Yesterday we took a look at the Cowboys’ history with drafting the last player of an NFL Draft. It never really worked out for the team, nor the player for the most part.
But how has the team fared with its final pick of each draft over the past 63 drafts? There have been some surprises over the years.
Here’s how they’ve turned out over the decades.
The Barren 1960s
Its safe the say that the Cowboys’ final picks of the drafts in their first decade were pretty dismal. With one lone exception.
Amos Bullocks was taken by Dallas in the 20th round in 1962 out of Southern Illinois. He would spend three seasons in Dallas and another in Pittsburgh.
With the Cowboys, Bullocks finished with 537 yards and four rushing touchdowns. He added 116 receiving yards and a touchdown as well. He also saw duty as a kickoff returner.
Bullocks’ best game of 1962 came on Nov. 18th against the Bears, when he rushed for 93 yards and a score, and caught two passes for 33 yards and another touchdown.
In 1963 he scored his only two touchdowns of the year during a 24-21 loss to the Eagles in Philadelphia on Oct. 6th. One week later je rushed for 87 yards on 18 carries, with three catches for 39 yards, in a 17-14 win over the Lions at the Cotton Bowl.
The other seven final picks of the decade for Dallas shared one thing in common: None of them ever saw a single down of action on an NFL field in a regular season game.
More Of The Same In The 70s
The outcome failed to improve in the 1970s for the Cowboys final picks. Of the 10 men selected, only two of them made it into a regular season game. Only one with Dallas.
Les Strayhorn, a running back out of East Carolina, was taken in the 17th round of the 1973 draft. He managed to stay on the roster for two seasons.
He finished with 22 carries in 24 total games for 128 yards. His lone touchdown came in his first NFL game, a one-yard run in the fourth quarter to cap a 40-3 win over the Saints at home.
In 1979, Dallas selected linebacker Quentin Lowry out of Youngstown State in the 12th round. Lowry never saw action as a Dallas Cowboys’ player.
But he did and on the Washington Redskins’ roster long enough to collect a Super Bowl ring a couple of years later.
An Olympic Bust In The 80s
Like the decade before, only two out of the 10 players picked, made it into an NFL game. In 1980, defensive tackle Norm Wells from Northwestern was taken in the 12th round.
Wells is credited with three regular season games and one postseason game. But he failed to record a single stat in his lone season in the NFL.
The Cowboys used their 12th round pick in 1989 on wide receiver Scott Ankrom from TCU. Ankrom was credited with 10 games played, with two kick returns for six total yards.
He also recovered his own fumble. Like Wells, he was out of the NFL after his rookie year.
The lone standout among the eight that never played was Carl Lewis. The Olympian was selected in the 12th round in 1984. He never suited up and the gamble was a bust.
Looking Better In The 1990s
Just as the Cowboys fortunes improved on the field during the 1990s, so did their final draft picks’ performances.
Of course, it helped that the draft was reduced to just seven rounds, but still. Eight of the 10 players picked in the decade actually made it into an NFL game.
The standout among the group was defensive back Larry Brown. The TCU standout logged five good seasons in Dallas before playing for the Raiders for two years. Brown returned to Dallas for one more year before retiring.
During his run in Dallas he picked off 13 passes. His best year was 1995, when he had two interception returns for scores against the Eagles, one in each of their meetings.
But he saved his best for his last game before heading for Oakland. Of his five career postseason interceptions, two came in Super Bowl XXX against the Steelers.
The picks wrapped up the win for Dallas. It also earned him the MVP of the game.
Best Of The New Century
Of those picked last in this century, there have been three standouts. Starting with defensive end Jay Ratliff, a seventh round pick in 2005 from Auburn.
Ratliff put in eight seasons in Dallas before closing out his career in Chicago for three seasons. While with Dallas, Ratliff started 85 games, recorded 13 fumble recoveries with 27 sacks and 231 tackles.
In 2015, Dallas used its seventh round pick on tight end Geoff Swaim out of Texas. In four seasons, Swaim started 18 games and had 336 yards on 35 catches and a touchdown.
Swaim moved on to Jacksonville in 2019 before landing in Tennessee where he played last season. He is currently not listed on an NFL roster.
Quarterback Ben DiNucci was the Cowboys’ seventh round pick in 2020. He started one game in his rookie year, throwing for 219 yards on 23-of-43 passing in a 23-9 loss at Philadelphia. He’d gone 2-for-3 for 39 yards mopping up the week before in a loss to the Redskins.
DiNucci was relegated to the practice squad before being released. He landed in the XFL this spring and led the Seattle Sea Dragons to the playoffs.
The James Madison alum was signed by the Denver Broncos to compete for the backup role behind Russell Wilson. The Cowboys will likely see him when the two teams meet for the opening preseason game in August.
