The Cowboys have a very talented roster. Their very best players are in line with nearly any team in football; if there’s one thing that has hurt the team in the past, it’s depth. But with the state of things, we started thinking: Who are the most valuable players on the 2018 Cowboys roster? Sure, Zack Martin, Travis Frederick and Tyron Smith may be the absolute best players at their positions. When he plays, Sean Lee transforms a defense. But how do you compare their impact to that of Dak Prescott or Ezekiel Elliott? How does a good safety compare to a solid cornerback? Kevin Turner and Jeff Cavanaugh were entrusted with the difficult task of ranking the players on this Cowboys roster from 1-20, purely in terms of how valuable they’ll be, and this article wraps up the seven-part series. As always, there’s room for debate with a list of this kind. Feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

#2: Tyron Smith

The Cowboys were 5-3 entering their Week 10 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons in 2017. They lost 27-7.

A team with a winning record shouldn’t have been so crippled by one loss on the road. But this wasn’t just any ordinary loss, this was a disaster of extreme proportions.

The week prior, in Dallas’ home game against Kansas City, All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith suffered a groin injury and didn’t finish the contest. While the Cowboys held on for the victory, the loss of Smith proved to be devastating the following week. That’s when Falcons defensive end Adrian Clayborn embarrassed Smith’s replacements, Chaz Green and Byron Bell, to the tune of six sacks on a day when Atlanta finished with eight.

Smith missed the next week as well, with the Eagles routing the Cowboys 37-9 as Dak Prescott and the offense continued to falter without the standout lineman. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen again in 2018.

While Smith, 27, has been slowed by an array of injuries over the past couple of years, none is more concerning than his back. The Cowboys shut him down during training camp last year as he dealt with back tightness, and that issue foreshadowed his injury-plagued 2017.

So far this offseason all reports are that the Cowboys’ second-most important player is healthy and ready to go after choosing to forego surgery on a knee sprain he suffered late last season.

Here’s a video of him from OTA’s a couple weeks ago, discussing pass rush sets with Bengals legend Willie Anderson.

I love asking the greats about their sets. I love to here their mindset about their Kick set! Here is @dallascowboys great TyronSmith! #Cowboys #WillieAndersonLinemanAcademy pic.twitter.com/6IsW2MwF9L — Willie Anderson (@BigWillie7179) May 17, 2018

It can’t be stated enough how important Smith’s health is to this team. With that vulnerability in mind, the Cowboys went out in March and signed Cameron Fleming to be the new swing tackle. Green has moved to guard while Bell is gone, having signed as a free agent with the Packers. Fleming is a clear upgrade over both.

The fifth-year veteran started 20 regular season games for the Patriots over the last four years, but more importantly has started nine playoff games, including the last two Super Bowls. He’s a capable NFL starter who in Dallas will play the vital role of backing up Smith and La’el Collins.

Granted he played under 200 snaps in 2017, but he was in the Top 30 in pass blocking efficiency, according to Pro Football Focus. He gave up only four sacks.

Ideally, Fleming doesn’t have to play at all in 2018, unless it’s garbage time. The Cowboys have had good health with Travis Frederick and Zack Martin, and aside from the last two seasons, Smith was in that category as well.

While I think Fleming is a good player and could hold down the fort if needed, the identity of the Cowboys is severely compromised if their All-Pro left tackle has to miss any time. The Cowboys have to hope that his injuries don’t worsen and that Smith is back to his All-Pro form in 2018.

And please, if you don’t believe me on how important he is to this team, then believe this…

Cowboys offense in 2017 with Tyron Smith = 28.5 pts/game (ranked 4th)

Cowboys offense in 2017 without Tyron Smith = 8.0 pts/game (ranked last) Poor chemistry with Dez, no Zeke…those things hurt, but there is no greater Dak-friendly piece than your All Pro left tackle. pic.twitter.com/KxIbDON6DK — Dan Rogers (@DannyPhantom24) June 3, 2018

#1: Dak Prescott

At the Cowboys annual golf tournament last month, Stephen Jones was asked a question regarding Dak Prescott’s future contract. Yes, with two years still left on the quarterback’s rookie deal, the talk of his future fortune became a headline for a few days in DFW.

In my mind that seemed a little silly at the time because we’re likely two or even three (with the franchise tag) years away from the contract coming into fruition. Prescott is currently the NFL’s 66th ranked quarterback in terms of base salary. Even if his 2018 is more like last year than his phenomenal rookie season, that’s an incredible bargain price the Cowboys need to take advantage of while they can.

But how sold is the front office, coaches and fan base on Prescott as the guy who would be worthy of a long-term contract?

By most accounts it seems like the front office and coaches are all in. I’ve sensed skepticism from the fan base, but the organization seems pretty all-in on the former Mississippi State Bulldog and the team’s most valuable player. And why shouldn’t they be?

Prescott is 22-10 in 32 regular season games. I understand he’s not Tony Romo, and I understand there are parts of Prescott’s game that need improvement, but he’s done nothing to make me think he shouldn’t be the Cowboys quarterback for the long-term.

