This is the season for NFL retirements.

Last week, two potential early retirements were announced, with Wide Receiver Julio Jones and Defensive Back Patrick Peterson hanging up their cleats.  Today, Offensive Tackle Tyron Smith signed a ceremonial deal with the Dallas Cowboys, the team that drafted him ninth overall in 2011, so he could retire in “Big D.” 

A Cowboy for the first 13 of his 14 seasons, Smith went to eight Pro Bowls, seven of which were consecutive (2013 to 2019).  He was also selected for two First Team All-Pros (2014 & 2016).  Smith, who started all 171 of his NFL games, was regarded as one of the football’s elite stoppers of pass-rushers and, had he not suffered a slew of injuries late in his career, could have been one of the best Tackles of all time.

Smith is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2030, and in our pre-2024 Notinhalloffame Football monitor, he was ranked #22 overall.  Notably, he retires two months after his longtime lineman Zack Martin.

We here at notinhalloffame.com would wish Tyron Smith the best in his post-playing career.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2023 revision of our top 50 Dallas Cowboys.

As for all of our top 50 players in football, we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Football League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Dallas made the playoffs but suffered an early exit.  The 2023 Season gave us two new entrants with three elevations.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes:

1. Emmitt Smith
2. Bob Lilly
3. Roger Staubach
4. Randy White
5. Mel Renfro

You can find the entire list here.

Offensive Guard Zack Martin cracks the top ten from #12 to #10.

Fellow Offensive Lineman Tyron Smith advanced to #14 from #17.  He is now with the New York Jets.

Quarterback Dak Prescott, who added his third Pro Bowl in 2023, climbed to #29 from #41.

Defensive End DeMarcus Lawrence, who went to four Pro Bowls, makes his first appearance at #47.

Linebacker Micah Parsons, who has only been a pro for three years, has finished in the top three in all of them in Defensive Player of the Year voting.  He debuts at the tail end of the list at #50.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

The 2023 National Football League Season begin tonight, and we are ready with our revised list of the top 150 active (or hoping to be) players based on their existing Hall of Fame resume.

This is our fourth pre-season monitor, and you can find it all here.

A quick synopsis shows that we have the following:

19 Quarterbacks are ranked, including a brand new number one overall, Aaron Rodgers, now of the New York Jets. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes rocketed to #10 and Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos regresses to #11.

Only 12 Running Backs are ranked, with no player in the top 25 overall. The surprising top player at this position is Alvin Kamara of New Orleans.

Wide Receivers are more represented with 21 on the list. Julio Jones is the only one in the top ten (we still rank Free Agents who we think have a shot to return) with three others in (#18 Tyreek Hill, #20 DeAndre Hopkins and #24 Davante Adams) in the top 25.

Only 5 Tight Ends are ranked with Travis Kelce at #7.

22 Offensive Lineman are on the list, including three players in the top ten (#6 Zack Martin, #8 Trent Williams and #9 Jason Peters). There are two other players in the top 25 with Jason Kelce (#12) and Tyron Smith (#16).

On the defensive side, there are 23 Defensive Lineman, led by the Rams’ Aaron Donald, who is ranked #2 overall. Other Defensive Lineman in the top 25 are #17 Cameron Jordan, #19 Calais Campbell and #25 Ndamukong Suh.

With the Linebackers, we have the only position where there are two in the top five, which are Seattle’s Bobby Wagner and Buffalo’s Von Miller who are #3 and #4 respectively. There are 19 overall, and two more in the top 25, #14 Khalil Mack and #15 T.J. Watt.

There are 13 Cornerbacks who are ranked, led by Patrick Peterson of the Steelers at #13. There is one other Cornerback in the top 25 with Jalen Ramsey at #23.

At the Safety position, there are 12 who are ranked, but it takes you all the way to #63 (Minkah Fitzpatrick) before we see our first one.

There are five Special Teams players, led by Ravens Place Kicker, Justin Tucker at #23.

As always, we thank you for your support of the site and look for more improvements, content and lists in the future.

2023 Pre-Season Rank #16, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #16, 2021 Pre-Season Rank: #23, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #27.  Peak Period: 2013-17

For multiple reasons, Tyron Smith intrigues us the most among the Offensive linemen we have ranked in 2024. 

From 2013 to 2019, Smith was considered the best (or close to) Left Tackle in the business, attending every Pro Bowl and earning four All-Pros (two First Team and two Second Team).  However, his performance has been marred by injuries in the 2020 and 2022 seasons, raising questions about what he has left, though he did answer with a nice bounce back in 2023.

Now the Tackle has moved on from Dallas after 13 years to join the New York Jets, but is doing so at a time when the Jets are a questionable squad.   It is getting harder for Offensive Linemen to enter the Hall, and eight Pro Bowls and multiple First-Team All-Pros don’t always cut it (ask Richmond Webb who has seven Pro Bowls and multiple All-Pros).  Longevity might be his key.