Cowboys' best draft class?

Heard a talking head on the radio at lunch talking about how he thinks this could be the Cowboys best draft class "of all time", from a value and performance perspective, provided the injured guys heal and perform.

What do you think? I'm not really buying it, but I'm open to discussing.

If the entire history is included, I'd still have to go with 1991: Russell Maryland all the way down to Larry Brown with some Alvin Harper, Dixon Edwards, Erik Williams, Tony Hill, and Leon Lett all sprinkled in between. (Whew, I lose my breath every time I enumerate that draft). There just won't be another draft like that again. 

I think the value of this recent draft is special, Tony Brown and Dak leading the way (and maybe Smith, too).

With today's seven rounds, only 2005 could be argued as better. If Jaylon Smith is who we hope, then it will be complete, and 2016 will be the best (modern) draft in the team's "history".

That is until we draft in 2017!!

I remember that class and it was special. I think Roger's class may have bettered that one though, just a few HOF'ers. This one becomes super special if Dak is the real deal, looks very, very promising. Sprinkle in Zeke, Maleek Collins and my pet cat, Anthony Brown and its pretty darn good. If Jaylon Smith ever makes it back it moves to yet another level. We haven't seen Tapper either. But that still may pale to Roger's class. I think it was Roger in like the 10th round (stop laughing), Renfro and Bullet Bob Hayes, also a late round selection.

It's hard to argue with a draft class that included 3 Hall of Famers, as the '64 draft did, but I'm surprised nobody mentioned what was probably their deepest draft of quality players, which was the famous 1975 draft.  That draft netted us a Hall of Famer in Randy White, and a guy who SHOULD'VE been a Hall of Famer in Thomas Henderson.  It also brought in 4 long-term starters in Bob Breunig, Pat Donovan, Mike Hegman, and Herb Scott, and 3 key role players in Burton Lawless, Randy Hughes, and Scott Laidlaw.

That '64 draft, impressive as it was with our HoFers, wasn't very deep beyond that.  The only other guys who played for a long time in the league were Billy Lothridge (P) and Jake Kupp (OL), but their primary contributions came with other teams (Atlanta and New Orleans, respectively).  The only other Cowboys notable out of that draft was Jerry Rhome, who was probably more useful to the Cowboys as a coach, later in his career, than as a QB.

The '91 draft was rich in starters and role players, and you can have an interesting debate over whether those guys were better than the guys we got in '75.  Of course, there are no HoFers (yet, though there may be hope for Erik Williams and, maybe, Leon Lett), but you have to like the names:  Russell Maryland, Alvin Harper, Dixon Edwards, Godfrey Myles, and Larry Brown.  Of course, you also have to like Kelvin Pritchett, but he spent his entire 14-year career in Detroit.

For my money, the "Dirty Dozen" in '75 had more impact on their teams than the '91 draft players did on theirs.  There were more guys who were long-term starters, and that draft class rejuvenated a team that had begun to age out in the '73 and '74 seasons.  The '91 guys were more or less solid role players (except for Lett and, maybe, Harper) on a team that was already loading up, and you could argue that they weren't as critical to the '90s Cowboys' success as the '75 draft class was on the Cowboys of the late-'70s and early-'80s.

BTW, one of my favorite all-time hard luck players was drafted by the Cowboys in '91, LB Darrick Brownlow.  He was a role-player for the Cowboys in '91 (though he did block a punt in the Wild Card Playoff against the Bears), then went Plan B free agent to Buffalo in 1992, where he got cut and ended up in Tampa for the '92 and '93 seasons.  The Cowboys won the Super Bowl in those years, and Brownlow came back to the Cowboys as a free agent in 1994.  In '95 he went free agent again, and played in Washington while the Cowboys won another Super Bowl.  This guy played for Dallas during the only 2 seasons in 5 that the Cowboys DIDN'T win a Super Bowl.  I've always wondered how he feels about that...

You know what's really nice with this discussion, responses and opinions? That we're actually comparing this draft to some of the great one's in team history! Isn't that just great! They're rebuilding with youth and the future looks really bright.

It does make me happy to see vibrant discussion happening here. It's great to see, indeed!