Things could easily change in year three, and it’s really hard to predict how the passing game will perform without Dez Bryant and Jason Witten, but the Cowboys have put a strategy in place to try to get the most out of Prescott and I feel like we will see improvement from him this season.

In 2017, his completion percentage dipped 5%, down to 62%. I immediately think about the dropoff Cole Beasley had in 2017 and can’t help but think that’s a part of Prescott’s production. The blame is shared all around the passing game, and that’s kind of why it’s become difficult to evaluate Prescott.

Was the coaching staff the problem? Did missing Zeke really impact the offense that much? Did they try to force the ball to Dez too much? Why weren’t receivers getting separation? Is Dak accurate enough to be a winning QB in this league? You could go on for hours with questions about why this offense went into the toilet late in the year, and I think you’d have a ton of answers throughout the process.

In my draft notes for Prescott coming out of college, I had a fourth-round grade on him. I thought he was good in the short and intermediate levels but struggled when asked to throw down the field. That doesn’t mean he can’t do it, but it’s never been his forte. His inability to get the ball to Bryant down the field shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone.

With all of the talk of Prescott’s accuracy problems, I always thought that narrative was a little overblown. There were some bad throws to be sure, but if a throw goes way over Dez’ head, does that cancel out the perfect throw Prescott made earlier in the drive?

NFL.com’s NextGenStats said that Prescott was statistically the No. 1 quarterback when it came to tight window throws in 2017.

Dak Prescott was the best statistical QB on tight window throws per #NextGenStats. Here are all 7 of his TDs and the separation on each play. pic.twitter.com/eMLwT02XWi — Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) February 21, 2018

It’s just one metric, but it helps support that he wasn’t quite as bad in 2017 as he was made out to be.

I touched on it earlier in the piece, but the moment the Cowboys offense went into the tank is the Atlanta game, when Dak was sacked all day long. In 2017 he was sacked seven more times than he was in 2016. The Cowboys have to do a better job of protecting him in 2018.

He threw nine more interceptions in 2017 than in 2016. Considering he only threw four interceptions in 2016 it was very likely he was going to throw more in 2017. I would make the argument that not all of the interceptions were totally on him.

Dak Prescott is hit as he throws… And @SeanSmith24 comes up with his second interception of the night! #DALvsOAK #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/I8yM2ccdvK — NFL (@NFL) December 18, 2017

Sometimes I wonder what the fan base would think of Prescott if he wasn’t following in the footsteps of Romo, or if he hadn’t replaced Romo. It’s important that when we watch and evaluate Prescott that we do that through clear goggles, not with fog on them from the Romo era. Dak is his own player and he deserves his own leash.

Wow. Dak Prescott shakes off an Aaron Donald sack and finds Dez Bryant for a first down on third and 7. pic.twitter.com/8W6hQhl7yy — NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) October 1, 2017

If he fails in 2018, maybe the Cowboys consider moving on, but Prescott has shown in his two years in the NFL that he belongs as somebody’s starting quarterback.

In 2017, he was 13th in completion percentage, ahead of guys like Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Russell Wilson and Phillip Rivers. He was tied for 12th in touchdown passes with 22. One stat you’d love to see him improve on is yards per attempt, where he was tied for 19th at 6.8 ypa.

Sure we’d love to see improvement in all kinds of statistics, but that’s kind of where through 32 games we can look at Prescott and say, “You know what? This kid’s not bad.”

This team isn’t built to where the QB has to be an MVP. It’s built to where it needs the running back to be the MVP candidate. Sixteen games of Zeke makes Dak a better player. Sixteen games of Tyron makes Dak a better player. Some teams don’t need disclaimers like that but at this point in Prescott’s career, the Cowboys do.

Hopefully when he’s making 20+ million a year in a few seasons we’ll be expecting him to be a MVP caliber player. But for now the Cowboys don’t need him to be Aaron Rodgers, they just need him to be good.

Dallas has added better route runners and has gotten faster as a team. I predict the emphasis will be on getting the ball out quick and letting the playmakers go make plays. I think Tavon Austin, as well as Zeke, will have a big impact out of the backfield in the passing game. I think Dak will be better protected with Connor Williams shoring up the left guard spot, and Collins having a year of NFL experience at right tackle under his belt.

There’s a reason Prescott was drafted in the fourth round and not the first. He had some things to work on.

The 2016 season worked out so perfectly that it was easy to overlook areas of Dak’s game that could use improvement. When the 2017 season got rocky, it was easy to the shortcomings. I don’t think the 2017 version of Prescott was that much different than the 2016 version. When you examine all the factors in play, it’s easy to see why he had a little bit of a drop-off.

Given Prescott’s personality and work ethic, the likely (fingers crossed) adjustments to the offense, the personnel change and another year of experience, I think we can expect his 2018 to be more like 2016 than last year.

# 3-5: Sean Lee, DeMarcus Lawrence, Ezekiel Elliott

#6-8: David Irving, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin

#9-11: Chdobe Aquzie, Byron Jones, Cole Beasley

#12-14: La ‘El Collins, Connor Williams, Chidobe Awuzie

#15-17: Xavier Woods, Tyrone Crawford, Jourdan Lewis

#18-20: Allen Hurns, Jaylon Smith, Taco Charlton

(Top photo: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports)