Dallas Cowboys: 15 best first-round picks of all-time

30 JAN 1994: RUNNING BACK EMMITT SMITH OF THE DALLAS COWBOYS FLASHES THE NUMBER ONE SIGN DURING THE COWBOYS 30-13 VICTORY OVER THE BUFFALO BILLS IN SUPER BOWL XXVIII AT THE GEORGIA DOME IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA. SMITH RUSHED FOR TWO TOUCHDOWNS AND WAS SELECT
30 JAN 1994: RUNNING BACK EMMITT SMITH OF THE DALLAS COWBOYS FLASHES THE NUMBER ONE SIGN DURING THE COWBOYS 30-13 VICTORY OVER THE BUFFALO BILLS IN SUPER BOWL XXVIII AT THE GEORGIA DOME IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA. SMITH RUSHED FOR TWO TOUCHDOWNS AND WAS SELECT /
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Dallas Cowboys. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Best first-round draft picks in Dallas Cowboys history: 3. Bob Lilly

Of course, “Mr. Cowboy” makes the list. It would have been an absolute travesty otherwise. The Cowboys had been a professional football franchise for a grand total of one year before Dallas took defensive lineman Bob Lilly No. 13 out of nearby Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Lilly would spend his entire 14-year NFL career in Cowboys uniform. He would make 11 Pro Bowls in a 12-year span from 1962 to 1973. The only year he didn’t achieve that honor was in 1963 and that was in the midst of a position change from defensive end to defensive tackle. This switch allowed the Cowboys’ vaunted Doomsday Defense to really take flight.

Lilly was a nine-time First-Team All-Pro and a two-time Second-Team All-Pro player with the Cowboys. He made the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team, the NFL 1960s All-Decade Team and the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team. Lilly is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and is in the Cowboys Ring of Honor.

In 14 NFL seasons, Lilly missed just one game with Dallas. He would help bring the Cowboys their first Super Bowl championship in 1971 in Super Bowl VI. Lilly earned Canton enshrinement in 1980 in his first year of eligibility.

His Pro Football Hall of Fame classmates include Green Bay Packers cornerback Herb Adderley, Los Angeles Rams defensive end Deacon Jones and Oakland Raiders center Jim Otto.