The Dallas Cowboys remain the most iconic franchise in the NFL, and they wouldn't have achieved that status without a parade of legendary quarterbacks leading the charge.
While there have been some lulls in their dominance, Cowboys fans can claim to have almost three decades of Hall of Fame quarterback play under their watch. Sorting through which members of this small fraternity are the best can make for some fun debates.
These 20 players stand out as the absolute best of the best throughout the history of this franchise.
20. Steve Walsh
Walsh was a part of a quarterback competition with Troy Aikman during his rookie season, as Jimmy Johnson just couldn't quit the guy who helped lead him to so much collegiate success at Miami. It didn't take long for Walsh to show that Aikman was worth Johnson's time, as he won just one of his five starts and threw five touchdowns against nine interceptions.
Walsh's highlight in Dallas was a 1989 victory that served as the lone triumph in Johnson's first season in town. Walsh would end up throwing for 7,875 yards and 40 touchdowns in his pro career, mostly as an on-again/off-again starter with the New Orleans Saints before throwing his last pass in 1999.
19. Chad Hutchinson
Hutchinson, a gigantic quarterback at 6-5 and 240 pounds, is one of the few men in history to play professionally in two major American sports, as he had a few appearances as a relief pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001. After ending his baseball career, Hutchinson impressed enough as a quarterback to make the Cowboys' roster in 2002.
Hutchinson started nine games and won just two, throwing more interceptions (eight) than touchdown passes (seven). Hutchinson oversaw the end of the Dave Campo era, during which Dallas was 31st in the league in scoring and went 5-11 in the 2002 campaign. Hutchinson's talent is undeniable.
18. Steve Beuerlein
Beuerlein's career stats (24,000 passing yards, 147 touchdown passes, leading the NFL in passing yards in 1999) are more impressive than one would realize at first glance, but most of those numbers came while he was on the expansion Carolina Panthers. Before that, Beuerlein was another trusted member of Jimmy Johnson's QB room.
Beuerlein only started four games in Dallas, but he won all of them and helped steady the ship before their 1991 playoff run. Beuerlein can claim a Super Bowl ring after serving as the team's backup quarterback during their 1992 championship. As was proven in Carolina, Beuerlein could grip it and rip it at a level that would surprise most casual observers.
17. Andy Dalton
After a Dak Prescott injury knocked him out of the 2020 season after just five games, Dalton, fresh off a very productive time with the Cincinnati Bengals, stepped in to go 4-5 the rest of the way. Dalton's win-loss record only looks the way that it does because Mike Nolan's defense was inoperably bad for most of his tenure in Dallas.
Dalton held his own in Dallas, throwing for 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions in nine starts with the Cowboys. He did have some help, however. Ezekiel Elliott was still around, and Amari Cooper was in his prime. Luckily for Dalton, he was able to parlay his Cowboys success into backup jobs with the Saints, Bears, and Panthers.
16. Vinny Testaverde
The list of 41-year-old quarterbacks who have ever played in the NFL is small, and the list of those who started an entire season (almost) at that age is even shorter. Testaverde's decades-long career included a pit stop in Dallas, as he tried to get the Cowboys kick-started despite a lack of surrounding talent.
The former No. 1 overall pick threw 20 interceptions and won just five games during the 2004 season. However, that came with an ancient Eddie George, past-his-prime Keyshawn Johnson, and second-year Jason Witten as his top targets. Testaverde couldn't recapture his old New York Jets magic with Bill Parcells.
However, with better talent around him, things may have been different.
15. Gary Hogeboom
Originally a fifth-round pick who spent his first few years almost exclusively as an inactive third-stringer, Hogeboom would spend most of his 10-year career with the Cowboys. While he had more counting stats with the Indianapolis Colts, Hogeboom's most memorable moments in the pros came when he was in Dallas.
Hogeboom's 13 touchdowns and 23 interceptions with the Cowboys are not going to help him force his way into any sort of Hall of Fame, but he did manage to go 6-4 when Danny White was ineffective during the 1984 season. Hogeboom would be traded to Indianapolis after 1985.
Perhaps Hogeboom could have been better if Tom Landry had known how to handle this quarterback room.
14. Jon Kitna
Kitna actually managed to breathe life back into the Cowboys for a brief period, as he was under center when Jason Garrett managed to inject life into this team following Wade Phillips' firing in 2010. Kitna, who threw for just under 30,000 career yards with the Bengals, Seahawks, and Lions, went 4-5 near the end of the season.
