Rank Top Rookie Seasons in Team History

Hagman

Hagman

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Travis Frederick. Lists like this always under represent the big fatties on the line. Fredbeard started every game as a rookie and was named to the all rookie team that year. Darn shame he had that illness because he would still be playing at an all pro level.
 
Bobhaze

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IMO…No Duane Thomas on this list is crazy. He had a great rookie year which ended up in an NFC championship. Having LVE #9 was way, way too high. Having Bob Hayes #6 is too low. He had one of the best rookie years for a receiver in NFL history.

Thanks for posting.
 
Haimerej

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Bobhaze said:
IMO…No Duane Thomas on this list is crazy. He had a great rookie year which ended up in an NFC championship. Having LVE #9 was way, way too high. Having Bob Hayes #6 is too low. He had one of the best rookie years for a receiver in NFL history.

Thanks for posting.
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LVE is a weird one. Robert Jones was NFC Defensive ROTY, made the All Rookie team, only the 2nd rookie MLB to start for Dallas, and was on the number 1 defense that won that first of three Super Bowls. Sure, he lost his starter position the next season but this was about rookie years. Pretty sure his was empirically better than LVE.
 
xwalker

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Haimerej said:
Robert Jones continues to be ignored.
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He was 4th in the Defensive Rookie of the year voting and made the PFWA All-Rookie team.

He was a good player that most fans don't remember.

Physically, he was a Wow player.
- Big 6-3, 245 and fast.
- He was built like a brick wall and reportedly benched over 500 pounds.

Slow mental processing is the only thing that kept him from being an All-Pro.
 
CalPolyTechnique

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Haimerej said:
LVE is a weird one. Robert Jones was NFC Defensive ROTY, made the All Rookie team, only the 2nd rookie MLB to start for Dallas, and was on the number 1 defense that won that first of three Super Bowls. Sure, he lost his starter position the next season but this was about rookie years. Pretty sure his was empirically better than LVE.
Click to expand...

I honestly had no idea Robert Jones won NFC ROTY. That’s interesting.
 
xwalker

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jazzcat22 said:
https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/rank-em-top-25-rookie-seasons-in-team-history

Not a big fan of slide show articles. But sometimes they are the better format.
Some interesting stuff here, as I am sure there will be many different opinions.
Have at it.

I will not spoil it, so you need to go through it. :laugh:
Any names missing?
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Micah Parsons gets my vote for #1.

Best first start by a rookie: Kelvin Joseph. He gave up -2 yards receiving an zero catches beyond the line of scrimmage.

Zack Martin and Travis Frederick were great from day 1.

Tyron was terrific; although, not as NFL ready day 1 as Frederick/Martin.

DWare.

Dak/Zeke.

It was year 2 before Larry Allen and Erik Williams really hit their stride.
 
NeathBlue

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Walls for me should have been at 1, with Parsons 2 and Dak at 3.
Downs should have been a lot higher… and Walker probably also should have been, especially when you consider how badly the rest of the team that year disintegrated after Danny White went down.
 
plasticman

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I would push Walls and Hayes ahead of Parsons. I would also push Duane Thomas ahead as well.

Why?, Bob Hayes changed the game. He changed both offensive and defensive philosophies. He is #2.

Walls didn't disappear in the playoffs as a rookie. Many people forget that Montana threw three INT's in "The Catch" NFC championship game. Two of them were by Walls who also recovered a fumble. He is #3.

In 1970, the Cowboys reached the Super Bowl for the first time in their history. They weren't even supposed to make the playoffs. In a fourteen game regular season with only one wildcard team per conference, the Cowboys started out 5-4 with both the Cardinals and Giants ahead of them.

Then they gave the ball to Duane Thomas who ran for over 100 yards in three of the remaining five games. He ran for over three hundred yards in the playoffs. He is #4.

Forget regular season numbers. Greatness is measured by how big they play in big games, the ones that will be remembered.

Great rookies don't just accumulate big numbers, They make a difference by changing history. When you subtract my #2 to #4, you subtract championship games.
 
Motorola

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Bobhaze said:
IMO…No Duane Thomas on this list is crazy. He had a great rookie year which ended up in an NFC championship. Having LVE #9 was way, way too high. Having Bob Hayes #6 is too low. He had one of the best rookie years for a receiver in NFL history.

Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...
Did you notice in the review about Calvin Hill - it stated:
'Taking over for Duane Thomas wasn't the easiest task for the rookie from Yale.'
How can that be - Hill was a rookie in 1969; Thomas was a rookie in 1970.
Too big of an error / mistake in putting together this type of article.
 
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