Whom do you nominate as the most impactful Cowboy rookie in history?

Dorsett seems like the popular answer, but does that team not win without him? If not that’s probably the answer.

Can’t comment on Lilly since I’m so young lol.

Emmitt? Maybe but the team didn’t make the playoffs, although they may have if Aikman didn’t get hurt.

I’m no fan but Elliott may be the answer.
They probably don’t win the SB without Dorsett. The Cowboys had a great team but he put them over the top. The Cowboys still hadn’t arrived when Emmitt was a rookie. Zeke wouldn’t be the answer because we didn’t advance in the playoffs.
 
Lilly’s rookie year he had 5.5 sacks and the team went 4-9-1. Are people confusing the question?

Impact is on a curve, and only 1 player here is the most impactful position. Dallas went from 4-12 in 2015 with a team QBR somewhere in the 30’s and a passer rating around 75 to 13-3 in 2016 behind Dak’s 77 QBR and 105 passer rating. It is not realistically possible for a nonQB to have the same level of impact, and Lilly’s rookie year certainly wasn’t that
Only because Romo was his personal QB coach
What happened to Dak the following year when Romo went to the booth? Flushed
Until they had to trade for Cooper
 
Just about to nominate Calvin Hill. surprise 24 in round number 1. Most analyst thought very little of him.

But he was a big guy with speed who hurdled tacklers. Fun to watch him run.

Also the first Cowboy to break 1000 in a season.

And Super Bowl VI winner.

Didn't happen his rookie year.
VI winner but Duane was starting by then due to Hills injuries.
 
Impactful as a rookie, not two or three or six years later…. Hard to separate Emmitt and Dorsett. Both came in and impacted enough to get the Cowboys a championship.
Add Lilly to these 2 and in no particular order. Randy White would be on the list if they hadn’t tried to make a LB out of him initially. Ed “Too Tall” Jones fits in the list somewhere. He gave defenses fits. Knocked down a ton of passes to go with his versatile skill set.
 
Tough to judge impact strictly by looking at stats a lot of the time so I probably can't speak too much for the guys before my time, but in my lifetime I think it would have to be Dak. Even if he was a bit of a bus driver his rookie year his efficiency and ability to come through in the clutch was outstanding.
I thought about that, but I think Zeke actually had the bigger impact.
 
I appreciate mentioning Lilly, but I’m interpreting the question as which player had the greatest impact their rookie year. In Lilly’s first year, the team still was building, a.k.a. sucked.

The player who was the most impactful as a rookie was Tony Dorsett in 1977. The year before the leading Dallas Cowboys rusher, Doug Dennison, only had 540 yards on the season, and we lost in the first round of the playoffs. In Dorsett’s first year he ran for over 1000 yards snd the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. That’s quite a difference maker for a rookie.
This is truth.
We were in such need of an explosive runner it was all that was holding us back I will never forget when we drafted him I was sitting in my 70 Z28 Camaro listening to AM radio and when this was announced all I could think of was Roger had what he needed now and we were winning a Super bowl and we did
 
Only because Romo was his personal QB coach
What happened to Dak the following year when Romo went to the booth? Flushed
Until they had to trade for Cooper
LOL. Romo was Dak's personal QB coach. What a crock. Dak's talent had nothing to with it??
 
Dorsett seems like the popular answer, but does that team not win without him? If not that’s probably the answer.

Can’t comment on Lilly since I’m so young lol.

Emmitt? Maybe but the team didn’t make the playoffs, although they may have if Aikman didn’t get hurt.

I’m no fan but Elliott may be the answer.
Tony dorsett was truly a weapon he changed the way every defense had to play the Cowboys we were a running team but he could break it and take it to the house at any time.
Roger would pitch it to him and he would just flow through the defense he was so smooth incredible to watch.
The fact that we went all the way and won the Super bowl in his rookie year in itself shows the impact that he made
 
LOL. Romo was Dak's personal QB coach. What a crock. Dak's talent had nothing to with
LOL. Romo was Dak's personal QB coach. What a crock. Dak's talent had nothing to with it??
That was Daks best year
All down hill since

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GPCMPATTCMP%YDSAVGTDINTLNGSACKRTGQBR
1631145967.83,6678.02348325104.977.6
1630849062.93,3246.82213813286.670.0
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515122268.01,8568.494581099.673.1
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1226139466.22,8607.32315682091.159.9
1741059069.54,5167.73699239105.973.4
818528664.71,9786.9118652186.045.3
 
I appreciate mentioning Lilly, but I’m interpreting the question as which player had the greatest impact their rookie year. In Lilly’s first year, the team still was building, a.k.a. sucked.

The player who was the most impactful as a rookie was Tony Dorsett in 1977. The year before the leading Dallas Cowboys rusher, Doug Dennison, only had 540 yards on the season, and we lost in the first round of the playoffs. In Dorsett’s first year he ran for over 1000 yards snd the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. That’s quite a difference maker for a rookie.

This, TD for me.
 
Everyone has seen this many, many times, and correct me if wrong, but I recall, I think, that there was a player missing on the offense during this play, only 10 players on the field.

Yeah, I don't think Zeke did anything like that, but he was good at first.



This guy was the bomb.
 

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