Kitna completed almost 66% of his passes (in 2010, when such feats were rarer), while throwing for 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Tony Romo was in town, which relegated Kitna back to a reserve role. If nothing else, Kitna showed that Garrett can provide his Cowboys teams with a high floor.
Not a bad ending for an undrafted player out of Central Washington.
13. Cooper Rush
Fans who saw Rush's play after leaving Dallas may wonder how he has not somehow broken the scale and ended up as far down the list as mathematics will allow. However, there was a brief time when Rush was a viable backup who could hold his own and distribute the ball accurately.
Rush, who is 14th in Cowboys history in passing yards and 12th in touchdowns, went 9-5 as a starter in parts of the 2022 and 2024 seasons. While he had plenty of help from CeeDee Lamb and others, Rush's 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions were the highlights of a Cowboys career that lasted a better part of a decade.
It's a bit of a shame that Rush will be remembered by fans as the unwatchable turnover magnet he became after his Cowboys tenure.
12. Jason Garrett
After humble beginnings at Princeton and the World League of American Football's San Antonio Riders, Garrett signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent. Eventually, Garrett was able to muscle his way into the offensive picture, serving as one of Aikman's primary backups throughout the dynastic years.
When Garrett was pressed into action, he held his own. Garrett went 6-3 in nine starts as a Cowboy, throwing 11 touchdowns against just five interceptions. The highlight of Garrett's career came in 1998, when he went 3-2 filling in for an injured Aikman. Garrett tossed five touchdowns and kept a Cowboys team that would make the playoffs alive.
Garrett's legacy as a coach (while mixed) has surpassed what he did as a player, however.
11. Steve Pelluer
History may not remember Pelluer's tenure in Dallas fondly, as he became emblematic of the last dying gasps of the Tom Landry era. The Hall of Fame coach seemed to be outdated during his swan song season. There were some moments when the former Washington product looked like he was going to break through and overcome those issues.
Pelluer finished his Cowboys career with 28 touchdowns and 38 interceptions, with his most memorable (for better or worse) stint coming when he threw 17 touchdowns and 19 interceptions during a 3-13 season in 1988. The former fifth-round pick had size and an arm, but the Cowboys were ill-equipped to help him win some games.
10. Quincy Carter
Carter is one of the great what-ifs in Cowboys history, as the Georgia product had wide receiver athleticism and a bazooka arm, yet never put it all together due to some off-field distractions. Carter's peak came in the 2003 season, when he led the Cowboys to a 10-win campaign.
After throwing 17 touchdowns in his first year as the unquestioned starter, a failed drug test led to him being abruptly cut before the 2004 season. He latched on with the Jets for one year, and that was it for him in the pros. Carter ended his pro career with more interceptions (37) than touchdown passes (32).
Perhaps if Carter had stayed locked in and taken advantage of his physical gifts, he could have climbed higher up this list.
9. Drew Bledsoe
Bledsoe has over 44,000 passing yards and 250 passing touchdowns to his name in the pros, but he was on his last legs after nine years with the Patriots and three with the Bills. Bill Parcells, who drafted Bledsoe No. 1 overall in New England, was still able to coax a quality season out of the strong-armed veteran.
Bledsoe went 9-7 in 2005, throwing for 23 touchdowns and over 3,600 yards. Running a passing offense designed by Sean Payton, Bledsoe was able to give the Cowboys one more solid season before his age caught up to him in 2006. After six games, Bledsoe was benched for Tony Romo.
If Dallas got the Bledsoe from his Buffalo tenure, that 2005 team might have been able to make some noise, given all of the surrounding talent.
8. Eddie LeBaron
After starting his pro career late due to serving in the Marines during the Korean War, LeBaron made three Pro Bowls in Washington. LeBaron ended up with the expansion Cowboys in 1960, and he was entrusted with getting this franchise off the ground.
Ignore the 5-22-1 record (as weird as that may sound). LeBaron's 45 touchdown passes over four seasons, during which he alternated time with Don Meredith, and his penchant for scrambling were the only reasons some of Landry's first few Cowboys teams even put points on the board. LeBaron was named a Pro Bowler in 1962.
