{"id":442079,"date":"2026-09-20T15:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/442079\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T15:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:20:10","slug":"best-dallas-cowboys-player-to-wear-no-76-is-highest-o-line-draftee-in-team-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/442079\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Dallas Cowboys player to wear No. 76 is highest O-line draftee in team history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back once again to our series covering the best Dallas Cowboys players<\/a> to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.<\/p>\n

As this series has progressed, we’ve had a few instances in which we’ve genuinely hated having to leave a great player off the final list. That said, though, I came into this thing with a hard-and-fast rule that I would never cop out of making a pick by having a tie. I mean, if I couldn’t do it at No. 54 when forced to choose between Chuck Howley and Randy White, I can’t do it anywhere else, right?<\/p>\n

As you’ve obviously already figured out, we’re in one of those situations here at No. 76 where we’ve got two players who both undoubtedly deserve to be included on this list of 100 we’re constructing. But rules and rules, and we can only pick one, so let’s get to it. Of course, before we break things down, we must first run through our usual routine of taking a look at everyone who’s worn the number for America’s Team over the years.<\/p>\n

Flozell Adams, OT\/GRichard Ash, DTDowe Aughtman, DTLarry Bethea, DLAviante Collins, GDerrick Dockery, GBill Frank, OTJohn Gonzaga, DEGreg Hardy, DETrevor Keegan, GZach Moore, DEJohn Niland, GEd Nutting, OTBob Otto, DEAsim Richards, OLXavier Su’a-Filo, GAlan Veingrad, OTSam Young, OTJeff Zimmerman, G<\/p>\n

Finishing in a close second in this slot is longtime left tackle Flozell Adams, who started 194 of the 198 regular-season games in which he appeared for the Cowboys from 1998 to 2009, as well as all seven postseason contests. <\/p>\n

During his dozen-season run in Dallas, the Michigan State alum missed just 10 total games, all of which came during the 2005 season, as he suffered a torn ACL in a Week 6 win over the New York Giants. Adams ultimately earned five Pro Bowl selections, good for a tie for the sixth-most among all offensive linemen in team history, and also received a Second-Team All-Pro selection in 2007. <\/p>\n

Typically, that would be good enough to win, but in this case, it isn’t, as the honor here at No. 76 goes to guard John Niland. <\/p>\n

John Niland earned six Pro Bowl selections and three First-Team All-Pro nods in nine years with the Dallas Cowboys<\/p>\n

A two-time All-Big Ten selection and a two-time All-American with the Iowa Hawkeyes, Niland was taken by Dallas in the first round of the 1966 NFL Draft with the No. 5 overall selection. <\/p>\n

As such, he was the first offensive lineman taken by the Cowboys in the first round, which might not sound all that impressive seeing as how the franchise was founded just six years earlier in 1960 and didn’t make its first draft pick until 1961. That said, though, what does make it sound impressive is the fact that, to this day, the Cowboys have still never taken an offensive lineman that high, with Tyron Smith being the closest after being selected at No. 9 overall in 2011.<\/p>\n

Niland started just four games as a rookie as a fill-in, but in 1967, Tom Landry made him the full-time starter at left guard, and he simply never relinquished the role, as he became one of the top players at his position in the entire league.<\/p>\n

In the six-season stretch from 1968 to 1973, which, of course, included the Cowboys’ first Super Bowl victory to close the 1971 campaign, the 6-foot-3, 245-pounder earned six consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl, with the streak being good for third among all offensive linemen in team history and eighth overall among all players. From an overall standpoint, consecutive or not, his six Pro Bowl nods are good for a tie for fourth among offensive linemen, with only Larry Allen (10), Zack Martin (9), and Tyron Smith (8) earning more. <\/p>\n

Niland also earned three First-Team All-Pro selections, which are good for a tie for the third-most among Cowboys offensive linemen, trailing only Martin (7) and Allen (6). <\/p>\n

So, you can see why we had to make him this pick at No. 76, right? <\/p>\n

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees<\/p>\n

This list will be updated daily until all 100 entries are complete, so please be sure to check back in with The Landry Hat for updates.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back once again to our series covering the best Dallas Cowboys players to wear every jersey number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-442079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}