Creating the all-time Dallas Cowboys 53-man roster: Defense

29/06/2024

After having so much fun building the all-time offense and defense for the Dallas Cowboys, we decided to take it a step further to create the all-time 53-man roster for the organization. With so many great players who have played for America's Team over the years, this was a challenging exercise to take on.

Today, we are going to continue where we left off from the offensive side of the ball to complete the 53-man roster with the players we chose to fill the remaining 27 roster spots on defense and special teams.

Defensive end (4)

Harvey Martin, Ed Jones, Charles Haley, George Andrie

We went with the foursome of Harvey Martin, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Charles Haley, and George Andrie. This group would be a fearsome force in both run defense and rushing the passer. Picking a starting two from this unit would be difficult, so we’ll just call it a rotation without a weakness.

Defensive tackle (5)

Bob Lily, Randy White, Jethro Pugh, Leon Lett, Jay Ratcliff

What's not to love about this group of defensive tackles? Bob Lily and Randy White are both two of the best DTs to not only play for the Cowboys, but to play the position in the history of the league. Throw in Jethro Pugh, Leon Lett, and Jay Ratliff to back them up and there's probably not an OL anyone could put together to contain this group.

Linebacker (6)

DeMarcus Ware, Chuck Howley, Micah Parsons, Lee Roy Jordan, Dexter Coakley, Sean Lee

We ended up going a little long it LB and are still disappointed we couldn't find a spot for Dat Nguyen. This group of six though is an interesting and versatile mix. You've got your more traditional LBs in Howley, Jordan, Coakley, and Lee as well as a couple of pass rushing DE/LB hybrids in Ware and Parsons. This is a group defensive coordinators dream about.

Cornerback (5)

Mel Renfro, Everson Walls, Deion Sanders, Cornell Green, Bill Bates

We had to find a a roster spot for the Dallas Cowboys best ever special teams player and this is where Bill Bates ended up. As far as the other four cornerbacks go though, there are endless possibilities how to deploy them. All of them though have the ability to be shut down CBs and would give opposing QBs fits.

Safety (4)

Cliff Harris, Darren Woodson, Roy Williams, Charlie Waters

With this foursome patrolling the back end of the Dallas Cowboys secondary opposing QBs would find little to no room to connect with the receivers. That's even more true considering the lockdown CBs we've already mentioned. This would be a great mix of hard-hitting enforcers and ball-hawking ability at safety.

SPECIAL TEAMS (3)

P Danny White, K Dan Bailey, LS L.P. Ladouceur

Well what you look at that, Danny White as a punter!? Unbeknownst to many and perhaps forgotten by others, Danny White was a multi-positional player with the Cowboys as both a QB and punter. And to round out the ST group, we went with Dan Bailey who was near automatic in his prime and the ever consistent L.P. Ladouceur snapping them the ball.