One of the biggest days for the National Football League is upon us - the annual spring draft. The 2007 National Football League Draft will take place in New York City on April 28 and 29, 2007. As always, speculation revolves around who will be the number one draft pick for 2007. The Oakland Raiders have the first draft choice overall with the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals rounding out the top five.
This year the Dallas Cowboys have the twenty-second pick in the first round of the draft with 10 picks in all, one in each of the seven rounds as well as an extra pick in the sixth and two extra picks in the seventh due to past trades. The team is hoping that seven or eight of the drafted players will make this year's 53-man roster.
Building a team though the draft can be a hit and miss endeavor that takes skill, knowledge and some luck. Since their entrance into the NFL, as an expansion team in 1960, the Dallas Cowboys have done more than all right by the draft. They have consistently demonstrated an ability to choose talent in the draft which blossoms into a full-fledged all-star.
From their first participation in the NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys have had success. The first ever draft pick in Dallas Cowboys franchise history was made in 1961 when the team chose, out of Texas Christian University, star defensive tackle and first draft pick overall Bob Lilly. Known affectionately as "Mr. Cowboy", Lilly was the first Cowboys Ring of Honor recepient at Texas Stadium.
Selected by the Dallas Cowboys, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, out of the Tennessee State University, was the number one overall draft pick of the 1970 NFL draft. Jones had a successful career with the team as a defensive end and was named the NFL Defensive MVP in 1982. He is one of only three players to have played for the Dallas Cowboys franchise for fifteen years.
In 1977 the Cowboys selected, second overall, running back Tony Dorsett from the University of Pittsburgh. Dorsett made an instant impression in his first year, finishing with Rookie of the Year honors and a Super Bowl Championship. The success continued as Dorsett went on to rush for over 1000 yards in eight of his first nine seasons (missing the mark in 1982, due only to a strike-shortened season). He was elected to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.
The Cowboys again found great success when in the 1988 draft, out of the University of Miami, they chose Michael Irvin 11th overall in the first round of the 1988 draft. Irvin spent his whole career with the Cowboys and is regarded as one of the best wide receivers ever in the National Football League. He is also the only player in Dallas Cowboys history to have the distinction of having played for each of the first four coaches of the team - Landry, Johnson, Switzer and Gailey.
In 1989, with the first pick in the draft, the Dallas Cowboys chose the projected no. 1 overall pick, UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman. Despite a slow start Aikman went on to lead the team to three Super Bowl Championships and was inducted into the Cowboys Ring of Honor as well as the Pro Football Hall of Fame
With the 17th overall draft pick in1990, the Dallas Cowboys chose running back Emmitt Smith out of the University of Florida. Smith would prove to be yet another outstanding selection for Cowboys football as he went on to set countless records with the team. He currently holds the NFL record in career rushing yards of 18,355 and is the only player in NFL history to rush for over 18,000 yards.
Through the years the Dallas Cowboys have picked wisely in the NFL draft and have had great success in choosing players who have gone on to become not only NFL all-stars but Dallas Cowboys legends as well. The team and their fans fondly remember all of these past players as is evident by the endless memorabilia available dallas-cowboys-apparel.com for these legends and all Dallas Cowboys fan favorite players.
Soon the speculation over who the number one overall pick in the 2007 National Football League Draft will be will come to an end as the player's name is announced in New York on April 28, 2007. It is a given that the Dallas Cowboys have done their homework and are prepared to choose with careful consideration each of their ten draft picks. There is little doubt that some of the talents they draft will go on to become NFL all-stars and Dallas Cowboys legends.
