The 15 greatest first-round picks in Dallas Cowboys history

9. Zack Martin, G, 2014

In the 2014 NFL Draft, the Cowboys nearly made a colossal mistake. Team owner Jerry Jones was completely enamored with Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, and he did nothing to try and hide this. And as fate would have it, when Dallas was on the clock at No. 16 overall, Johnny Football was there for the taking.

Many stories have come out since then about what actually went down in the war room, and Jones did admit that his son, Stephen Jones, had to talk him out of drafting Manziel. Jerry wasn’t thrilled at first, but in the end, this proved to be one of the best moves they ever made.

Not only was Manziel a major flop who was out of the league after just two seasons with Cleveland, but the Cowboys’ selection ended up being a home run. Dallas ended up taking Notre Dame offensive tackle Zack Martin, and they slid him inside to guard.

Since joining the team, Martin has developed into arguably the best right guard in the entire league. Entering the 2022 season, he has been named to the Pro Bowl in seven of his eight seasons and has also earned five First-Team All-Pro nods and two Second-Team All-Pro selections.

The only year in which he didn’t get these distinguished honors was 2010 when he missed six games due to an injury. Outside of that season, Martin has been the definition of dependable and even moved out to tackle in 2020 when they were dealing with several injuries at that position.

Martin was not only a great pick, but his selection also kept them from making a huge mistake.