DMN: The five best Dallas Cowboys LBs of all time, ranked

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The five best Dallas Cowboys LBs of all time, ranked: Does Chuck Howley or DeMarcus Ware take the top spot?
By SportsDayDFW.com

Editor's note: SportsDay is beginning a series that attempts to figure out the best Dallas Cowboys players at each position. Today we examine linebackers.

The Dallas Cowboys organization is one of great success and has an illustrious history. There have been some big names that have worn jerseys for America's Team.

Out of all of the linebackers in franchise history, who was the best? That's what our panel of writers and columnists tried to determine.

Each voter named their top five linebackers. A first-place vote counted for five points, second place gets four points, third place gets three points and so on.

Those who listed their top five players include Brandon George, Kate Hairopoulos, David Moore, Jon Machota, Tim Cowlishaw, Rick Gosselin and Kevin Sherrington.

Here's how they broke it down:

1. Chuck Howley (4 first-place votes), 31 points

2. DeMarcus Ware (3 first-place votes), 27 points

3. Lee Roy Jordan, 26 points

4. Ken Norton Jr., 12 points

5. Bob Breunig, 8 points

Also receiving votes: Dexter Coakley (1 point)

The rundown
George: Ware, the Cowboys' all-time sacks leader, had to leave Dallas to fulfill his Super Bowl dreams.
Hairopoulos: Howley won Super Bowl MVP honors...while playing for the losing team.
Moore: When Howley retired, Tom Landry didn't know if he had seen anyone better at the position.
Machota: The most valuable defender in today's game is the pass rusher. I can't think of many who have done it better than Ware.
Cowlishaw: Hall of Fame left a couple of greats from the '60s behind.
Gosselin: Ware was a HOF-caliber pass rusher, but Howley and Jordan were better "pure linebackers."
Sherrington: Ware is really a defensive end. Howley was the best in Landry's estimation. Good enough for me.
 

dbair1967

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Its sad, but Hollywood Henderson could have easily been better than all of those and a sure fire HOF, but he snorted it away.

He was a truly dominant OLB for a couple years or so.
 

NoMoRedJ

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Its sad, but Hollywood Henderson could have easily been better than all of those and a sure fire HOF, but he snorted it away.

He was a truly dominant OLB for a couple years or so.

Yep, LT before LT
 

MrB

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Its sad, but Hollywood Henderson could have easily been better than all of those and a sure fire HOF, but he snorted it away.

He was a truly dominant OLB for a couple years or so.

The Cowboys answer to Roy Tarpley.

Didn't Henderson win the lotto a few years back?
 

bbgun

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I agree that they should only consider LBs from the 4-3 defenses we ran.
 
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The LB list is thin, particularly if Ware is considered more of a DE (which I do).
 

cmd34

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No Eugene "The Hitting Machine" Lockhart?

DeMarcus Ware is an edge rusher. They need to start looping all 4-3 DE's and 3-4 OLB's into one category.
 

theoneandonly

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Dave Edwards? Sean Lee has the ability but it seems his body isnt cut out for football.
 
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