(Editor's Note: With the Dallas Cowboys heading into the April 25-26 NFL Draft with 11 picks, DallasCowboys.com's 12-part Draft Series will break down the Cowboys position by position, analyzing what they have at the particular position, what their needs are and just who might be available, along with including some interesting draft nuggets. Part 7 will feature offensive tackle.)

IRVING, Texas - Say what you want about Flozell Adams, but he holds this distinction among all the offensive tackles drafted by the Cowboys since that very first draft in 1961:

Flo has started more games and for more years than any other offensive tackle the Cowboys have ever drafted. Period.

Remember, Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle Rayfield Wright was selected as a defensive end in the seventh round of the 1967 draft. And Pat Donovan was selected as a defensive end in the fourth round of the 1975 draft. Both successfully made the transition to offensive tackle.

But when it comes to drafting an actual offensive tackle, in the 48-year draft history of the Cowboys, only two were real keepers, meaning had lengthy careers as starting offensive tackles for the Cowboys. That would be Flozell Adams, a second-round pick in 1998 and projected to start at left tackle for an 11th consecutive season, and Erik Williams, a third-round pick in 1991, who broke into the starting lineup in 1992 and remained there for nine consecutive seasons.

But that's really it.

So when you cringe at the team's inability to successfully draft offensive tackles, don't think this is some recent trend, what with the Cowboys selecting some Jacob Rogers or James Marten or maybe even a Doug Free, who is entering his third and likely prove-it season with the club. This failure to draft quality offensive tackles, and especially in the first five rounds, goes back to the beginning of Cowboys Time.

Maybe this is because only once have the Cowboys selected an offensive tackle in the first round, that being Howard Richards in 1981. He would last six years, but started only 16 games - some of those at guard.

Now there are some guys who have at least nibbled, guys such as Kevin Gogan, Dave Widell, Solomon Page, George Hegamin and Phil Pozderac - Gogan and Widell going on to decent careers with other teams after leaving here. And there was John Fitzgerald, a fourth-rounder in 1970 who went on to become the team's starting center.

But as for true offensive tackles, and like drafted in one of the first five rounds, how is this list for busts in Dallas: Bob Syhus (4th, 1965), Bob Asher (2nd, 1970), Buddy Mitchell (4th, 1971), David Hudgens (3rd, 1978), James Brown (3rd, 1992), Ron Stone (4th, 1994), Steve Scifres (3rd, 1997) and Oliver Ross (5th, 1998), although Ross went on to a nice NFL career after leaving here.

So remember, this problem drafting offensive tackles is not just recent history. It's been forever.

What They Have: Two starters and then not much. Adams and Marc Colombo are the starters, both having been signed to long-term deals last year. But Adams is going on 34, Colombo 31. The Cowboys will try to squeeze at least one more season out of Adams, who battled nagging injuries last year while starting to show signs of decline in his 11th NFL season. Colombo should be fine for a few more years since injuries early in his career prevented him from really playing much football.

But after that, the only two holdover tackles from last year's roster are Pat McQuistan and Free, and neither has done anything to gain the confidence of this coaching staff. And really, if the Cowboys suffered a long-term injury to Adams, chances are they would move starting right guard Leonard Davis over to the position he once played in Arizona and simply try to fill in at guard. This will be an important off-season/training camp for McQuistan, entering his fourth season, and Free, entering his third year.

What They Need: Someone to either start grooming to replace Adams in the next year or two or at least a guy capable of adequately filling in if Adams or Colombo are injured. Flo can't play forever, but relative to the team's modest history of drafting guys at that position, he already has. The Cowboys have discovered how expensive it becomes when high draft choices aren't ready to take over for starters scheduled to become free agents. The cost is high, evidenced by the contracts Adams and Colombo recently were signed to, and how much the Cowboys had to pay the unrestricted free-agent Davis in 2007. So while the Cowboys might not use a second- or third-round pick on an offensive tackle - unless a first-round quality guy slips to them at 51 - they likely will use at least one of their 11 draft choices on a tackle, if for nothing else, depth. And count on a few rookie free agents being signed, too.

Who's Out There: Without a first-round pick the Cowboys don't have a shot at any of the big guys, you know, that group expected to go in the first round: Jason Smith, Eugene Monroe, Andre Smith and Michael Oher. But they certainly would have enough chances with the 11 picks spread through the final six rounds to grab any number of offensive tackles. Tulane's Troy Kropog is an interesting prospect, especially because of his work ethic. There also is Penn State's Gerald Cadogan, who needs seasoning but might be able to contribute inside at guard before being ready to head to tackle, the same thing the Cowboys did with Adams and Page as rookies. Also keep an eye in the mid-rounds on the Oklahoma road grader, the appropriately named Phil Loadholt (6-7, 332), who is so big he creates a wider edge for defensive players to come around. UConn's William Beatty is an interesting prospect, but there have been questions about his motor. And junior Eben Britton of Arizona would be one of those tackles on the edge of the first who if he slips that far into the second might be too good to pass up.

Draft Nuggets: They say Beatty is "not nasty." Well, that's not his fault. Both of his parents are pastors . . . What a mess of an off-season this has been for Alabama's Andre Smith. As if the problems at the combine weren't weighty enough issues, now it's been reported he has just fired his agent like two weeks before the draft . . . Sean Tuohy, who along with his wife Leigh Anne, adopted Mississippi tackle Michael Oher, at the time a homeless, inner-city Memphis, Tenn. teenager as chronicled in the well-received book The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game, was the starting point guard for the only Ole Miss Rebels basketball team to win an SEC postseason tournament (1981) . . . Not yet 23, Baylor OT Jason Smith, possibly the first tackle to be selected next Saturday in the draft, threw down 33 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.

Look Back: When the Arizona Cardinals were on the clock in the second round of the 1998 draft, and needing an offensive tackle, they passed on Adams to take Anthony Clement, one of seven offensive tackles taken in the first two rounds of that draft. They said they were worried about hearing problems Adams purportedly had. The Cowboys, just a few picks later, were more than glad to grab the Michigan State offensive tackle, projected to be a left one. Wonder if the Cardinals would like a do-over? In fact, wonder if everyone taking an offensive tackle that day in the first two rounds wants a do-over? For here are the other five tackles drafted in the first two rounds of '98: Kyle Turley, Tra Thomas, Mo Collins, Victor Riley and Todd Weiner. Of those seven guys, only Thomas, who just signed a free-agent deal with Jacksonville, and Adams, have proven to be worth their picks. Adams has earned four Pro Bowl invites (Thomas three), despite all those reports of his hearing problems, to the point some suggested he would have to be fitted for a hearing aid, which he never was. "I hear everything everybody else hears," Adams said that day of the draft. "What people are saying is absurd." Hey, if he was hard of hearing, Adams would be late off the ball, not early, which has been causing so many false starts of late. Maybe Flo knew what he was talking about.

Up Next: Guard/Center

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