For some reason, our front office does not choose to draft QBs very often. Since JJ bought the team in 1989, the Cowboys have drafted 7 QBs. That’s 7 QBs in 34 years. From 1992-2009, the Cowboys only drafted 2 QBs- Quincy Carter in 2001 and Stephen McGee in 2009. From 2010-23, we have drafted 3 QBs- Dak, Mike White and Ben DiNucci.
Part of this was because of finding Tony Romo as an UFA in 2003 and stumbling upon Dak in round 4 in 2016. But it is still interesting how little the Cowboys have used draft capital to draft a QB. In the combined 19 years of the Cowboys having Romo and Dak under center, the Cowboys have only drafted 4 QBs.
One of the things I’ve noticed is the habit of many of the better NFL organizations is drafting QBs even when they have a quality starter. Look at these three organizations’ approach to drafting QB talent, even when they had a great starter:
- Green Bay– even when Brett Favre was QB, putting together a HOF career, the pack drafted 9 QBs in 13 drafts. In 2005, they drafted Aaron Rodgers in round 1, and went to 5 NFC championships and won a SB with Rodgers, yet in the 18 seasons Rodgers was in GB, the pack still drafted 6 QBs.
- San Francisco– the niners have played in 6 NFC championships and 2 SBs in this century and they have done that with 4 different starting QBs. Their habit of acquiring QB talent even when they have a great starter goes all the way back to the 80s when they acquired Steve Young in a trade with the Bucs when they already had the great Joe Montana. The niners have drafted 6 QBs in the last 12 drafts, and their draft of Brock Purdy with the last pick of the 2022 draft, even after drafting Trey Lance in round 1 in 2021 paid big dividends last season.
- New England- in the 20 seasons the GOAT Tom Brady was winning SBs in NE, the pats still drafted 9 QBs. Three of those QBs- Jacoby Brissett, Matt Cassel, and Jimmy Garropolo all were traded for better draft capital than they were originally drafted. New England‘s philosophy of drafting QBs even when they had the greatest QB in NFL history served them well.
- Kansas City- KC had Alex Smith from 2013-17, and he led the chiefs to the playoffs in 4 of his 5 seasons there. He was certainly seen as a good starter. Yet the chiefs chose to trade up in round 1 to draft Patrick Mahomes in 2017. No one knew Pat Mahomes was going to be what he turned into. And I’m a Texas Tech fan who saw Mahomes play in person 5 times!
Bottom line- IMO the Cowboys would be wise to draft a QB more often. The above teams have drafted QBs even with HOF talent in place. Regardless of what happens with Dak and his future with Dallas, this organization needs to draft a QB more often.
