When was emmitt smith drafted

Based on the history of the No. Teams are more likely to find a C. Mosley or Doug Williams at No. The No. At CBS Sports, we have been ranking the best draft picks of all time by each number -- you can check out our picks at every spot, , here -- and will continue to do so all the way to No.

How we determined who made the five best draft picks at No. Will any of those players join these legends at No. Let's take a look at the top five:. Wright was one of the original "shutdown corners" in the NFL, a leader of the "Orange Crush" defense in that led the Broncos to their first Super Bowl Denver finished third in points allowed and had the No.

Wright was one of the best run-stopping cornerbacks of his era, earning five Pro Bowl appearances and two All-Pro selections in and Of Wright's 26 interceptions, 15 came after age While never becoming a finalist for the Hall of Fame, Wright was the Broncos' best defensive player in the famed AFC Championship Game "The Drive" and his five Pro Bowls are tied for fourth-most in franchise history by a defensive back.

Alexander rushed for 1, yards and an NFL-record 28 touchdowns with Hutchinson paving the way on a dominant Seahawks offensive line. When Hutchinson departed to the Vikings in free agency after that season, Alexander never eclipsed 1, yards in a season again. Hutchinson started consecutive games from to , a run which he earned seven straight Pro Bowl appearances and five All-Pro honors.

Or write about sports? We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Find out more. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos.

Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos. All rights reserved. G See the glossary for more information. Rush Yds Minimum 6. Minimum rushes to qualify as career leader. TD Career Player Split Finder. Career Player Game Finder. Passing Plays Receiving Plays Rushing Plays And by the end of the story, you're going to say to yourself, man, those Dallas Cowboys, what lucky dogs they are, because the what-ifs will make your head swim.

We can start right here. Remember, Smith applied for the draft after his junior year, so what if he had decided to play a fourth season with the Gators? What if the Cowboys hadn't decided to spend their first-round draft choice in the supplemental draft on quarterback Steve Walsh? Then after going that season, the Cowboys would have owned the very first pick in the draft.

Instead it was Atlanta, trading the top pick and a fourth-rounder to the Indianapolis Colts for six-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Chris Hinton, wide receiver Andre Rison first-round pick and their first-round selection eventually 13th overall. Then, too, what if the Cowboys had not traded away Herschel Walker to Minnesota during the season for a slew of what turned out to be Vikings' draft choices? They would not have then owned the Vikings first-round pick in , the 21st overall selection.

Since the Cowboys already had selected Troy Aikman with the top pick in , they certainly would have been willing to swing a trade with some team had they owned the top pick. In fact, leading up to the draft, the Cowboys were trying to work their way back into the top five with now their top two picks, 21st in the first round and top pick in the second, so they could take Jimmy Johnson's University of Miami star defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy.

But the asking price of two firsts was too steep to move. In fact, three days before the draft, the Cowboys covered themselves at the running back spot by trading a second- and third- round pick to San Francisco for little-used former first-round running back Terrence Flagler and Jimmy's former Miami defensive end Daniel Stubbs, plus a Niners third round and 11th round pick.

But even at that time, the Cowboys still were trying to move, pro personnel director John Wooten telling me two days before the draft for the Dallas Times Herald, "We have put out some feelers about moving up.

And then there was this from Cowboys scouting director Dick Mansperger on Baylor linebacker James Francis, considered by many a top talent: "He's a can't miss if that's a possibility. I would like to have him not miss here.

Now then, what if the Cowboys then were able to swing that deal with the Raiders, wanting to send their 21st and 26th picks for the Raiders' 11th and 37th so they could select Francis? But at the last minute the Raiders also wanted a third-rounder.

Still, the Cowboys found a trade partner with Kansas City at No. The deal was contingent on Francis still being available at Or, what if the Bengals had agreed to swing a deal for Francis when the undaunted Cowboys still in pursuit of the linebacker immediately began calling that draft day?

Instead, the Bengals basically said, naw, we're happy with what we did. So there the Cowboys still were at 21, knowing they needed defensive help, but discovering as the drafted moved along that 12 of the first 16 picks in the first round were defensive players, seriously depleting the stock of talent. But to that point, only one running back had been drafted, the New York Jets at No. And in a round draft where 45 running backs were selected, a run on running backs was about to commence.

And, of all things, one Emmitt Smith, considered the second-best back in the draft, was still on the board, and as it turned out, the Cowboys had him rated the fourth best player in the draft. But they also figured the likes of Green Bay at 19 and Atlanta at 20 were in the running back market.