MMQB Post-NFL Draft Rankings: Does Cowboys Top Grade Mean Top 10?
FRISCO - The MMQB gang at Sports Illustrated has issued the Dallas Cowboys the highest possible grade for their recent NFL Draft performance. Does the top grade fuel a top NFL power ranking?
A pair of NFL milestones have come and gone. NFL Free Agency is part of that; it's why Tom Brady's Buccaneers have vaulted up while the Patriots have slipped. The NFL Draft is part of that, and the Cowboys received an A-plus from SI, so ... On with the results!
This week’s NFL Power Rankings Poll voters:
Albert Breer, Senior NFL Reporter
Andrew Brandt, Business of Football Columnist
Gary Gramling, Senior Editor
Mitch Goldich, Producer/Writer
Conor Orr, Staff Writer
Jenny Vrentas, Senior Writer
The Kansas City Chiefs are No. 1 - despite their SI Draft Grade of C-plus. As SI puts it, "When you win the Super Bowl and follow it up by bringing back 20 of 22 starters, including the consensus best QB in the league, you stay on top of the power rankings.''
The Philadelphia Eagles get a crummy C for their draft and yet hold the No. 6 spot. From SI: "They didn’t help themselves in the draft as much as many would have liked them to, but our panel is envisioning a bounce-back year for a squad that won four straight games just to reach the playoffs.''
And so the Eagles are sixth ... ahead of the A-plus Cowboys? Indeed.
Dallas is coming off an 8-8 season. In the last poll, the Cowboys ranked No. 14. But on the strength of their draft (and free agency)? Dallas vaults to No. 1. From SI:
The Jason Garrett Era is finally over, and there’ll be plenty of pressure on Mike McCarthy after a great draft in Big D.''
As we wrote in our early draft summation from Frisco: "How 1-2-3 Lucky Are Cowboys? 'We're Livin' Right.'' That theme is part of the great grade ... which isn't quite good enough yet to equate into a truly great ranking.
Click here for the entire 32-team analysis from the MMQB staff.
