Diggs, Prescott among 10 Cowboys predicted to win awards in 2021
The Dallas Cowboys are off to a strong start. They are off on Sunday, as their early mid-season bye has arrived and it finds the club with a 5-1 record and as winners of five consecutive games. The team’s engine, it’s offense, is humming like a Tesla right now, leading the league in several categories in the traditional stat categories and ranking near the top in advanced one. The defense is opportunistic and while the standard operating procedure is to predict it won’t last, their turnover run stretches back to 2020 indicating it might just be who they are overall after years of being subpar in the area.
The team performance is of course the unification of individual greatness which means that individual accolades should come with the success. Who is in line to take home hardware at NFL Honors night in February? Who will be there in Las Vegas for the 2022 Pro Bowl? Who will be nominated for the even more prestigious All-Pro Teams? Take a look at the likely candidates.
All-Pro and Pro Bowlers Per Position
Here’s a rundown of how the rosters are constructed. The All-Pro is the more difficult list to make as it combines players from both conferences, while the Pro Bowl is conference specific. The game will be played in Las Vegas this season, on February 6, 2022. Hopefully none of these players will be allowed to participate because they’ll be busy the following weekend in Los Angeles.
All-Pro
There is a First-Team and a Second-Team, but the voting is quirky. If there’s a tie at a position on the First-Team, it doesn’t take away from how many slots are on the Second-Team. Last season there were three First-Team safeties but still two Second-Team ones. There were five Second-Team WRs and four LBs, but no TE because Travis Kelce was a unanimous choice on First-Team with all 50 votes.
QB: 1-1
RB: 1-1
WR: 3-3
TE: 1-1
LT: 1-1
RT: 1-1
LG: 1-1
RG: 1-1
C: 1-1
ED: 2-2
ID: 2-2
LB: 3-3
CB: 2-2
S: 2-2
LS, P, K: 1-1
RS: 1-1
ST Ace: 1-1
Pro Bowl
QB: 3
RB: 3
WR: 4
TE: 2
FB: 1
OT: 3
OG: 3
C: 2
DE: 3
DT: 3
OLB: 3
ILB: 2
CB: 4
S: 3
LS, P, K: 1 Each
RS: 1
ST Ace: 1
List of NFL Honors Awards
The NFL Honors ceremony takes place the night before the Super Bowl, so hopefully no Cowboys will be in attendance if they win any awards.
Pepsi Rookie of the Year
AP Offensive Rookie of the Year
AP Defensive Rookie of the Year
FedEx Air Player of the Year
FedEx Ground Player of the Year
AP Offensive Player of the Year
AP Defensive Player of the Year
AP Comeback Player of the Year
AP Assistant Coach of the Year
AP Coach of the Year
AP Most Valuable Player
Walter Payton Man of the Year
Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022
Quarterback Dak Prescott
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Prescott is having a phenomenal year and right now his odds for winning the MVP are pretty high. Most books have him among the top-three candidates along with Kyler Murray of Arizona and the Bills’ Josh Allen. The field is deep, though.
Prescott currently ranks 2nd in Football Outsiders DYAR (defense-adjusted yards above replacement) and DVOA (defensive-adjusted value over average) metrics, which take into account opponent strength and game situation. He’s seventh in EPA (expected points added) + CPOE (completion percentage above expectation), a combo metric that tallies increasing a team’s chance at scoring on a play-by-play basis along with the difficulty of throws attempted.
He ranks fourth in PFF’s Passing Grades, but only 10th overall as QB Grade because of end-zone fumbles, both in his and his opponent’s. So he clearly has a shot at the biggest hardware of all, but there’s plenty of competition.
Working best in his favor? A second-half schedule that includes cupcake pass defenses of Denver (No. 21 in pas-defense DVOA), New York (22), Washington twice (28), Atlanta (30) and Kansas City (31). If he balls out there and then does moderately well against the tough pass defenses of Arizona (2) and Minnesota (3), his profile will be through the roof.
As fun as that may be, that’s not the most important narrative here. It’s that a year ago, Prescott had just undergone surgery on a dislocated ankle and compound fracture. Also, Prescott’s a tremendously great leader and even better person. His Faith, Fight, Finish Foundation supports families going through cancer diagnoses, and his Ask4Help project focuses on the mental health battle so many go through.
The high-profile nature of his position and team help in that regard and he could be in contention for multiple awards. Prediction?
AP Second-Team All-Pro quarterback
NFC Pro Bowl quarterback
FedEx Air Player of the Year
AP Comeback Player of the Year
Walter Payton Man of the Year
Cornerback Trevon Diggs
(AP Photo/Ron Jenkins)
Diggs’ season has been surreal to say the least. He’s intercepted a future Hall of Famer (albeit on a RB tip drill), future Pro Bowlers and divisional rivals. Seven picks in six games including two returned for touchdowns. He not only leads the league in both categories, but he also is tied for seventh in non-INT pass deflections, with four more.
For those who want to try and nitpick about the yardage he’s allowed, consider his overall stats. If a QB had a game in a blowout loss where they completed 22 of 43 passes for 1 TD, threw seven interceptions and had another four passes defensed, would anyone anywhere say their 419 passing yards mattered? Then why in the world is that being used to discount Diggs’ amazing start?
In more detail, Diggs is giving up those yards in the second half of games, which is where five of his seven picks have occurred. In the first half of games, he’s given up 11 passes on 21 targets for 150 yards. It’s the second halves where the Cowboys are working with sizable cushions in the majority of their contests where the yards are given up.
He’s as elite as an CB has been in a season over the last several years.
AP Defensive Player of the Year
AP First-Team All-Pro cornerback
NFC Pro Bowl Corner cornerback
Right guard Zack Martin
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
After playing just 8 entire games last year and leaving two others with 10 or less snaps, Martin saw his career-spanning streak of six straight Pro Bowls snapped, as well as his six year streak of First-Team (4) or Second-Team (2) All-Pro designations.
Time to start new streaks. He’s back to being the best guard in the game. He’s back to being the best offensive lineman in the game.
First-Team All Pro right guard
NFC Pro Bowl offensive guard
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore
(AP Photo/Roger Steinman)
Moore is on his way to a lot of offseason interview requests, the question is whether or not Jerry Jones will be able to sway him to stay with the organization. His ability to morph an aggressive plan of attack depending on what defenses focus on taking away is becoming the thing of legends, and of course doing so for the Cowboys only adds to the lore.
The Dallas offense leads the NFL in points-per-game and yards-per-game and is balanced, ranking 5th in passing yards and 2nd in rushing yards. They rank 4th in offensive DVOA, 4th in dropback EPA/play and 5th in EPA per play.
More importantly in the context of his category, the other offenses in competition here are mostly seen as a product of the head coaches in charge of those units.
AP Assistant Coach of the Year
Left tackle Tyron Smith
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Smith had offseason neck surgery and was able to discard the neck roll. The rest has been a return to elite status in the conversation for the game’s best tackle.
Second-Team All-Pro left tackle
NFC Pro Bowl offensive tackle
Defense end Randy Gregory
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Gregory probably won’t garner many votes for Comeback Player of the Year but he is starting his campaign for Comeback Player of the Ever. What he’s overcome from his first six years in the league to being the dominant, thoughtful, appreciative wrecking ball he is in 2021 is a sight to see. Gregory leads the team with four sacks and if it was easily available to the public he’s likely among the league leaders in holding penalties (both called and missed).
Offensive linemen don’t know what to do with him now that his Gumby flexibility and ghostly speed has been joined by grown man strength. He’s pure havoc off the edge.
NFC Pro Bowl defensive end
Running back Ezekiel Elliott
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Elliott isn’t in contention for the Comeback award, but his bounce-back season has been very impressive none-the-less. Last season amidst COVID symptoms and injuries to his offensive line, QB and himself, it was a really bad season. He came back invigorated, dedicated and is firmly among the best backs in the league, still. It’s more remarkable because over his now six seasons, he’s the only one consistently in the top group.
Derrick Henry is firmly entrenched as the game’s best runner, but Elliott is the game’s best running back – there’s a distinction. He is a better pass-catching weapon than Henry and Cleveland’s Nick Chubb (who is a better runner now but has the durability question starting to creep in). He is a far better pass blocker than any of his competition which in today’s passing league is monumentally important. Elliott back, yall.
NFC Pro Bowl running back
Linebacker Micah Parsons
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Parsons was shot out of a cannon to start the season and though his stat collection has cooled off some, his role continues to be more diverse than most defensive players in the league. There are certainly other worthy contenders in LAC’s Asante Samuel, Jr. and fellow Nittany Lion Odafe Oweh in Baltimore, but this should still be Parsons’ for the taking.
AP Defensive Rookie of the Year
Tight end Dalton Schultz
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Entering the year many thought that Blake Jarwin was going to get his job back as projected TE1, but those who paid attention saw that Schultz put up comparable numbers in 2020 with garbage QBs as Jarwin did with Prescott. It only stood to reason with Prescott back, Schultz would ascend. He deserved a Pro Bowl nod last year but lost out due to reputation to Evan Engram of the Giants. That won’t be the case this year as Schultz is tracking towards a 1,000-yard season.
Legacy names could do him in again here, especially if George Kittle and Rob Gronkowski have big second halves, so these are iffy.
Second-Team All-Pro tight end
NFC Pro Bowl tight end
WR CeeDee Lamb
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
As it stands right now this is more of a projection. Lamb would probably be on the outside looking in with Davante Adams and Cooper Kupp locking in the first two WR spots and legacy guys normally get the nod in a crowded field like this.
Still, Lamb’s performance against New England seems like the first of a run once he returns from the break. He’s in a group with DeAndre Hopkins, Justin Jefferson, Mike Evans, teammate Amari Cooper, Deebo Samuel and D.J. Moore.
NFC Pro Bowl wide receiver
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