Dallas Cowboys: 15 greatest quarterbacks in franchise history

It’s funny how hard it is to find 15 quarterbacks who were long-term starters for a franchise to make such a list — especially when one has had so many players man the position for roughly a decade or more at a time. That leads to more backups than expected landing on their all-time best list, which is the case here with Bernie Kosar.

Originally a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 1985 NFL Supplemental Draft, Kosar started 105 games for Cleveland in nine seasons. Then in 1993, he was benched by head coach Bill Belichick and later released.

Dallas came in and gave Kosar a one-year deal to back up Troy Aikman and it ended up being a wise investment. He played in just four regular-season games and was 0-1 as a starter, but was very efficient nonetheless. Kosar finished with 410 yards passing and had a 3-to-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio. However, that’s not where Kosar made his mark for America’s Team.

Aikman found himself injured in the 1993 NFC Championship game and Kosar filled in for him and played very well. In that game against the San Francisco 49ers, he was good on 5-of-9 passing for 83 yards and threw a touchdown pass. He was then allowed to come in for the final play of Super Bowl XXVIII and kneel it to run out the clock on their win over the Buffalo Bills.

One of the more beloved players of his time, Kosar never got over the hump in Cleveland but earned a ring with the Cowboys, something he surely cherished.