The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference East Division. The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960 and have played their home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, since 2009.[3][4]
The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting",[5][6][7] is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment.[8] The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings; the teams with the worst win–loss records receive the earliest picks. Teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs select after non-qualifiers, and their order depends on how far they advanced, using their regular season record as a tie-breaker. The final two selections in the first round are reserved for the Super Bowl runner-up and champion. Draft picks are tradable and players or other picks can be acquired with them.[9]
Since the team's first draft, the Cowboys have selected 60 players in the first round.[10] The team's first pick in their inaugural NFL draft was Bob Lilly, a defensive tackle from Texas Christian University; he was the 13th overall selection.[3][11] The Cowboys have drafted first overall three times, selecting Ed "Too Tall" Jones in 1974, Troy Aikman in 1989, and Russell Maryland in 1991.[10] In the most recent draft, held in 2024, the Cowboys selected Oklahoma tackle Tyler Guyton.[12]
The Cowboys did not draft a player in the first round on eleven occasions.[10] Seven of the team's first-round picks—Troy Aikman, Tony Dorsett, Michael Irvin, Bob Lilly, Emmitt Smith, DeMarcus Ware, and Randy White—have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[13] One of the team's first-round picks—Scott Appleton—chose to sign with the NFL's pre-merger direct competitor, the American Football League (AFL), instead.[14][15]
Player selections
_(cropped).jpg)
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| † | Indicates the player was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| * | Selected number one overall |
| ‡ | Selected number one overall and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| Position abbreviations | |
|---|---|
| C | Center |
| CB | Cornerback |
| DB | Defensive back |
| DE | Defensive end |
| DT | Defensive tackle |
| G | Guard |
| LB | Linebacker |
| QB | Quarterback |
| RB | Running back |
| S | Safety |
| T | Tackle |
| TE | Tight end |
| WR | Wide receiver |