No. 57 doesn’t come with the kind of star power that some of the other numbers in the Dallas Cowboys’ history do, but it does belong to a player who made one of the quieter, more important plays in the franchise’s first Super Bowl win.
That player is linebacker Vinson Smith, who earned the spot over center Malcolm Walker. Walker had a four-year run in Dallas from 1966 to 1969, starting 28 of his 47 games before being traded to the Green Bay Packers. Even with that extended look, Smith’s Cowboys impact ended up carrying more weight.
Smith’s path to Dallas was anything but straightforward. After a strong college career at East Carolina, he went undrafted in 1988 and signed with the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent. He played in only three regular-season games for Atlanta, then tried to catch on with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1989, only for that season to be derailed in the preseason when he broke his right foot.
Dallas gave him another chance before the 1990 season, and he carved out a role right away on special teams. Smith made just one defensive start at linebacker that year, but he logged 22 special teams tackles, which ranked second on the team.
His biggest leap came in 1991. Smith started 12 of the 13 games he played at weakside linebacker and finished with 71 total tackles, fifth on the team behind Jack Del Rio (130), James Washington (113), Ken Norton Jr. (94), and Tony Tolbert. He also started one of the Cowboys’ two playoff games.
In 1992, he shifted to strongside linebacker and started 13 of 16 games. He put up 69 total tackles and his first career sack as Dallas won its first division title in seven years. Smith then started all three postseason games, including Super Bowl 27 against the Buffalo Bills.
That championship game is usually remembered for the final sequence, but Smith had a hand in the key moment before the ending everyone knows. With Dallas leading 14-7 early in the second quarter, Buffalo drove to the 4-yard line after Jim Kelly found Andre Reed for a 40-yard gain. After Carwell Gardner picked up 3 yards, the Bills had three chances to gain one yard for a touchdown.
The play most fans recall is Norton stopping Kenneth Davis on third down and Thomas Everett intercepting Kelly on fourth. But Smith’s tackle on Thurman Thomas on second down may have been just as crucial. Thomas looked ready to break free for the end zone before Smith tripped him up, preserving the lead and setting up the sequence that followed.
It turned out to be Smith’s final game in a Cowboys uniform. He was traded to the Chicago Bears before the 1993 season, spent four years there, returned to Dallas for 1997, and finished his career with two seasons for the New Orleans Saints.
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