
