Zack Martin: Key Ingredient for Dallas Success

Recently, Zack Martin has agreed to a new, two-year contract worth 36 million dollars. This was after a holdout by Martin, wanting more than the 27.5 million he was set to collect from his original contract. He sat out of three weeks' worth of practice in order to become the third highest-paid guard in the league. Was this the right move by the Dallas Cowboys?

The offensive lineman position is the most thankless job in football. They will always make the big play happen, but it will never be them making the play itself. Without a good offensive line, a team will never truly prosper. The Cincinnati Bengals proved this at Super Bowl LVI, where the o-line allowed a whopping seven sacks, tying the all-time record for a Super Bowl. A team can have an explosive offense with superstar receivers, but it'll be all for naught if the quarterback gets crunched before a play can be made.

With that being said, Zack Martin is one of the most unsung heroes in football. In his rookie year, the Notre Dame alumni was crowned with the honor of first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press, a feat not done by an offensive lineman in his first year since 1947. This was just the beginning, as he now has eight All-Pro honors, six of them being first-team. He matches this amount with his Pro Bowl selections, too.

On paper, there's no better offensive lineman, let alone guard, in the league. In the past three seasons, Martin has allowed a total of two sacks. In the latest season, he allowed ZERO sacks under 1,273 snaps played, including postseason. He was only penalized four times during these three seasons as well. To put this into perspective, Quenton Nelson, who is the second-highest-paid guard in the league, has allowed seven sacks and committed nineteen penalties during this time frame. Chris Lindstrom, the highest-paid guard in the NFL, had a sackless season in 2021. However, the Atlanta Falcons allowed two sacks last season and four in 2020, which is double what Martin allowed in these three seasons.

Let's look away from the stat sheet and look at another metric of talent: Madden! Now, Madden ratings are always argued on, and there's a reason for that. Nobody should take a video game's rating as gospel, but they are still good indications of how other people value these athletes, especially with the highest regard a player can have in Madden, the 99 Club. This club consists of players who have a 99 overall in the game, the highest rating one can have. These include your household names like Patrick Mahomes, Justin Jefferson, and Aaron Donald. This year, Martin joins this illustrious group, making him the first offensive guard in this since 2003.

With these accolades, it's almost impossible to devalue the importance of Zack Martin, and I'm not talking about Dylan Sprouse on Suite Life. Even Wikipedia says he's "considered one of the greatest offensive linemen of all time,” not just in the game today but in the entire history of the sport. He is generational in every sense of the word. Entering the season at thirty-two, Martin is on his last legs regarding his great form, at least. Maybe he'll be like Andrew Whitworth, who finally won the Super Bowl at the end of his eleven-year career.

Martin, entering his 10th season, is a part of a Super Bowl-caliber team in the Dallas Cowboys. All the pieces are in place, but it's up to the coaching staff and quarterback Dak Prescott to step up and make it happen. With the NFC weaker than ever, it wouldn't be shocking to see the 'Boys in a deep playoff run. However, they've fallen flat on these sentiments for the past thirty years. With only one losing record since 2017, they only have two playoff wins to show for it. A Super Bowl ring for Martin would further solidify him as one of the greatest guards we'll ever see. If for nobody else, do it for the man who deserves it more than anybody in the league. Do it for Zack.