List of Dallas Cowboys first-round draft picks

The Dallas Cowboys are professional American football team based in Dallas, Texas. The Cowboys team is a franchise of the National Football League (NFL) and plays in the East Division of the National Football Conference. The first draft in which the Cowboys participated was the 1961 NFL Draft. Before their initial NFL Draft, the Cowboys franchise participated in the 1960 NFL Expansion Draft. In the NFL Draft, each NFL franchise annually adds new players to its roster. Teams are ranked in reverse order based on their records during the previous season, therefore the team with the worst record selects first. There are two exceptions to this order: the Super Bowl champion from the previous season selects last, and the Super Bowl runner-up selects second to last. Teams have the option of trading away their selections to other teams for different selections, players, cash, or any combination thereof. It is common, therefore, for the actual draft selection of a team to differ from their initial assigned draft selection or for a team to have either extra selections or no selections in any round because of such trades.^[1]

All-time first-round draft selections

Hall of Famer † ^[a]	Pro Bowler * ^[b]

Year	Pick	Player	College	Position	Notes
1961	13	Bob Lilly †	TCU	DT	^[c]
1962	—	No Pick	—	—	^[d]
1963	6	Lee Roy Jordan *	Alabama	LB
1964	4	Scott Appleton	Texas	OT	^[e]
1965	5	Craig Morton	California	QB
1966	5	John Niland *	Iowa	OG
1967	—	No Pick	—	—	^[f]
1968	20	Dennis Homan	Alabama	DE
1969	24	Calvin Hill *	Yale	RB
1970	23	Duane Thomas	West Texas St.	RB
1971	25	Tody Smith	USC	DE
1972	26	Bill Thomas	Boston College	RB
1973	20	Billy Joe Dupree *	Michigan State	TE
1974	1	Ed "Too Tall" Jones *	Tennessee State	DE
	22	Charley Young	North Carolina St.	RB
1975	2	Randy White †	Maryland	LB
	18	"Hollywood" Henderson *	Langston	LB
1976	27	Aaron Kyle	Wyoming	DB
1977	2	Tony Dorsett †  (Heisman Trophy Winner)[2]	Pittsburgh	RB
1978	28	Larry Bethea	Michigan State	DE
1979	27	Robert Shaw	Tennessee	C
1980	—	No Pick	—	—
1981	26	Howard Richards	Missouri	T
1982	25	Rod Hill	Kentucky State	DB
1983	23	Jim Jeffcoat	Arizona State	DE
1984	25	Billy Cannon, Jr.	Texas A&M	LB
1985	17	Kevin Brooks	Michigan	DE
1986	18	Mike Sherrard	UCLA	WR
1987	12	Danny Noonan	Nebraska	DT
1988	11	Michael Irvin †	Miami	WR
1989	1	Troy Aikman †	UCLA	QB
1990	17	Emmitt Smith †	Florida	RB
1991	1	Russell Maryland *	Miami	DT	^[g]
	12	Alvin Harper	Tennessee	WR
	20	Kelvin Pritchett	Mississippi	DT	^[h]
1992	17	Kevin Smith	Texas A&M	DB
	24	Robert Jones	East Carolina State	LB
1993	—	No Pick	—	—
1994	23	Shante Carver	Arizona State	DE
1995	—	No Pick	—	—
1996	—	No Pick	—	—
1997	22	David LaFleur	LSU	TE
1998	8	Greg Ellis *	UNC	DE
1999	20	Ebenezer Ekuban	UNC	DE
2000	—	No Pick	—	—
2001	—	No Pick	—	—
2002	8	Roy Williams *	Oklahoma	S
2003	5	Terence Newman *	Kansas State	CB
2004	—	No Pick	—	—	^[i]
2005	11	DeMarcus Ware *	Troy State	LB
	20	Marcus Spears	LSU	DE	^[j]
2006	18	Bobby Carpenter	Ohio State	LB
2007	26	Anthony Spencer *	Purdue	LB	^[k]
2008	22	Felix Jones	Arkansas	RB	^[l]
	25	Mike Jenkins *	South Florida	CB	^[m]
2009	—	No Pick	—	—	^[n]
2010	24	Dez Bryant *	Oklahoma State	WR	^[o]
2011	9	Tyron Smith *	USC	OT
2012	6	Morris Claiborne	LSU	CB
2013	31	Travis Frederick *	Wisconsin	C	^[p]
2014	16	Zack Martin *[3]	Notre Dame	OT
2015	27	Byron Jones	Connecticut	CB
2016	4	Ezekiel Elliott	Ohio State	RB

