Take a bow, Will McClay. For the better part of the last decade, the Cowboys have done a tremendous job of using the draft as the primer tool of talent acquisition. McClay ascended to the big chair after a tumultuous 2013 draft process that saw the Cowboys ignore their edicts by not taking the best player on their board, although they ended up getting their first-round pick right anyway when they traded back and landed center Travis Frederick.
The next year Dallas drafted Zack Martin and DeMarcus Lawrence in the first and second rounds, and the club has had a dynamic run of great drafts ever since. Just two years later, the combo of Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott became the dynamic draft duo du jour. It’s crazy to think how those players are now aged veterans entering their ninth and seventh campaigns, respectively, but the Cowboys haven’t failed to replenish the stock of young talent.
In fact, Dallas has ascended to the top of ESPN’s Under-25 talent rankings thanks to their last several draft classes.