PFF: Zack Martin ranked as ninth best player in NFL

Football season is rapidly approaching, with both college and the NFL coming up in the next couple of months. As the NFL campaign inches closer, Pro Football Focus is preparing for the season by ranking the top 50 players in the entire league entering the 2022 season. Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Zack Martin comes in at No. 9 on PFF’s list.

Martin has been a consistent weapon on the Cowboys offensive front since he entered the league in 2014. The former first round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame is 31 years old, but he has remained a steady force in Dallas throughout his career.

“Martin may be the most underrated player in the NFL,” PFF wrote. “He accrued a career-best 93.9 PFF grade last season, posting six separate PFF game grades above 90.0 during the season. He allowed 19 pressures on 688 pass-blocking snaps and has seen his performance improve in each of the past three years.”

Martin is looking for improvement coming off of Cowboys playoff loss

When he entered the league in 2014, Martin immediately made an impact for the Cowboys. As a rookie, he was the runner-up for the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, although he was a Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro. He went on to pick up Pro Bowl selections in each of his first six NFL seasons, and he picked up the seventh of his career last season.

In addition to his Pro Bowl honors, Martin has been a first-team All-Pro five times and a second-team All-Pro twice.

Even though Martin’s accolades are piling up at this point in his career, he knows there is room for improvement both for himself and for others on the Cowboys offensive front. The Cowboys lost in the Wild Card round to the San Francisco 49ers last season, where the offensive line struggled with pre-snap penalties, sacks, and an inability to create holes in the running game.

After that loss, Martin knew that he needed to set out to be better.

“It’s no secret,” Martin said. “We need to get better. We got smacked in the mouth early, and credit to our guys for coming back and fighting through and making it a game. We need to get better.”

Dallas won the NFC East with a 12-5 record last season, but the Cowboys have some questions entering the 2022 campaign. If Martin continues to play as he has in every other year in his career, the offensive line should again be a strength, even with questions.