Footnotes

• ^a Players are identified as a Hall of Famer if they have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• ^b Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career.
• ^c The Cowboys took Lilly with their second first-round selection. Their first selection, the second overall, was traded to the Washington Redskins for Eddie LeBaron. ^[4]
• ^d The Cowboys traded their first selection in 1962 to the Cleveland Browns for Offensive Tackle Paul Dickson and the Browns' first selection in 1961.
• ^e Scott Appleton signed with the Houston Oilers of the American Football League.
• ^f The Cowboys traded their selection to the Houston Oilers for the rights to linebacker George Webster.
• ^g The Cowboys received this selection from the New England Patriots in exchange for Ron Francis, David Howard, Eugene Lockhart, a first round and a second round pick. ^[5]
• ^h The Cowboys received this selection and a fifth round pick from the Washington Redskins in exchange for an earlier first round pick. ^[6]
• ⁱ The Cowboys traded this first round selection (22nd overall) to the Buffalo Bills for Bills' second round selection (43rd overall), fifth round selection (144th overall), and first round selection in 2005.
• ^j The Cowboys received this selection from the Buffalo Bills as well as the Bills' selections in 2004 in the second (43rd overall) and fifth rounds (144th overall) for the Cowboys' first round selection in 2004 (22nd overall).
• ^k Dallas traded their original first round selection (22nd overall) to the Cleveland Browns for the Browns' first round selection in 2008 and the Browns' second round selection (36th overall) in this draft. Dallas then traded that additional second round selection (32nd overall), their third round selection (87th overall), and their fifth round selection (159th overall) to the Philadelphia Eagles for the Eagles' first round selection (26th overall).
• ^l The Cowboys received this selection from the Cleveland Browns as well as the Browns' second round selection (36th overall) in 2007 for the Cowboys first round selection in 2007 (22nd overall).
• ^m Dallas received this selection from the Seattle Seahawks for Dallas' original first-round selection (28th overall) and Dallas' fifth- and seventh-round selections (163rd and 235th).
• ⁿ The Cowboys traded their 20th overall pick (first round), the 82nd overall picks (third round), and 192nd overall pick (sixth round) in the 2009 draft for wide receiver Roy Williams from the Detroit Lions. The Cowboys received a seventh round pick from the Lions in the 2010 draft.
• ^o Dallas traded their original first round and third round selection (27th and 90th overall) to the New England Patriots for the Patriots' first round selection and a fourth-round selection in 2010 to select Dez Bryant over the Baltimore Ravens.
• ^p Dallas traded their original first round pick (18th overall) to the San Francisco 49ers for the 49ers' first and third round selections

References

1. Alder, James. ""NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection"". football.about.com. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
2. "42nd Award Winner". Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
3. http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/12/cj_mosley_gets_jump_on_ray_lew.html
4. "1962 Draft". Pro Football Hall of Fame website. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
5. "1991 Draft". Pro Sports Transactions website. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
6. "1991 Draft". Pro Sports Transactions website. Retrieved 2016-02-10.

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• "Hall of Famers by Franchise". Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site. Retrieved 2002-11-06.
• "History: Pro Football Draft History - The 1960s". Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
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• "History: Pro Football Draft History - The 1990s". Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
• "History: Pro Football Draft History - The 2000s". Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
• "Historic Drafts Archive". knowyourdallascowboys.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
• "Dallas Cowboys All-Time Draft Listing". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 2008-11-06.