Best Dallas Cowboys player to wear No. 49 was a solid pass blocker and special-teamer

Welcome back to The Landry Hat's series covering the best Dallas Cowboys players to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.

We've officially reached the halfway mark of our journey, as this marks the 50th of 100 entries, but we feel obligated to tell you right here at the start that this is not one of the more intriguing pieces of the series, as No. 49 simply doesn't carry a great history for America's Team.

For starters, not a single player sported the number in a regular-season game for the Cowboys for the first 40-plus years of the franchise's existence, with tight end Johnny Huggins being the first to do so in 2001.

And the fact that we had to seriously consider Huggins, whose NFL career lasted only that one season and resulted in him catching eight passes for 36 yards, pretty much tells you all you need to know about what we're dealing with here.

That said, we still need to pick a winner, so let's have a quick look at the short list of players who've worn No. 49 for Dallas.

Ian Bunting, TE
Peyton Hendershot, TE
Johnny Huggins, TE
Jamize Olawale, FB
Brett Pierce, TE

Yeah, when we said short, we meant it. Tight end Peyton Hendershot would have made things a lot easier had he kept the number past the preseason as a rookie in 2022, but he opted to switch to No. 89 just ahead of the regular season. So, he's out.

Brett Pierce had two career catches for 15 yards, so it's hard to go in that direction, and while Ian Bunting hung around on different practice squads for several years, he literally took just three regular-season snaps during his career, those coming with Dallas in 2021.

With all that said, basically by default, we're rolling with fullback Jamize Olawale.

Jamize Olawale spent two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys to close out his career

Undrafted out of North Texas in 2012, Olawale signed with Dallas as a free agent, and while he had a solid preseason, he was waived as part of final cuts, as the Cowboys opted to keep Philip Tanner.

The San Francisco native remained with the team as a member of the practice squad for much of that 2012 season, but when the then-Oakland Raiders had some injury issues in the backfield, they picked him up late in the year, and he ultimately ended up staying with the franchise for five additional seasons.

While most of his snaps came on special teams, he did get 11 starts on offense in his six-season run with the Silver & Black and left the team after the 2017 season having rushed for 206 yards and four touchdowns, while adding another 438 yards and three scores on 41 receptions.

Olawale rejoined the Cowboys ahead of the 2018 season via trade, and while he only recorded two total touches on offense in two years, both being receptions that resulted in 13 yards, he proved to be a solid blocking back, particularly in the passing game, as he earned an 83.6 PFF grade in that regard in 2018 and an 84.6 mark in 2019.

He also proved to be a valuable piece of the special teams unit, leading the team in tackles in that category in 2018 and tying for fifth in 2019.

Olawale opted out of the COVID-affected 2020 campaign, and that decision proved to be the end of his career, as he was released during the 2021 offseason and never played another down.

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This list will be updated daily until all 100 entries are complete, so please be sure to check back in with The Landry Hat for updates.

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Jamize Olawale spent two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys to close out his career

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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