Best Dallas Cowboys player to wear No. 96 was highly coveted by Bill Parcells

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

As we inch one step closer to the end of this ride, we roll on here at No. 96 with a player who may have never lived up to his draft status but still had a solid nine-year playing career and went on to find plenty of success in the media once he retired.

But before we break things down, of course, let's first run through our typical routine of looking at everyone who's worn No. 96 for America's Team over the years.

Antonio Anderson, DT
Shante Carver, DE
Kenny Clark, DT
Maliek Collins, DT
Ebenezer Ekuban, DE
Neville Gallimore, DT
Clifton Geathers, DE
Nick Hayden, DT
Adedayo Odeleye, DE
Justin Rogers, DT
Marcus Spears, DE
Danny Stubbs, DE

1999 first-round pick Ebenezer Ekuban looked to be on his way to a strong career, recording 9.0 sacks over his first two seasons despite starting just four games, but he fizzled out a bit in the years that followed. Even so, we'll give him the third-place slot here.

In second, we'll roll with Maliek Collins, who spent four seasons in Dallas from 2016 to 2019, tallying 84 total tackles and 14.5 sacks.

But the winner here, as you've likely already guessed, is Marcus Spears.

Marcus Spears spent eight solid seasons with the Dallas Cowboys

A back-to-back First-Team All-SEC selection in 2003 and 2004 at LSU, where he won a national championship in the former campaign and earned consensus All-American honors in the latter, Spears was taken by Dallas in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft with the 20th overall selection.

His draft status is actually one of the more interesting aspects of his career, as the Cowboys' head coach at the time, Bill Parcells, wanted to take him with the team's first pick in the first round at No. 11 overall, as he felt the 6-foot-4, 315-pounder was the perfect player to help with the transition to a 3-4 defense.

But Parcells was ultimately overruled, as Jerry Jones wanted to use that pick on none other than DeMarcus Ware, believing he wouldn't still be on the board at No. 20.

Both obviously got their way, as Jones used the No. 11 selection Ware, who went on to become the team's all-time leader in sacks and is now enshrined in Canton, and Parcells got to use that No. 20 pick, which Dallas had gotten from the Buffalo Bills, on Spears.

Now, in a 3-4 scheme, defensive ends typically don't get the chance to shine from an individual standpoint as much as they do in a 4-3, at least as far as racking up sacks are concerned.

There are exceptions, of course, as J.J. Watt flipped that logic upside down a few years down the line, but Spears did exactly what he was supposed to do, which was to take up space in the trenches to allow those behind him to get after the quarterback. And Ware certainly took advantage, didn't he?

Sure, Spears was still expected by most to do a bit more on the pass-rush side of things, but he was a strong defender against the run, which is why Dallas employed him for eight years and why he started 94 of the 128 total games in which he appeared during that stretch between the regular season and postseason.

And in those 128 games, Spears, who did oddly switch to No. 98 for one season in 2011 before switching back to No. 96 in his final year with the team in 2012, tallied 243 total tackles, 25 tackles for loss, 10.0 sacks, three forced fumbles, and 13 passes defended.

He played one final season with the Baltimore Ravens in 2013 and then began his broadcasting career in 2014, one that continues to this day.

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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Marcus Spears spent eight solid seasons with the Dallas Cowboys

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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