At No. 74, the Dallas Cowboys series doesn’t really have a debate. There was only one player to wear it for America’s Team, and that alone tells you how locked down this number has become. The man is Bob Lilly, and he’s not just the best Cowboys player to wear 74 - he’s the kind of franchise figure who made the number his own.
Lilly’s Cowboys story started at the very beginning. He was the first player Dallas ever drafted, a first-round pick in 1961 after starring at TCU with back-to-back First-Team All-SWC honors in 1959 and 1960, plus unanimous All-American recognition in that final college season.
The draft choice fit perfectly with the early days of the franchise, which didn’t officially become a team until January 1960. The 1960 NFL Draft had already taken place in November 1959, so Dallas built its first roster through an expansion draft in March 1960 and by signing free agents.
That’s how Lilly ended up as the first draft pick in Cowboys history.
And once he arrived, the decision paid off fast. Lilly opened his pro career at defensive end and earned his first Pro Bowl nod in his second season, in 1962.
Then Tom Landry shifted him to defensive tackle midway through the 1963 season, and from there he became the centerpiece of the Cowboys’ “Doomsday Defense.” The move helped turn Dallas from an expansion team into one of the NFL’s top powers.
What followed was a run that put Lilly in the rarest company. From 1964 through 1973, he made 10 straight Pro Bowls, picked up seven First-Team All-Pro selections, added a Second-Team All-Pro honor, and finished in the top 10 of NFL MVP voting three times.
That’s MVP voting, not Defensive Player of the Year. Even more surprising, he never won DPOY at all, with his best finish coming as runner-up in 1971.
That 1971 season ended with the Cowboys’ first Super Bowl title, and Lilly delivered one of the most memorable defensive plays in championship history: a 29-yard sack of Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese in Dallas’ 24-3 win over Miami. A 29-yard sack in the Super Bowl still sounds ridiculous, but that’s exactly what happened.
Landry once said Lilly was someone "who comes along once in a lifetime," and the career backed it up. Lilly retired after the 1974 season without missing a single game, finishing with 196 regular-season appearances and 14 more in the postseason.
The honors kept coming after his playing days. Dallas held Bob Lilly Day in November 1975 and made him the first member of the Cowboys Ring of Honor. Then, in 1980, he became the first Cowboys player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
That’s why “Mr. Cowboy” fits so naturally. There’s no real contest for No. 74, and there probably never will be.
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Former Cowboys Pass Rusher Returns With Something To Prove In Dallas
Dorance Armstrong is set to make his 2026 debut Sunday against the Cowboys, a familiar opponent for a pass rusher who spent years in Dallas before moving on to Washington. After serving a one-game suspension and working back from the torn ACL that wiped out most of last season, Armstrong enters the matchup with a fresh chance to reestablish himself in a game that still carries some extra edge for everyone involved.
Washington's staff has said it is confident Armstrong is ready to go, and the plan is to rotate him with the rest of the pass-rush group to keep his workload manageable. For Dallas, that means facing a former defensive end who knows the building, the personnel and the stage, even if the bigger question now is how much of Armstrong's old burst has returned after such a long absence. [Read more 🡒]
Jerry Jones Just Raised The Stakes For Dallas' Shaky Defense
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The challenge for Dallas is that belief and execution are two different things, and the defense has given plenty of reasons for skepticism already. Jones is framing the Commanders matchup as a chance to reset, but until the Cowboys actually string together a cleaner outing, every promise of improvement comes with a layer of doubt that the schedule will quickly test. [Read more 🡒]
Jerry Jones May Soon Face A Cowboys Decision He Hates
Brian Schottenheimers second season in Dallas already carries the sort of early pressure that tends to come with this franchise, even if the Cowboys have historically shown more patience with head coaches than most. After going 7-9-1 in his first year, Schottenheimer watched the team open a new defensive chapter by moving on from Matt Eberflus and turning the unit over to Christian Parker, a change meant to steady a side of the ball that has been a major point of concern.
Instead, the defense stumbled in Week 1 against the New York Giants, and that is where the unease begins to creep in for a team that cannot afford another losing year. There is already speculation about Schottenheimers seat if the record goes the wrong way again, and for Jerry Jones, the uncomfortable part may be less about making a change than having to consider one at all. [Read more 🡒]