There are officially 99 days until the toe meets the ball at AT&T Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys will host the New York Giants on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
99 days is a long time. That’s 2,376 hours. That’s 142,560 minutes. You could almost watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy or fold the fitted sheet that goes on top of your bed. Or you could warm up 142,560 hot pockets and check out who the greatest Cowboy to ever don that 99 is.
The following players have all worn 99 for the Dallas Cowboys:
- Willie Blade, DT
- Kevin Brooks, DT
- Chris Canty, DE
- Kenyon Coleman, DE
- Nathan Davis, DE
- Chad Eaton, DT
- David Howard, LB
- Hurvin McCormack, DT
- Igor Olshansky, DT
- George Selvie, DE
Some of these evaluations are going to be difficult. Obviously there have been a lot of great 88s and 94s to wear the Star, but 99 isn’t exactly hanging from the rafters.
The most familiar 99 in Cowboys fans’ minds is George Selvie, who spent the last two years with us before signing with the New York Giants. Selvie put together a pretty impressive 99 resume lassoing 60 tackles and 10 sacks together in that time (these statistics are all from their time with the Cowboys, not accounting for their time elsewhere).
Kevin Brooks leads the double niners in sacks with 12.5, but Chris Canty isn’t far behind him with 10, tying George Selvie for second place in that category. Where Canty separates himself from the field is with his 102 tackles in the blue and silver, Kenyon Coleman coming in at second with 87.
While he is not the sack leader of the bunch, Canty is for all intents and purposes the Greatest 99 in Dallas Cowboys History. He spent four years here after Bill Parcells and Co. drafted him in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Draft out of Virginia. He established himself as one of the leaders on the defense and was a member of the 2007 squad that went 13-3.
Check back tomorrow to find out who the Greatest 98 in Dallas Cowboys History is!
