Commentary

No. 2: Cowboys' best draft class

You have to draft well to win five Super Bowls

Originally Published: April 1, 2009
By ESPN Stats & Information | Special to Insider

ESPN Stats and Information has ranked all NFL players drafted in the modern draft (1967-2008) based on their performance during their NFL careers -- regardless of how they fared with the team that drafted them. Insider will count down each team's best draft class (seeded 1-32), then conduct a tournament to determine the best class of all time.

For a short explanation of the ranking system, click here, or, for a more detailed rundown of how the system was developed, click here.

A heavyweight showdown pits the Cowboys against the third-seeded '85 Bills -- Vote now!

COWBOYS' BEST CLASS: 1975

Fantastic draft classes have helped the Cowboys win five Super Bowls -- tied for second most in the NFL. Only the 49ers and Steelers -- the only two teams with as many Super Bowl wins as the Cowboys -- have a higher-ranked top 10 according to ESPN Stats and Information's ranking system.

The team's heyday in 1970s yielded the most dynamic squads and earned the very divisive nickname "America's Team." The best of those classes was 1975.

The Class of '75 had nine players who won a Super Bowl and three others who went to the big game but lost. Though the team struggled in the late 1980s, new owner Jerry Jones spearheaded Cowboys' drafts that brought back the dynasty in the 1990s. Those drafts landed Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Erik Williams among others, but no one draft ever landed more impact players than in 1975.


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