Best Dallas Cowboys player to wear No. 72 had the most appropriate nickname ever

Welcome once again to our 100-part series covering the best Dallas Cowboys players to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.

After featuring a couple of the best offensive linemen in franchise history at Nos. 70 and 71, we're switching sides here at No. 72 with one of the best defensive linemen ever to sport a star on the side of his helmet, one who had one of the most appropriate nicknames of all time.

But before we break everything down, let's first run through our normal routine of looking at every player to wear No. 72 for America's Team over the years.

Stephen Bowen, DE
Rob Callaway, DT
Louis Cheek, OT
Ray Childress, DT
Travis Frederick, C
Matt Hennessy, OL
Bill Herchman, DT
Trysten Hill, DL
Ed Jones, DE
Tony Liscio, OT/G
Dwayne Missouri, DE
Stephen Peterman, G
Don Talbert, OT

Just as selecting the winner here was a no-brainer, the same can be said for the runner-up slot, as that honor easily goes to center Travis Frederick, who earned five trips to the Pro Bowl and three All-Pro selections (one First Team, two Second Team) during his seven-year run with Dallas from 2013 to 2019.

He actually played only six of those seven seasons, however, as he missed the entire 2018 campaign due to a battle with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition that ultimately led to his retirement in early 2020 at the age of 29.

Had Frederick continued his career, he genuinely could have made this a much closer race, but since that sadly didn't happen, we're obviously rolling with legendary defensive end Ed "Too Tall" Jones.

6-foot-9-inch defensive Ed "Too Tall" Jones tallied 106.0 sacks for the Dallas Cowboys

As his high school in Jackson, Tennessee, didn't field a football team until his senior year, Jones only played three games of the sport that ultimately made him famous during his prep years.

But he was a superstar in other sports, earning All-American honors as a basketball player, while his baseball skills earned him offers from several Major League Baseball clubs.

He ultimately accepted a basketball scholarship at Tennessee State but left the team after two years, as he wanted to play football. And it was during his very first practice that the 6-foot-9, 270-pounder received his famous nickname, as a teammate made fun of the fact that his pants wouldn't fit because he was "too tall" to play football.

But Jones certainly fared just fine, as he earned All-American honors in both 1972 and 1973, with the latter season also resulting in the team being recognized as the Black College National Champions after going a perfect 10-0.

Despite his small-school status, the big man was viewed as one of the top defensive players in the country and was taken by Dallas with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1974 NFL Draft, making him the first HBCU player to earn that honor.

Jones was used in a reserve role as a rookie but took over as the starter at left defensive end in 1975, helping the Cowboys reach the Super Bowl, where they were defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A second trip to the Super Bowl came at the conclusion of the 1977 season, with Dallas hoisting the Lombardi Trophy for the second time in team history. Jones & Co. again appeared in the Super Bowl to close the 1978 campaign but again lost to the Steelers.

And it was after that loss to Pittsburgh that Jones decided to leave the NFL to pursue a boxing career, which went well for him, as he went 6-0 with five wins coming via knockout before returning to Dallas in 1980.

The 1981 campaign kicked off one of the best stretches of his career, as the three-season stretch from '81 to '83 saw him earn three trips to the Pro Bowl and three All-Pro selections (one First Team, two Second Team).

It's often easy to forget that Jones' career stretched beyond the Tom Landry years, as his final season was in 1989, which, of course, was the year Jerry Jones bought the team and replaced Landry with Jimmy Johnson.

With the Cowboys clearly going younger, as Jones and Johnson began to build the team that would go on to win three Super Bowls in four years in the 1990s, Jones retired a few months ahead of the 1990 season, having appeared in 224 regular-season contests for Dallas and another 20 in the postseason, starting all but 21 of those games.

While sacks didn't become an official stat until 1982, the fine folks at Pro Football Reference have data dating back to 1960, and by their count, Jones tallied 106.0 sacks during his career, giving him the fourth-most in Cowboys history behind only DeMarcus Ware (117.0), Harvey Martin (114.0), and Randy White (111.0).

Not bad for a guy who was too tall to play football, don't you think?

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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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6-foot-9-inch defensive Ed "Too Tall" Jones tallied 106.0 sacks for the Dallas Cowboys

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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