Cowboys Best/Worst 1st round picks. Ever

Whyjerry

Well-Known Member
Messages
15,947
Reaction score
24,810
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/dal/draft.htm

Cowboys Top 10 Best first round picks Ever (you rank 'em- here's mine)

1) Bob Lilly
2) Roger Staubach
3) Randy white
4) Emmitt smith
5) Tony Dorsett
6) Michael Irvin
7) Troy Aikman
8) Rayfield wright
9) Zack martin
10) Tyron smith
__________________

Cowboys Top 10 Worst first round picks Ever: (you rank 'em - here's mine)

1) Rod Hill
2) Morris Claiborne
3) Taco Charleton
4 Danny Noonan
5 Kevin Brooks
6) Howard Richard
7) Shante Carver
8) David LaFluer
9) Felix jones
10) Bobby Carpenter

I think LVE needs to be on this list. Guy was a high pick. Not much from him since 2018.
 

fivetwos

Well-Known Member
Messages
19,060
Reaction score
25,886
Didn't Billy Cannon Jr have a series of neck or knee injuries that short-circuited his extremely short NFL career ?
Yes, something like that.

Guess it depends on the perspective here.....hindsight or at the time.

Cannon makes both lists in my lifetime.

I can't include guys I wasn't around for, but coach didn't mess up many before I came on board.

That's why I came on board.
 

Plankton

Well-Known Member
Messages
12,005
Reaction score
17,889
Bill Thomas was without question the worst first round pick by the Cowboys. He played in only seven games for the team (all on special teams), and was gone after one season.
 

buybuydandavis

Well-Known Member
Messages
23,699
Reaction score
20,778
__________________

Cowboys Top 10 Worst first round picks Ever: (you rank 'em - here's mine)

1) Rod Hill
2) Morris Claiborne
3) Taco Charleton
4 Danny Noonan
5 Kevin Brooks
6) Howard Richard
7) Shante Carver
8) David LaFluer
9) Felix jones
10) Bobby Carpenter

Felix was *phenomenal*. He failed because we turned him into a between the tackles RB and ran him while injured for 2 years. We ground him out of the league. He was a great pick who was managed and utilized *horribly*. It was a sin against football.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneFe00.htm
 

tyke1doe

Well-Known Member
Messages
53,646
Reaction score
32,023
Emmitt Smith is No. 1 on my list. We're not sniffing three Super Bowl wins without him.
As for the worst, take your pick.
 

Flamma

Well-Known Member
Messages
21,800
Reaction score
18,666
I don’t disagree with those points, but you still needed Aikman. Maybe the most impressive part of the 90’s Cowboys was the adversity they encountered in their playoff runs: The teams you beat in those NFCCG’s, SF and GB, immediately went on to win Super Bowls afterward. As good as those other players you named were, you still needed Aikman to overcome the odds.


A good QB is worth more than a HoF at any other position. It’s just the reality of football. Dallas benefited much more from taking Aikman in the first than they did Randy, no matter how much better a player he was.

You could say the same about Emmitt for the 90s. Who's above who? I agree that most of the times it will be QB if you're rating them on how they benefit the team. But then you'll run into the Emmitt/Aikman situation. Better to just rate them on how good they played their position.
 

JoeKing

Diehard
Messages
35,471
Reaction score
30,977
Bob Lilly is the best pick ever. The worst I guess is Bruce Carter in 2011.
 

pitt33

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,673
Reaction score
6,230
How about a list of 2nd round flops?

Man, that list is long.
 

JoeKing

Diehard
Messages
35,471
Reaction score
30,977
Agree with Lilly...

But Carter was pretty good for a few years. Didn’t he have 5 picks one season? That’s a lot for his position.
Carter had a lot of hype going up to the draft as the next-big pass-rusher. His speed was impressive but he lacked the strength and physicality to win off the edge consistently. He had just five sacks in eight years with four teams as a linebacker.
 

Hagman

Put Niland and Green in the ROH
Messages
3,322
Reaction score
7,765
Shante Carver is the worst First round draft pick in the history of the Dallas Cowboys. We even traded up in order to get him.
 

quickccc

Well-Known Member
Messages
16,062
Reaction score
13,981
I don’t disagree with those points, but you still needed Aikman. Maybe the most impressive part of the 90’s Cowboys was the adversity they encountered in their playoff runs: The teams you beat in those NFCCG’s, SF and GB, immediately went on to win Super Bowls afterward. As good as those other players you named were, you still needed Aikman to overcome the odds.


A good QB is worth more than a HoF at any other position. It’s just the reality of football. Dallas benefited much more from taking Aikman in the first than they did Randy, no matter how much better a player he was.

Is this thread about player or is it about team ?

Again you seem to be going off entirely off the need at the position, whereas i'm ranking them pound for pound pure player.
Randy was dominant, he was elite at his position, at his era he was even the very best DT in the entire league.

...Aikman was very good at his position but never dominant, never the best at his position.
 

Aerolithe_Lion

Well-Known Member
Messages
10,785
Reaction score
11,694
Is this thread about player or is it about team ?

Again you seem to be going off entirely off the need at the position, whereas i'm ranking them pound for pound pure player.
Randy was dominant, he was elite at his position, at his era he was even the very best DT in the entire league.

...Aikman was very good at his position but never dominant, never the best at his position.

Oh I see, I was ranking them as worth of the 1st round pick, Best choices made
 

jrumann59

Well-Known Member
Messages
14,948
Reaction score
8,733
Shante Carver, he was a reach to replace haley and they compounded it by swinging and missing on Pittman a couple of years later.
 

T-RO

Well-Known Member
Messages
14,824
Reaction score
16,341
All 1st round picks are *not* created equal.

Troy was HOFer, but he was draft's first overall selection. One might say that top picks in entire draft are supposed to be HOFers.

I'd say one pick who was a fine player but who was way overdrafted Russell Maryland. For the first pick in the first round you should get a guy who transforms your roster and takes over some games. Maryland didn't do that.

Who was the best--most intelligent 1st round pick?
Emmitt or D-Wood, maybe. (oops Woody was early 2nd round...wow what value)
 
Last edited:
Top