LeBaron, who was perhaps the smallest full-time quarterback ever at 5-7 and 168 pounds, was one of the few stars who made those early Cowboys watchable.
7. Craig Morton
Before Morton was a greybeard who led the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl, he got his start in Dallas. For 10 years, Morton wore a star on the side of his helmet. Tom Landry once thought so highly of him that, even with Roger Staubach in town, Morton would alternate starts and occasionally play with the future Hall of Famer.
When Landry did cut Morton loose, he was able to make some noise. Morton threw for over 10,000 yards and 80 touchdowns with the Cowboys, going 32-14-1 in 47 starts. His peak came in the 1969 and 1970 seasons, when he went 18-5-1 as a starter, threw 36 touchdowns, and twice led the league in yards per attempt.
He's no Staubach, but Morton had quite the career in Dallas.
6. Danny White
White had the misfortune of starting in Dallas between the Staubach and Aikman eras, making his exploits look less impressive by comparison. However, the raw numbers paint a very rosy picture for White, who kept the team as a perpetual playoff participant throughout the early 1980s.
White spent 13 years with the Cowboys, going 62-30 as a starter. White finished his career with 21,959 yards and 155 touchdowns, all of which came with the Cowboys. The strike-shortened 1982 season was White's apex, as he was named a Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro while finishing fourth in Offensive Player of the Year voting and fifth in MVP voting.
On top of it all, White was one of the better punters in the NFC during his prime. Talk about a dual threat.
5. Don Meredith
Before he was introduced to a nationwide audience on Monday Night Football, Meredith was the first great quarterback the Cowboys ever had. Meredith seized control of the starting QB job midway through the 1963 season, and he never looked back.
Over the final five years of his career, Meredith went 39-17-2 as a starter. His final three years were exemplary, as they produced three straight Pro Bowl nods and a third-place MVP finish in 1966. When adjusting for his era, Meredith's 17,000 career yards and 135 touchdown tosses look even more impressive.
Between his Cowboys and SMU stint, Meredith's name remains solid gold in the city of Dallas.
4. Tony Romo
Romo's regular-season dominance and playoff shortcomings may put a cloud over his overall Cowboys legacy, but he broke just about every Cowboys passing record that mattered in his prime. Dallas got a decade of high-end quarterback play out of the undrafted Romo.
Romo, who made four Pro Bowls in his career, threw for 34,183 yards and 248 touchdown passes in his career, four times topping 30 touchdown passes in a season. With four Pro Bowls and a top-3 MVP finish in 2013, Romo's highs were some of the best this franchise has ever seen.
Romo is one of those players who will see his career viewed more favorably after his retirement.
3. Dak Prescott
Love him or hate him, Prescott now has the Cowboys' franchise record for passing yards and passing touchdowns. The lack of postseason success does not negate the overall consistency and excellence Prescott has shown on what feels like a weekly basis.
Prescott, who has made four Pro Bowls and twice finished in the top six in MVP voting, has hit 4,000 yards passing and 30 or more touchdown passes in a season on four separate occasions for both figures. Still just 33, Prescott has a few more years ahead of him.
The raw stats are more than enough to push Prescott to the top three.
2. Troy Aikman
The career numbers may be fairly milquetoast (165 career touchdown passes, one season with more than 20 TDs), but Aikman has three Super Bowl rings he can slip on his fingers. Only he and Tom Brady can claim to have won three in a four-year span.
Aikman was the perfect signal-caller for what those Cowboys teams needed. With his ultra-efficient and accurate passing and ability to distribute the ball to all of their dynamic playmakers, Aikman's six consecutive Pro Bowls and gold-star status within the franchise's history are both well-earned.
Aikman being as great as he was in the playoffs (11-5 record, 23 touchdown passes) is what puts him in his deserved silver medal spot on this list.
1. Roger Staubach
One of the great what-ifs in football history is what would have happened if Staubach had not served in the Navy and had jumped right to the NFL. There's a very good chance the Cowboys' most iconic player ever would have solidified himself as an upper-echelon great in the NFL.
Staubach, who never had a losing season as a starter, doesn't have the gaudiest numbers (22,700 yards, 153 touchdowns), but the all-time elite scrambler makes up for that with six Pro Bowls, two championships, and three top-four MVP finishes, all while not becoming a starter until he was 29 in a run-heavy offense.
In the modern game, Staubach may have had the talent to annihilate the records Prescott created.
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