Best Dallas Cowboys player to wear No. 92 led the team in sacks in the 1990s

Our selection at No. 92 racked up a ton of tackles during one of the Cowboys' best eras.

ByLuke Norris|Oct 11, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Former Cowboys defensive end Tony Tolbert | Icon Sportswire/GettyImages

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

After veering off the beaten path a bit with a very unique entry at No. 91, we return to the more normal side of things here at No. 92 with a player who often didn't get the credit he deserved for his contributions to the Dallas dynasty of the 1990s.

But before we break all of that down, let's first kick things off by looking at every player who's worn No. 92 for America's Team over the years.

Dorance Armstrong Jr., DE
Remi Ayodele, DT
Josh Brent, DT
Jermaine Brooks, DT
David Carter, DT
Landon Cohen, DT
Demetric Evans, DE
Junior Glymph, DE
Thomas Johnson, DT
Jeremy Mincey, DE
Ray Perkins, DE
Brian Price, DT
Cedric Thornton, DT
Tony Tolbert, DE
Carlos Watkins, DT
Quinnen Williams, DT
Jarius Wynn, DE

As you can see, this certainly isn't the most lengthy list we've seen throughout the series, and while Cowboys fans are obviously hoping that Quinnen Williams can someday earn his way into consideration for this particular slot, he's still got a long way to go before that becomes a possibility.

Truth be told, the runner-up honor here, which, with all due respect, kinda says something about the overall lineage of this number at this point, would have to go to Dorance Armstrong Jr., who racked up 23.5 sacks in his six-season run in Dallas from 2018 to 2023.

But the easy call here, of course, is Tony Tolbert.

Tony Tolbert tallied 59.0 sacks for the Dallas Cowboys during the 1990s

A back-to-back All-WAC selection in 1987 and 1988 at UTEP, Tolbert was taken by Dallas in the fourth round of the 1989 NFL Draft with the 85th overall selection.

That '89 draft, of course, was the first for the team with Jerry Jones as the owner and Jimmy Johnson as the head coach, and the duo did quite well that week in picking some players who would become big contributors to the 1990s Dallas dynasty, a list that included quarterback Troy Aikman, fullback Daryl "Moose" Johnston, center Mark Stepnoski, and, of course, Tolbert.

A linebacker at the collegiate level, he was moved to defensive end during his first training camp and ended up making five starts as a rookie, taking over for the great Ed "Too Tall" Jones, who was playing his final season. He then made four starts in his second season, filling in for Jim Jeffcoat and Danny Stubbs when they were injured.

Tolbert actually caught a bit of a break leading into the 1991 season, as Stubbs, who'd played for Johnson at the University of Miami, held out of camp over contract issues.

Tolbert ultimately moved up the depth chart into the starting slot at left defensive end, which he never relinquished for the rest of his career, and Stubbs ended up being waived nine weeks into the season.

The Cowboys began their ascent to becoming one of the top title contenders during that '91 campaign, going 11-5 and making the playoffs for the first time in six years, and Tolbert undoubtedly played a part in that, tallying 73 total tackles and a then-career-high 7.0 sacks.

And over the following four years, of course, Dallas was the top team in the NFL, winning three Super Bowls, and Tolbert played a major part in that success as well, recording 296 total tackles and 27.0 sacks during that stretch, the third-most among Cowboys defenders, and adding another 10.0 sacks in the postseason, including one in Super Bowl 28 and another in Super Bowl 30.

While the team's championship success stopped in 1996, as Dallas was bounced in the Divisional Round by the Carolina Panthers, the 6-foot-6, 268-pounder had the best year of his career, earning his only trip to the Pro Bowl and a Second-Team All-Pro nod after posting a career-best 12.0 sacks.

He followed up with another 5.0 sacks in 1997, but that proved to be his final season, as he'd been playing with a degenerative knee condition that effectively led to his release ahead of training camp in 1998.

In his nine seasons with the Cowboys, Tolbert, who never missed one single game, tallied a total of 59.0 sacks in 144 regular-season appearances, which currently stand in a tie for the 11th-most in franchise history.

And with 57.0 of those coming in the 1990s, he had the most of any Dallas defender in that decade, which is certainly saying something, given the amount of talent the Cowboys had on the roster.

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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Tony Tolbert tallied 59.0 sacks for the Dallas Cowboys during the 1990s

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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