Only If He Could Have Stayed Longer

[CM Duck]

Not sure if this has been asked before. If so, HO WELL. But is there a player who you would have liked to see play longer for the Cowboys? I don't mean a player whos talent just deminished, but a player who was released, traded, let go via free agency, or whos career was cut short due to injury.

AND PLEASE KEEP THIS TO PLAYERS WHO STILL HAD SOMETHING LEFT IN THE TANK.


For me I gotta say Raghib "The Rocket" Ismail. Did I spell that right? Anyways, he is one of my all-time favorite college players of all time and I was JACKED when he came to big D. I just wonder how good/great of a pro he would have become if he wouldn't have been injured.

Basically he was giving us what we were expecting to get from gallowaste.

*Honorable mention- Jimmy Smith.

 

[Dale]

Patrick Jeffers.

I hated seeing him go. It seemed like we had finally stumbled upon a self-made receiver, and we promptly let him go in free agency. I believe he recorded a 1,000 yard season in Carolina before seeing his career essentially end because of injury.

 

[dargonking999]

I have to go with Ismial, He was a great REciver with speed,

He did catch the game winning pass against the Commanders, in the OT win

 

[Muhast]

Antonio Bryant.... Wish the kid would have had a head on his shoulders. That was our potential 1200 yard recieving a year, in my eyes

 

[SuspectCorner]

jimmy smith. oh man, do i ever regret the way that worked out. the guy just couldn't stay healthy in dallas.

 

[cowboyfan4life_mark]

Ken Norton Jr.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Ryan McNeil - CB

He was a solid FA pickup for us, IMO, but we couldn't pay him.

I'd go w/Rocket as well. I really liked him, too.

Granted he was here a long time, but I'll always miss him. My boy, Woody.

 

[ravidubey]

Michael Irvin far and away. Dallas was 3-0 with Irvin in 1999 and an inconsistent 5-9 including playoffs without him. Ismail had 80 catches that year-- an impact free agent if there ever was one. Just imagine what the offense would have been with Irvin and Rocket there all year!

Beaten to Jimmy Smith... Honorable mention for Kevin Gogan and Ryan McNeil. Thing is, had we kept Gogan, we might never have drafted LA...

 

[SuspectCorner]

Michael Irvin far and away. Dallas was 3-0 with Irvin in 1999 and an inconsistent 5-9 including playoffs without him. Ismail had 80 catches that year-- an impact free agent if there ever was one. Just imagine what the offense would have been with Irvin and Rocket there all year!

Beaten to Jimmy Smith... Honorable mention for Kevin Gogan and Ryan McNeil. Thing is, had we kept Gogan, we might never have drafted LA...

if you wanna go that route - then i change my answer to Roger Staubach. those dadburn concussions cut short a brilliant HOF career.

 

[dargonking999]

if you wanna go that route - then i change my answer to Roger Staubach. those dadburn concussions cut short a brilliant HOF career.

or even Troy Aikman, if Aikman was still healty with irvin and rocket and emmitt on offense, we wouldnt saw all those losing seasons

 

[trickblue]

jimmy smith. oh man, do i ever regret the way that worked out. the guy just couldn't stay healthy in dallas.

Ditto!

 

[big dog cowboy]

My short list....
Staubach
Aikman
Haley
Irvin
Novacek
J. Smith
Woodson

 

[Duane]

Oliver Ross would have helped a lot the last few years. Ditto for Jimmy Smith.

 

[SuspectCorner]

or even Troy Aikman, if Aikman was still healty with irvin and rocket and emmitt on offense, we wouldnt saw all those losing seasons

i gotta tell ya darg - i have mucho respect for Troyboy. but if you put Roger's brain in Aikman's body... you'd have a supernatural QB.

Aikman's no dummy. this is patently obvious to anybody whose ever listened to his booth work. the fella knows his football. and so did Roger.

but more than all that - Roger was a born "leader of men". his influence on those around him was, is, and will likely always be, nothing short of remarkable.

as a player.... in my mind, Staubach is, far and away, the best leader the Dallas Cowboys have ever had.

 

[dargonking999]

i gotta tell ya darg - i have mucho respect for Troyboy. but if you put Roger's brain in Aikman's body... you'd have a supernatural QB.

