When it comes to No. 54 in Dallas Cowboys history, the choice gets messy in a hurry. Chuck Howley has a Hall of Fame resume and a place in Super Bowl lore. But the nod has to go to the man who followed him in that jersey and stacked up even more hardware: Randy White.
Howley was no small name to push aside. He played 13 seasons for the Cowboys from 1961 to 1973, made six Pro Bowls, earned five First-Team All-Pro selections, and was a central figure on a Dallas defense that helped lift the franchise into contender status. He also pulled off a one-of-one feat, becoming the only player in NFL history to win Super Bowl MVP honors while playing for the losing team after his standout performance in the Cowboys’ 16-13 loss to the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl 5.
Still, White’s case is too strong to ignore.
A first-round pick in 1975, taken second overall out of Maryland, White arrived with a loaded college résumé of his own. He was a two-time First-Team All-ACC selection, a two-time All-American, and won both the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award.
He came into Dallas as part of a 12-player draft class that included “Hollywood” Henderson, Bob Breunig, Pat Donovan, and Herbert Scott - the group that became known as “The Dirty Dozen.” White ended up as the best of that bunch.
His early years were more about patience than production. With pieces of the original “Doomsday Defense” still in place, White spent his first two seasons in reserve roles and started only one game across those first two years. He opened his rookie season at defensive end, then moved to linebacker in his second year.
Everything changed in 1977, when he became the full-time starter at right defensive tackle and took off. White piled up 12.5 sacks that season and began a run of nine straight Pro Bowl trips. That same year ended with Dallas winning Super Bowl 12, and White shared co-MVP honors with Harvey Martin after the Cowboys’ 27-10 win over the Denver Broncos.
That shared award remains a true outlier. In the 11 Super Bowls before it and in every one since, no other pair of players has ever split the MVP honor.
White never got another ring, but the individual honors kept coming. From 1978 through 1985, he made eight straight All-Pro teams, including seven First-Team selections and one Second-Team nod in 1980. Those seven First-Team choices are tied for the most in Cowboys history, alongside Bob Lilly and Zack Martin.
He also finished in the top four of Defensive Player of the Year voting six times during that stretch, coming up just short each time. His closest calls were back-to-back runner-up finishes in 1982 and 1983.
Injuries slowed him down later on, and White retired after the 1988 season, which also closed the Tom Landry era. Using the unofficial sack totals tracked by Pro Football Reference, he finished with 111.0 sacks, placing him third in Cowboys history behind DeMarcus Ware’s 117.0 and Harvey Martin’s 114.0.
White was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Cowboys Ring of Honor in 1994.
In Other News...
Cowboys Receiver Battle Just Claimed A Familiar Name
The Cowboys receiver competition thinned a little more as final roster cuts came down, and Denzel Mims was among the names squeezed out to get Dallas to the 53-man limit. Mims had only been with the team since mid-July, giving him a brief late-summer look before the decision arrived ahead of the regular season.
It was another reminder of how crowded the room has become and how little margin there is for a veteran trying to carve out a role. Mims arrived with some NFL history after three seasons with the Jets, but he has not appeared in a regular-season game since 2022, leaving his next opportunity very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Sam Howell Just Made The Cowboys Final Cuts A Lot Tougher
Sam Howell gave the Cowboys something useful to think about in the preseason finale, and not just because of the numbers. He completed 12 of 18 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns, helping fuel a fourth-quarter comeback in a game Dallas still lost. In a roster battle that was already crowded, a performance like that can matter, especially for a player trying to turn a strong night into a stronger case for the 53-man roster.
The ripple effect reaches beyond Howell, because every good showing and every healthy return changes the math for the players on the bubble. Camden Brown, Alijah Clark, Sam Williams and Derion Kendrick are all part of that conversation, with recent performances and injuries shaping how tight the cut decisions could be. For Dallas, the final evaluation period suddenly looks a lot trickier than it did before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Just Got A Telling Chance To Fix A Thin LB Room
The Cowboys came out of preseason with a clearer picture of where the roster is sturdy and where it still looks exposed, and linebacker remains one of the spots worth watching. Jaishawn Barham has shown enough promise to make the conversation more interesting, but Dallas still has a thin group there and could use a proven piece to stabilize things behind him.
Tyrel Dodson suddenly fits that need after being released by the Dolphins and becoming available as a free agent. He brings veteran experience and a strong 2025 season to the table, which is exactly the kind of profile Dallas can lean on if it wants more certainty in a room that still feels short on it. [Read more 🡒]