Best Dallas Cowboys player to wear No. 44 wasn't the typical NFL fullback

Welcome back to our series covering the greatest Dallas Cowboys players to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.

After featuring one of the team's top defensive players from the 1970s in our last entry at No. 43, we've got another top talent from that era here at No. 44, only this particular player comes from the other side of the football.

But, as per usual, before we break things down, let's first have a look at everyone who's worn No. 44 for America's Team over the years.

Francis Bernard, LB
Don Bishop, CB
Michael Brooks, DB
Tyler Clutts, FB
Lincoln Coleman, FB
Vince Courville, WR
Cornell Gowdy, DB
Chris Gronkowski, FB
Jake McQuaide, LS
Robert Newhouse, FB
Trent Sieg, LS
Robert Thomas, FB/LB

The winner was always going to be an easy call, but there is a solid runner-up here as well in Don Bishop, who converted from running back to cornerback when he joined the Cowboys in their first year of existence in 1960 and tallied 22 interceptions in six seasons with the club, all of which came in the first four years, as injuries limited him to just nine games over his final two years.

But again, this was always going to be an easy choice, as the clear call here is fullback Robert Newhouse.

Undersized fullback Robert Newhouse still owns the sixth-most rushing yards in Dallas Cowboys history

After setting all sorts of rushing records at the University of Houston, where he was a Second-Team All-American in 1971, Newhouse was taken by Dallas in the second round of the 1972 NFL Draft with the 35th overall selection.

While the Texas native was a natural running back, the Cowboys were set at that position with Calvin Hill at the time, so Newhouse opted to switch to fullback despite being a bit undersized for the position at 5-foot-10 and 210 pounds.

But make no mistake about it; while he may not have had the size of the typical NFL fullback, he undoubtedly had the power to play the position, as his ridiculous 44-inch thighs enabled him to take plenty of punishment and keep moving forward.

Newhouse didn't get a ton of touches in his first two seasons, tallying just 112 carries, but he got more opportunities in his third season, carrying the ball 124 times for 501 yards and three touchdowns.

And in 1975, with Hill no longer with the club, he became the lead back, rushing for a career-high 930 yards and two touchdowns and adding another 275 yards on 34 receptions.

Injuries hindered his 1976 campaign a bit, but in 1977, despite the emergence of superstar rookie running back Tony Dorsett, who won Offensive Rookie of the Year with 1,280 total yards from scrimmage and 13 total touchdowns, Newhouse still had a strong season of his own, rushing for 721 yards and three touchdowns and catching 16 passes for 106 yards and a score.

That 1977 campaign, of course, resulted in Dallas lifting the Lombardi Trophy for the second time, and Newhouse had himself a strong postseason that year, first scoring a touchdown in the NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings and then throwing a 29-yard touchdown pass to Golden Richards in the Cowboys' 27-10 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 12, also rushing for 55 yards in that victory.

After three more solid seasons, the three that followed weren't nearly as productive, as he was simply surpassed on the depth chart as he got older. Newhouse ultimately retired following the 1983 season, having rushed for 4,784 yards, which remain the sixth-most in franchise history.

Full list of Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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Undersized fullback Robert Newhouse still owns the sixth-most rushing yards in Dallas Cowboys history

Full list of Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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