Aikman's no dummy. this is patently obvious to anybody whose ever listened to his booth work. the fella knows his football. and so did Roger.

but more than all that - Roger was a born "leader of men". his influence on those around him was, is, and will likely always be, nothing short of remarkable.

as a player.... in my mind, Staubach is, far and away, the best leader the Dallas Cowboys have ever had.

No doubt, he will be the best leader, and boy woudl that have been scary, but still with team Aikman had around him, his was built to succeed

 

[mperfection]

i gotta tell ya darg - i have mucho respect for Troyboy. but if you put Roger's brain in Aikman's body... you'd have a supernatural QB.

Aikman's no dummy. this is patently obvious to anybody whose ever listened to his booth work. the fella knows his football. and so did Roger.

but more than all that - Roger was a born "leader of men". his influence on those around him was, is, and will likely always be, nothing short of remarkable.

as a player.... in my mind, Staubach is, far and away, the best leader the Dallas Cowboys have ever had.

Aikman was NEVER the leader Staubach was. I still remember the chills I used to get as a boy watching Staubach, and oh, how it hurt to see him decline (physically) during the 1979 season. I still remember that late hit of him by a Commander defender after he scored a touchdown at Texas Stadium during that season. He grimaced in obvious acute pain.

IMHO, Aikman never had the same influence over the Cowboys offense like Roger had. Even with a great WR (Pearson) and RB (Dorsett), Roger was clearly the leader of that offense. Irvin's personality always overshadowed Aikman's - and just about everybody else's on the offense.

On defense, it was Ken Norton Jr.'s fiery temperament that kept the defense alive. I HATED it when we let go to SF for mere pennies - 5-year, $8.5 million deal. Peanuts for a LB of his calibre.

 

[speedkilz88]

Can you just imagine the mid 1990's Cowboys with Michael Irvin and Jimmy Smith at WR?

 

[trickblue]

Aikman was NEVER the leader Staubach was. I still remember the chills I used to get as a boy watching Staubach, and oh, how it hurt to see him decline (physically) during the 1979 season. I still remember that late hit of him by a Commander defender after he scored a touchdown at Texas Stadium during that season. He grimaced in obvious acute pain.

IMHO, Aikman never had the same influence over the Cowboys offense like Roger had. Even with a great WR (Pearson) and RB (Dorsett), Roger was clearly the leader of that offense. Irvin's personality always overshadowed Aikman's - and just about everybody else's on the offense.

On defense, it was Ken Norton Jr.'s fiery temperament that kept the defense alive. I HATED it when we let go to SF for mere pennies - 5-year, $8.5 million deal. Peanuts for a LB of his calibre.

I do agree with you in Roger's influence... but you have to take into account that Roger was one of the TOUGHEST players to ever play in this league (ask Randy White)...

Troy was certainly a leader, but Staubach was special... a QB with the mindset of a DL...

I liked Norton, but we did shell out a ton to him until he developed... he claimed to be a "true Cowboy"... but when the chips were down he bolted to our biggest rival...

If he had been a "True Cowboy" (as his father was), he would have realized that the Cowboys take care of their own in endorsements and post-Cowboy life.

His post NFL career is not bringing him in on the money he would have had had he stayed here...

 

[lane]

hello abie.

moose
jimmy smith
michael downs
darrin smith
ron stone
everson walls
jay novacek
rocket
darren woodson
roger staubach

to name a few...............

billy cannon jr. never got a chance either.

 

[montgod]

Let me think of some other players that haven't been mentioned.

I am surprised no one said Herschel Walker. At the time he was traded, he had really emerged into an outstanding runningback! Of course, not being able to see the future of the picks that Dallas received, a true Dallas fan was hurt to see their lone star being sent to Minnesota.

I also wish Kenneth Gant hadn't left. At the time, he was a fiery ST player that really got the team into ST play, but I don't know what happened to him. I think he left for a bigger paycheck.

Ken Norton Jr. was also one of my favorites who left and still had a few years left in his tank. Darrin Smith too.

Sherman Williams even though he wasn't popular. I liked the way he ran the ball when he got the ball.

And the biggest joke....I guess we could mention LaFluer, because we all knew, just like Aikman did, that EVENTUALLY he would have been a probowl TE.