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Top 50 Dallas Cowboys

Often, we talk about how difficult these lists are to put together, but nowhere was this more apparent than the Dallas Cowboys. 

Formed in 1960, the Cowboys got off to a slow start, but with strong coaching and elite scouting, Dallas would become one of the best teams in Pro Football, while along the way becoming one of the most internationally franchises regardless of the sport.

They would win Super Bowl VI and Super Bowl XII, but while they were a good team through most of the 1980s, they were unable to win the championship and would hit rock bottom.  The '90s were a different story, as they collected three Super Bowls (XXVII, XXVIII & XXX), but while they have been to the playoffs many times since Super Bowl XXX, the Cowboys have not been there since.

The Cowboys is one of those teams where we had to leave so many great players off that we wish we could have extended it to 100.  Eventually, we will do that, but if it looks like we missed one, the chances are that they just missed the cut.


Note: Football lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.

This list is based up until the 2021 Season.

Darren Woodson was a second round pick from Arizona State in 1992, and the year after, he was the team's starting Strong Safety.  In those two years, he helped Dallas win the Super Bowl, but he would have a much more significant role in the team moving forward.
If you were Tony Romo, you were either loved or hated, and there were times when he played, he was arguably both.
Cornell Green is another player on this list of all-time Dallas Cowboys who are played his entire pro career in the state of Texas.
It was fitting that Harvey Martin played his entire pro career with the Dallas Cowboys.  Martin was born in Dallas, played at East Texas State, and was drafted in the 3rd Round by the Cowboys in 1973 and joined and immediately contributed to what was already a dominating defensive unit. 
“Prime Time” Deion Sanders had already proven himself as a superstar in Pro Football, as he was already a four-time Pro Bowl and three-time First Team All-Pro.  The year before he signed with Dallas, he was a San Francisco 49er for one year, and he helped them win the Super Bowl and won the Defensive Player of the Year.
Playing his college ball at Florida A&M (well before they were an FBS school), Nate Newton did not receive a lot of attention from the NFL, and he had to settle for signing with the Washington Redskins as a Free Agent.  He didn't make the team, but he found a home in the USFL with the Tampa Bay Bandits.  In…
At 6’ 9”, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, had one of the coolest and appropriate nicknames in not just football, but in all of sports.
After a bad scouting combine, Everson Walls would not hear his name called during the 1981 Draft.  The Cowboys would sign him, and it was easy to say that the move benefited both parties.
You don’t usually talk about personal services contracts, but that is how Don Perkins was signed by Dallas…providing they got an NFL team.  They did, and the NFL allowed it, as the Cowboys had to send a compensatory 9th Round Pick to the Baltimore Colts who chosen him that year.
Ralph Neely played his entire career with the Dallas Cowboys, where the All-American from Oklahoma found a long-term home.
“Dandy” Don Meredith arrived from SMU to the Dallas Cowboys, and the original Cowboy would become Dallas’ star Quarterback in 1963. 
The Dallas Cowboys have been known throughout their history as having outstanding Offensive Linemen, and John Niland was the first one they acquired with a first round pick (5th Overall in 1966).  
A superstar at Arizona State, the Dallas Cowboys, drafted Danny White in the third round of 1974.  With the knowledge that he was going to be used primarily as a Punter, White joined the Memphis Southmen of the upstart World Football League, where he could play Quarterback.  The league folded quickly, and he joined Dallas in 1976, as the Punter,…
When you think of Marquette, you don’t come up with visions of football.  Perhaps that is because the program shut down in 1960, which was the year that George Andrie was a junior.  This meant that during his senior year, he wasn’t playing football, and as such, slipped under the radar of many teams, but the Dallas Cowboys were not…
Ezekiel Elliott had a really good run with the Dallas Cowboys, lasting eight years, and at one time, was considered one of the best Running Backs in the game.
Central State in Wilberforce, Ohio, is not known for being a football factory, but they produced Erik Williams, who went there mainly because his grades were so weak, he could not get a Division I scholarship.  No matter, as the Offensive Lineman was still turning heads, and he was a third round pick by the Cowboys in 1991.
When the Dallas Cowboys had the “Triplets” of Quarterback, Troy Aikman, Running Back, Emmitt Smith, and Wide Receiver, Michael Irvin, there was another dependable offensive option in Tight End, Jay Novacek.
Charlie Waters played his entire career with the Dallas Cowboys, but while he played in every game in his first three years (1970-72), the product of Clemson was considered inconsistent.  He moved to Cornerback the next two seasons, but he found his true calling when he moved to Strong Safety in 1975.

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Flozell Adams played for the Dallas Cowboys for the first 12 years of his 13-year career, where he might be one of the most underrated Offensive Linemen in franchise history.