FRISCO, Texas -- Every year, all 32 teams head to the NFL Draft in the hopes of finding franchise-changing players, especially in the first round.
Most years teams only have one chance to find them. Every once in a while, though, a trade provides two selections in the first round. A valuable position to be in, the Cowboys will head into tonight's 2026 draft with a pair of first-rounders for just the third time this century.
The draft marks the culmination of more than a year's worth of work for NFL scouting departments, which includes watching film, calling around about prospects and interviewing them to get as good of a read on the player on and off the field as possible. For Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay, there isn't much that changes in the evaluation of players with multiple first-round selections. That said, he and the front office understand the opportunity that lies ahead, and the desire to get it right.
"We go through the full process like we do every year," McClay said at the 2026 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. "Now we have the opportunity to potentially get two in the first round. Everybody's going to be digging, doing the work, knowing the importance that those two picks will have on us, not only next year but in the years to come."
The last two times the Cowboys picked twice in the first round of the draft came in 2005 and 2008. In the latter year, Dallas picked Arkansas running back Felix Jones at No. 22 and then South Florida cornerback Mike Jenkins three slots later at 25.
Three years earlier, the team was in a similar predicament to the one it now faces. The Cowboys traded their first-round pick in the 2004 NFL Draft to the Bills in exchange for second- and fifth-round picks that year as well as Buffalo's 2005 first-round selection. Dallas would go on to finish the 2004 season at 6-10 with the 27th-ranked scoring defense in the league, so defensive talent was the prominent focus of the 2005 draft.
Fast forward to 2025 when the Cowboys traded All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks, one in 2026 and the other in 2027. Dallas finished the season at 7-9-1 with the 32nd-ranked scoring defense in the league, so just like 2005, defensive players are again the focal point of this year's draft.
Throughout history, many events have occurred that appear to be eerily similar to those of the past. That brings people to ask the question:
Does history repeat itself? If it does, the Cowboys hope their 2026 NFL Draft class will turn out like their 2005 rookie group.
Following the 2004 season, Cowboys head coach Bill Parcels wanted to convert his 4-3 defense to a 3-4 look, which required a lot of movement from a personnel standpoint. Similarly, new defensive coordinator Christian Parker's defense will base out of a 3-4 compared to the team's 4-3 scheme of 2025, although it'll be multiple and often have 4-3 spacing.
The 2005 NFL Draft was viewed as an opportunity for Dallas to get the personnel needed to make the switch easier. With their two first-round selections, the Cowboys drafted Troy University linebacker DeMarcus Ware 11th overall and then LSU defensive tackle Marcus Spears with the 20th pick.
"The 2005 class that got drafted in Dallas, we changed a lot about the culture here," Spears said in the 2023 Deep Blue documentary Class of 2005.
During training camp ahead of that 2005 season, Spears recalled a meeting Parcells held with all the rookies, telling them, "I need a bunch of Rottweilers and not a bunch of sheep."
That resonated with the group.
"Everybody took it personal," Spears said. "I think that was a time where we realized we're only going to be as good as we all push each other to be."
Sure enough, the Cowboys would go on to finish as the 12th best scoring defense in the NFL that year and were top 10 in the league for total yards allowed. Dallas improved by three wins, finishing 9-7 but still out of the playoffs.
Ware would go on to end his rookie campaign with eight sacks and three forced fumbles, starting all 16 games for Dallas. Spears played in all 16 as well and started 10, registering 31 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a tackle for loss.
Every draft is different, and the Cowboys have said they will always lean toward taking the best player available rather than drafting specifically for need, especially if the difference in grades they have on a player are far apart. That said, there's a good chance that both first-round picks will be used on the defensive side of the ball in 2026, just like they were with Ware and Spears. It goes without saying that the Cowboys hope their two choices this year make just as big an impact as their 2005 counterparts.
Regardless of which side of the ball the picks land on, the most significant point of emphasis for Dallas is to utilize those two selections in the best way possible with the hopes of improving the roster both this year and beyond. Of course, that also brings several other possibilities outside of making the picks themselves, as Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has hinted at the potential of using that draft capital in a trade should a good opportunity present itself.
"We definitely are going to take advantage of these two number ones," Jones said in January. "Don't think that we couldn't do some trading here with those two number ones. All the value you get out of having these extra picks and having some flexibility under the cap, we're going to take advantage of it."
In total, the Cowboys have drafted two first-round picks six times in franchise history. And they've selected two future Hall of Famers in those instances, one being Ware in 2005 and the other Randy White in 1975.
Other notable players the Cowboys have grabbed in a draft with two first-rounders are Ed "Too Tall" Jones (1974), Thomas Henderson (1975), Russell Maryland (1991), Alvin Harper (1991) and Kevin Smith (1992).
In recent history, teams around the NFL have hit big on both picks when having a pair of first-round selections, and it's changed the course of franchises as a whole. For example, in 2023 the Eagles selected defensive tackle Jalen Carter at ninth overall and linebacker Nolan Smith at No. 30. One year later, Philadelphia won the Super Bowl in blowout fashion a season after losing by 23 in the wild-card round.
Or consider the Super Bowl LX champion Seahawks. In that same 2023 draft class, Seattle drafted cornerback Devon Witherspoon with the fifth pick and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba at 20th overall. Three seasons later, they've combined for a total of five Pro Bowl appearances and have now lifted the Lombardi Trophy.
Sure, it's not a guarantee that with two first-round picks a team will immediately hit on both players and be in the Super Bowl in a year, two years, whatever it may be. There's a lot that needs to go along with it, like free agent additions and stacking draft classes. Nonetheless, history has shown that having more than one selection in the draft can serve as a springboard for franchises to accelerate their chances of competing for a championship.
For the Cowboys, they certainly hope the answer to the question of whether or not history repeats itself is a resounding yes, and that the 2026 draft class has the same, if not a greater, impact than their antecedents from 21 years prior.
