If there’s one thing the current Dallas Cowboys front office should be acclaimed for, it’s their ability to draft. Outside of just a couple blips on the radar, each draft class the Cowboys have put together over the last decade has been rather impressive.
From nailing first round picks like Zack Martin, Tyron Smith, and Travis Frederick to finding the late round gems like Xavier Woods, the Cowboys have proven to be one of the better teams at drafting in all of football.
But their 2016 draft class was just different. And despite taking some heat for certain picks that year, Dallas’ playoff contending roster has that particular class to thank above all others.
Matt Miller of Bleacher Report ranked the top 10 draft classes of the last decade, with the 2016 Cowboys draft coming in at number one. And who could argue with him?
“The 2016 draft changed the Dallas Cowboys’ fortunes in the span of three days. The franchise is winning because it grabbed four starters and one high-level rotational secondary member from the team’s nine selections.”
As Matt mentions in the write-up, Dallas really began to re-write their future with this 2016 class. While Ezekiel Elliott was the headline grabbing first round selection, and Jaylon Smith the incredible round two risk which has paid off ten times over, snagging Dak Prescott in the fourth round has turned out to be one of the greatest value picks in the modern NFL era.
Prescott’s game has evolved to a point where he’s clearly a top ten quarterback in the NFL, and is currently playing like one of the top two or three passers in this league. He is the unquestioned leader in the locker room, and is gaining more and more MVP talk as the weeks go by.
All for their second fourth round pick in the draft class. Incredible.
In the same class as these three studs, Dallas selected defensive tackle Maliek Collins on day two and cornerback Anthony Brown on day three. Each has proven to be a quality starter at their respective positions, and are well within reason to expect second contracts with the team.
The 2016 Cowboys draft class changed the fortune of their franchise forever. Now we see just how good they can be in the coming weeks.
