The Dallas Cowboys All-What-If Team

Quarterback: Tony Romo

Tony Romo is the quarterback of my what-if team.

Romo threw for 34,183 yards and 248 touchdowns as a Cowboy. This wasn’t just some cute undrafted player story. This is a franchise-altering quarterback story.

The what-if isn’t whether I think Tony Romo was good enough. The what0if is what happens if Dallas gives him a better defense.

If you want to get right down to it, the 2013 Denver game is the whole argument. Romo threw for 506 yards and five touchdowns, and the Cowboys still lost 51-48. That’s not a normal quarterback workload, but a quarterback being asked to be perfect because the defense couldn’t survive.

The 2013 defense allowed 6,645 yards. I would say this was the most broken unit in Cowboys history, but 2025 topped them. Anyway, Romo had too many years when he had to cover up too much for the entire team.

Dallas made him carry more than he should’ve had to carry on his own.

Running Back: Marion Barber

Marion Barber’s workload wasn’t just about the touches, it was about the kind of touches he got.

Barber had 1,156 carries, 4,780 rushing yards, and 53 rushing touchdowns with Dallas. I’ll be the first to say, those are good numbers, but they don’t fully explain the punishment Barber went through to get them.

Marion Barber was the hammer, goal line, short yardage, fourth quarter dirty yards, punishing football. That was his style and it made him great.

This type of football also shortened his career.

In 2007, he made the Pro Bowl without starting a game. This should tell you exactly what he was used for as a Cowboy. He was the closer, and the tone-setter.

But it makes you think what if his body didn’t have to pay so much for that role?

Wide Receiver: Dez Bryant

I love Dez Bryant on this team because his peak was unlike most other receivers.

From 2012 to 2014, Dez scored 41 touchdowns in dominating fashion. Most of his touchdowns and catches in general were back shoulder, contested, and red zone targets.

He would win even when everyone else knew the ball was coming his way.

I think that would take a toll on a player.

Dez Bryant finished his career with 537 catches, 7,506 yards, and 75 touchdowns. Crazy production, but the ending came too fast.

The foot injury, the lower body issues, and most importantly, the relationship got messy.

The what-if in this isn’t about rather Dez was good enough. He was.

The what-if is what his Cowboys legacy looks like if the body holds up and Dallas gives him a cleaner ending.

Linebacker: Sean Lee

I think Sean Lee is one of the easiest picks on this list.

When he was healthy, I knew he was one of the smartest linebackers I have ever watched in Dallas. He would see plays early, get the defense lined up correctly, and made everything seem easier for the defense.

However, the injuries never let him stack consecutive seasons. Hamstrings, knees, neck. Every time Dallas had the defense, Sean Lee seemed like he went down, and I hated that for him.

Lee finished his Dallas career with 802 tackles, 14 interceptions, two Pro Bowls, and one First-Team All-Pro selection.

That’s a strong resume, but if his body held up, I think we talk about him as one of the best linebackers in NFL history.

Linebacker: Leighton Vander Esch

I thought LVE was going to be one of the greatest linebackers in the Cowboys’ long history.

I mean he made the Pro Bowl right out of the gate as a rookie. This man had the size, range, instincts, and tackling Dallas needed.

Then the neck issue changed everything. Vander Esch played just 71 games with 65 starts and finished with 469 tackles, 3.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and three interceptions.

He missed the final 12 games of the 2023 season after another neck injury sent him into retirement at 28.

This was not a player who couldn’t play, but a player whose body failed him, and stripped him of an amazing career.

Offensive Tackle: Erik Williams

Erik Williams is another one of my biggest what-ifs in Cowboys history.

Before the 1994 car accident, he was a monster. Williams played the tackle position the way I want a Cowboys lineman to play, nasty.

The accident ended his 1994 season, and he suffered major injuries, came back, and still had a long career, but I don’t think Dallas ever got the full version again.

I think that is the part that bothers me.

If that accident never happens, I think Williams is talked about as one of the best right tackles to play the game of football.

Defensive Line: David Irving and Randy Gregory

David Irving and Randy Gregory are because we all know talent was the issue. It was all about discipline and rules.

David Irving had rare disruption and Randy Gregory had the burst and bend teams covet and chase for years. When these two flashed, they looked almost unstoppable.

The problem is, we know about the suspensions, off-field issues, missed time, and inconsistency. I know that these are just surface level issues with these two.

The Cowboys needed disruption, not distractions.