One of the biggest days for the National Football
League is upon us - the annual spring draft. The 2007 National Football
League Draft will take place in New York City on April 28 and 29, 2007.
As always, speculation revolves around who will be the number one draft
pick for 2007. The Oakland Raiders have the first draft choice overall
with the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and
Arizona Cardinals rounding out the top five.
This year the Dallas
Cowboys have the twenty-second pick in the first round of the draft
with 10 picks in all, one in each of the seven rounds as well as an
extra pick in the sixth and two extra picks in the seventh due to past
trades. The team is hoping that seven or eight of the drafted players
will make this year’s 53-man roster.
Building a team though the
draft can be a hit and miss endeavor that takes skill, knowledge and
some luck. Since their entrance into the NFL, as an expansion team in
1960, the Dallas Cowboys have done more than all right by the draft.
They have consistently demonstrated an ability to choose talent in the
draft which blossoms into a full-fledged all-star.
From their
first participation in the NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys have had
success. The first ever draft pick in Dallas Cowboys franchise history
was made in 1961 when the team chose, out of Texas Christian
University, star defensive tackle and first draft pick overall Bob
Lilly. Known affectionately as “Mr. Cowboy”, Lilly was the first
Cowboys Ring of Honor recepient at Texas Stadium.
Selected by the
Dallas Cowboys, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, out of the Tennessee State
University, was the number one overall draft pick of the 1970 NFL
draft. Jones had a successful career with the team as a defensive end
and was named the NFL Defensive MVP in 1982. He is one of only three
players to have played for the Dallas Cowboys franchise for fifteen
years.
In 1977 the Cowboys selected, second overall, running back
Tony Dorsett from the University of Pittsburgh. Dorsett made an instant
impression in his first year, finishing with Rookie of the Year honors
and a Super Bowl Championship. The success continued as Dorsett went on
to rush for over 1000 yards in eight of his first nine seasons (missing
the mark in 1982, due only to a strike-shortened season). He was
elected to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football
Hall of Fame in 1994.
The Cowboys again found great success when
in the 1988 draft, out of the University of Miami, they chose Michael
Irvin 11th overall in the first round of the 1988 draft. Irvin spent
his whole career with the Cowboys and is regarded as one of the best
wide receivers ever in the National Football League. He is also the
only player in Dallas Cowboys history to have the distinction of having
played for each of the first four coaches of the team - Landry,
Johnson, Switzer and Gailey.
In 1989, with the first pick in the
draft, the Dallas Cowboys chose the projected no. 1 overall pick, UCLA
quarterback Troy Aikman. Despite a slow start Aikman went on to lead
the team to three Super Bowl Championships and was inducted into the
Cowboys Ring of Honor as well as the Pro Football Hall of Fame
With
the 17th overall draft pick in1990, the Dallas Cowboys chose running
back Emmitt Smith out of the University of Florida. Smith would prove
to be yet another outstanding selection for Cowboys football as he went
on to set countless records with the team. He currently holds the NFL
record in career rushing yards of 18,355 and is the only player in NFL
history to rush for over 18,000 yards.
Through the years the
Dallas Cowboys have picked wisely in the NFL draft and have had great
success in choosing players who have gone on to become not only NFL
all-stars but Dallas Cowboys legends as well. The team and their fans
fondly remember all of these past players as is evident by the endless
memorabilia available dallas-cowboys-apparel.com for these legends and
all Dallas Cowboys fan favorite players.
Soon the speculation
over who the number one overall pick in the 2007 National Football
League Draft will be will come to an end as the player’s name is
announced in New York on April 28, 2007. It is a given that the Dallas
Cowboys have done their homework and are prepared to choose with
careful consideration each of their ten draft picks. There is little
doubt that some of the talents they draft will go on to become NFL
all-stars and Dallas Cowboys legends.
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