14 Cowboys named to ESPN's 'Best draft pick' per-slot list, 5x SB starter ineligible

USA Today

a day ago

The Dallas Cowboys weren't an original NFL franchise, coming into exsistence for the first time for the 1960 season. Over the last 65 years, they've assembled a bit of lore, winning five Super Bowl championships across their first 35 seasons, since carrying the moniker of America's Team into billions of dollars of valuation despite not winning anything much beyond a ton of regular season games.
The stars that have come through of the organization have mainly evolved from drafting, though a handful have made their way through trade or free agency, becoming less common over the last decade than it had been previously. But there have been plenty of stars overall, so much so that when ESPN's Ben Solak went about listing the best player drafted at every slot through NFL history, the Cowboys landed an impressive 14 of the 262 players.
One name is conspicuously absent, however. Solak's cutoff occurred in 1967 (first year of combined AFL/NFL draft), so he named Rob Burnett, Cleveland Browns DE with one single Pro-Bowl appearance and a Second-Team All-Pro designation as the best No. 129 pick ever, unable to name Roger Staubach (1964) to the list. Staubach was named to six Pro Bowls and finished Top-5 in MVP voting three different times, as well as leading the Cowboys to five Super Bowl trips and two victories.
With 32 franchises, the average team should see around eight entries on the list, so Dallas took their fair share of slots. Of the names on the list, there were a couple who were drafted by Dallas but made their name elsewhere, and a few more who made their way to donning the star after starting somewhere else. The first name on the list, Deion Sanders, is of that ilk.
It's a loaded fifth pick (Junior Seau, LaDainian Tomlinson, Jalen Ramsey and Ja'Marr Chase), but Sanders gets the nod for his unique place as a two-way player (not to mention his two rings -- one of which came in his Defensive Player of the Year season -- and his six first-team All-Pro appearances). Does he also get a bump for providing excellent return on a sixth-round draft pick in the MLB draft? Who's to say?
Sanders joined Dallas after five years in Atlanta and one in San Francisco, earning a ring with Dallas in 1995, then existing as their best player for the next half decade.
The leader for career rushing yards by almost 2,000 yards takes the top spot here. Just how incredible are Smith's 18,355 rushing yards? Derrick Henry -- who is 19th in career rushing yardage but ninth with 84 rushing yards per game over his career -- would need to maintain his career average over another five seasons to catch Smith.
Smith is as symbolic a Cowboy as there is, spending the majority of his career with the Cowboys before ending in Arizona.
An odd one here, as Wisniewski was drafted by the Cowboys but was then almost immediately traded to the Raiders, with whom he made eight All-Pro teams over a 13-year career. The Wiz started 215 of a possible 217 games in his career with the Raiders as well -- ridiculous availability. Congrats to the Cowboys (I guess?) for drafting him!
With respect to Hill, pick No. 62 is easily the worst pick we've run into so far. Hill is a three-time Pro Bowler with one ring; his best season had 1,113 yards. His strongest competition is Brian O'Neill, the current right tackle for the Vikings, and Jimmy Garoppolo. It's starting to get bleak!
A weirdly tough group at pick No. 69, where Witten goes against Hall of Famer Russ Grimm and a few strong active players, including Cooper Kupp. Assuming Witten -- who becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame in this upcoming cycle -- makes the Hall in one or two ballots, I think he has a better résumé than Grimm (though three Super Bowl championships and four first-team All-Pros is pretty good stuff). Witten just has a level of era-defining play with those 2000s Cowboys that puts him a hair above.
71. DeMarco Murray, RB (2011)
Pick No. 71 isn't a strong group, so I'll let Murray's legendary 2014 season carry him to the top: 392 carries, 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns, with another 57 catches for 416 yards to boot. The 449 touches remains the sixth highest-volume season in NFL history, and given the way backs are managed these days, it will likely stay that way for a while.
A five-time first-team All-Pro, Owens is only better known for his great touchdown celebrations than his production (153 touchdown receptions, No. 3 all-time). Owens only ever got to play in one Super Bowl, delivering one of the gutsiest performances of modern NFL history in the loss -- but the personal accolades are more than enough.
Only Tom Brady has more individual Super Bowl rings than Haley, who has five (a lot of players have four). Two came with the team that drafted him (49ers), and three came with the team he joined in free agency (Cowboys). For his efforts on multiple championship teams, Haley is enshrined in the Hall and enshrined here as the best-ever 96th overall pick.
Eight players as the best at their slot among the Top 100 picks is an insane rate, but the Cowboys aren't done there.
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