Feeling a Cowboys draft

The Cowboys really cooked with Bob Lilly

The other day, I pondered some items regarding our current-day Dallas Cowboys.

Part of that was noticing how many members of the roster had been drafted or originally signed (say, a rookie free agent) by the Dallas Cowboys.

Cool note: The Cowboys have drafted 45 players since 2003. Of those, I would suggest 16 are top-tier current players on the Cowboys roster or starters. That's 35 percent. And this does not include guys like Orlando Scandrick, Bobby Carpenter, Pat McQuistan, Jason Hatcher, Alan Ball, Tashard Choice and others
who are second- or third-tier guys. It also doesn't include non-drafted guys (Tony Romo, Tony Curtis, Keith Davis), guys drafted before 2003 (Roy Williams, Flozell Adams) or guys who are currently elsewhere (Jacques Reeves, Julius Jones).

Cooler note: Of the entire 53-man roster, 29 were drafted by the Cowboys. That's 53 percent. This also doesn't include non-drafted free agents. There are only 14 free agent signings on the team.

Don't get the wrong, other good teams probably have similar numbers ... numbers that I would judge as being very good in terms of finding talent in the college ranks. In today's NFL, evaluating talent and drafting well is imperative. The salary cap forces teams to fill out a roster with sixth round picks. Plus, playing draftees is cheap. Would you rather sign Terry Glenn to another contract or just have Miles Austin run the same routes for a tenth of the price?

With that said, here are the top 10 Dallas Cowboys drafts:

2005
Highest Pick: DeMarcus Ware (11)
Best Pick: DeMarcus Ware/Marion Barber
Worst Pick: Justin Beriault
The entire current defensive front was had in this draft (Jay Ratliff, Chris Canty, Marcus Spears). Ware and Barber are monsters. Kevin Burnett is proving very nice on defense and special teams. Hell, tackle Rob Petitti started 16 games his rookie year. This draft may have defined an era of Cowboy football like no other.

1964
Highest Pick: Scott Appleton (4)
Best Pick: Roger Staubach
Worst Pick: Scott Appleton
One of the few years on this list that the Cowboys missed on their top pick. Otherwise you have three mainstays and two Hall of Famers: Mel Renfro (17), Bob Hayes (88) and Rog (129).

1989
Highest Pick: Troy Aikman (1)
Best Pick: Troy Aikman
Worst Pick: Charvez Foger (only because his name's awesome and it's a shame he never caught on)
Aikman is really only a start. Steve Wisniewski played 200 games (although elsewhere) and Daryl Johnston and Mark Stepnoski were big parts of some nice teams. Tony Tolbert was a warm body.

1975
Highest Pick: Randy White (2)
Best Pick: Randy White
Worst Pick: Ed Jones (poseur)
White is a Hall of Famer, Thomas Henderson brought some Hollywood to the team and Herb Scott could be one of the best offensive linemen the team ever had. Guys like bob Bruenig, Pat Donovan and Mike Hegman had pretty extensive careers.

2003
Highest Pick: Terence Newman (5)
Best Pick: Jason Witten
Worst Pick: Justin Bates
Netted two of the biggest defensive starters (Newman, Bradie James) and probably the greatest tight end in franchise history, Jason Witten. Even Al Johnson was serviceable for a while.

1991
Highest Pick: Russell Maryland (1)
Best Pick: Erik Williams
Worst Pick: James Richards (gotta hit on third-round guards)
Maryland, Alvin Harper, Kelvin Pritchett, Dixon Edwards, Williams, Leon Lett and Larry Brown (12th rounder!). Are the 1990s Cowboys as good without those guys?

1977
Highest Pick: Tony Dorsett (2)
Best Pick: Tony Dorsett
Worst Pick: Al Cleveland
Dorsett was an exceptional pick, Tony Hill very nice and Steve DeBerg played for another half century. Andy Frederick and Jim Cooper had serviceable careers.

1961
Highest Pick: Bob Lilly (13)
Best Pick: Bob Lilly
Worst Pick: Take your pick
Two Hall of Famers (Lilly, Billy Shaw) and three other guys (E.J. Holub, Stew Barber and Don Talbert who all had 100+ games in their careers). But the two HOFers carry this class.

1992
Highest Pick: Kevin Smith (17)
Best Pick: Darren Woodson
Worst Pick: Take your pick.
One of the last drafts with a billion rounds so there are a number of guys who never played a down of NFL football. Otherwise, there's some names here. Smith was a nice cornerback. Robert Jones a serviceable linebacker. And Woodson and Clayton Holmes once held up a solid secondary during those Super Bowl years. The best pick of all earned his stripes elsewhere: receiver Jimmy Smith, who notched 862 receptions and 12,287 yards.

1998
Highest Pick: Greg Ellis (8)
Best Pick: Flozell Adams
Worst Pick: Tarik Smith
Ellis, Adams and Mike Myers round out the top three as the Cowboys entered into a gigantic draft funk (and, in turn, an overall franchise funk ... Ebenezer Ekuban, Dwayne Goodrich, Qiuncy Carter!)