Ranking the greatest players in Dallas Cowboys history
By Randy Gurzi
Throughout their storied history, the Dallas Cowboys have had several star players take the field for them. As of the 2022 season, there are 29 Cowboys in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which shows just how fortunate they have been in terms of talent.
This is just one of many reasons they’re known as “America’s Team,” but it also makes it even more difficult to decide which players are truly the best among many greats in franchise history. Here, we try and select the top 10 members of the team since the Cowboys joined the NFL in 1960.
The top 10 Dallas Cowboys players in franchise history
Scouting Report. player. 123. Pick Analysis. TE. 2003-2017, 2019. JasonWitten. 10
A third-round pick back in 2003, Jason Witten wound up becoming one of the most productive (and most popular) members of this team over the past 20 years.
Witten had just 347 yards and a single touchdown as a rookie but still endeared himself to fans that year when he displayed the toughness that helped him become a superstar. In October of that rookie campaign, Witten suffered a broken jaw that required three plates to fix.
Miraculously, he missed just one game that year — and it ended up being the only missed game for him throughout his 17 NFL seasons. That’s an amazing feat for any player, let alone a tight end who took punishing hits when making a catch in the middle of the field and also took on defensive ends with the ferocity of an offensive lineman.
In all, Witten played 255 games for Dallas and owns the record for the most receptions (1,215) and receiving yards (12,977). He’s also second in touchdowns with 72, just one behind former teammate Dez Bryant.