By
KC Joyner Apr 4, 2022
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of fantasy football,
The Athletic is reviewing the best fantasy players and fantasy seasons in
NFL history.
A detailed overview of the system used to grade historical fantasy performance can be found in our
greatest fantasy players of all-time introduction page, but here’s a quick summary.
Fantasy player performance is era-adjusted so that players who dominated during lower scoring eras can compete versus players who racked up huge point totals in higher scoring eras.
After these adjustments are made, players are then given credit for having a starter-caliber season (one point), a quality season (one point), an impact campaign (1.5 points) or being an elite starter (two points). These points stack and are measured in both non-PPR and PPR and serve as the basis for determining who are the best fantasy players in NFL history.
Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let’s look at the best fantasy players in
Dallas Cowboys team history!
(Note: the numbers listed below are for the player’s performance while on the Cowboys.)
All-time fantasy starting lineup
QB: Roger Staubach
RB: Emmitt Smith
RB: Tony Dorsett
WR: Bob Hayes
WR: Drew Pearson
TE: Jason Witten
SuperFLEX: Tony Romo
Quarterback — Roger Staubach
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10.5 | 8 | 67.5 |
Staubach started only four games in his first two seasons in Dallas, then took over as the Cowboys starting quarterback in 1971 and finished second in QB fantasy points. He missed most of the 1972 campaign with a separated shoulder but went on to become one of the best fantasy quarterbacks of the 1970s. From 1973-1979, Staubach posted 56.5 career points, a mark that was nearly 20 points better than Fran Tarkenton’s 37 career points in that same span.
Staubach posted four perfect 11-point seasons in career points, ranked first or second in QB fantasy points five times, and was a Top 5 fantasy QB on eight occasions. He retired while still playing at a peak level, as Staubach ranked second in QB fantasy points in 1979. His 67.5 career points also make him the best fantasy player in Cowboys history.
Running back — Emmitt Smith
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 11 | 8 | 7.5 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 58.5 |
Smith was a fantasy football phenom from 1991 through 1996, as he ranked third in RB fantasy points in 1991, ran off four straight years ranked first among running backs in non-PPR and PPR, then placed fifth at the position in 1996. That he was able to do this in 1993, a season in which Smith missed the first two games due to a contract holdout, is simply incredible. His rushing skills are well documented, but Smith also posted seven straight years with 40+ receptions, so he added plenty of PPR juice as well.
It was something of a surprise that Smith did not end up as the Cowboys’ best fantasy player, but after the dominant streak, Smith posted only nine more career points in his Dallas tenure and thus fell short of reaching Staubach.
Running back — Tony Dorsett
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
Dorsett had a powerhouse start to his career, ranking as a Top 3 fantasy running back in non-PPR and PPR in 1977 and 1978. He never again reached that peak but following a No. 16 ranking in RB fantasy points in 1979, Dorsett was one of the most consistent mid-tier RB1s in fantasy for the next six years. This type of durability was not expected from a 192-pound running back and is why he was able to top
Ezekiel Elliott (21 career points) for the second running back spot.
Wide receiver — Bob Hayes
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 7 | 6 | 4.5 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 37.5 |
“Bullet” Bob’s career start was every bit as fast as his nickname implies, as Hayes posted over 2,200 receiving yards and 25 touchdowns on his way to racking up 482.6 PPR points, which was an incredible total in 1965-66. Hayes scored 10 receiving touchdowns in three other seasons and those scoring plays helped lead to five Top 5 seasons in non-PPR and six Top 8 seasons in non-PPR.
Wide receiver — Drew Pearson
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 7 | 4 | 1.5 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 1.5 | 0 | 26 |
Pearson was on the receiving end of the first Hail Mary pass, but he was far from a wing-and-a-prayer proposition in fantasy football. Pearson ranked second in non-PPR and PPR points among wide receivers in 1972 and then stayed in the WR1 tier for four of the next five seasons. That impact season in 1972 was key to Pearson landing on this list, as the seven career points he tallied in that year helped edge him ahead of Michael Irvin (22) and Tony Hill (20) for the second wide receiver spot on this fantasy roster.
Tight end — Jason Witten
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 40 |
Witten was one of the most consistent PPR point producers among pure tight ends in NFL history, as only Tony Gonzalez posted more PPR starter-caliber campaigns than Witten’s 15. Witten did have four Top 3 seasons in non-PPR and PPR scoring in his career and placed first in two of those years. Combine those quality and impact years with his overall consistency and it results in Witten placing fifth in all-time career points among tight ends.
SuperFlex — Tony Romo
| Starter | Quality | Impact | Elite | PPR Str | PPR Qual | PPR Impact | PPR Elite | Career Points |
| 7 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 23 |
This was a very close call, as Romo’s 23 career points barely placed him ahead of Michael Irvin (22) and Ezekiel Elliott (21) for the SuperFlex roster slot. Romo finished second in QB fantasy points in 2007 but never replicated that feat, although he did have five more QB1-caliber seasons. Elliott is on track to tie Romo with as little as one more starter-level campaign and will pass him with a quality fantasy season, but for the moment this spot belongs to Romo.
All-time best era-adjusted fantasy seasons
QB: Roger Staubach, 1975 (193 points)
RB: Emmitt Smith, 1992 (315 non-PPR, 378.8 PPR)
WR: Bob Hayes, 1966 (198.1 non-PPR, 262.1 PPR)
TE: Jay Novacek, 1991 (87 non-PPR, 146.4 PPR)
SuperFLEX: Emmitt Smith, 1995 (353 non-PPR, 414.8 PPR)
