'No Ego!' Cowboys' Will McClay Pinpoints Key to Dallas' NFL Draft Success

The Dallas Cowboys have a good track record when it comes to drafting talent, and Will McClay says that working as a group is what has led to that success.

The NFL Draft, for the most part, can be hit-and-miss for teams the lower they get in the talent pool, but the Dallas Cowboys have had an uncanny knack for drafting top-quality players no matter where they are selected.

The likes of Tyler Smith, Sam Williams, DaRon Bland, Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb, Trevon Diggs, Tony Pollard, Leighton Vander Esch, Dalton Schultz, Ezekiel Elliott, and Dak Prescott are just some of the names taken that have turned into good players for the organization.

But for Vice President of Player Personnel Will McClay, who garners most of the plaudits, it is the collective coming together of the entire scouting department which has led to a successful period for Dallas regarding drafting.

The key?

"Not having an ego," McClay said on The Draft Show at the NFL Combine.

Continued McClay: "Part of our process is everyone is involved. It goes from September, when they go out, to the draft meetings — so they have that input. Nobody's an expert and if we were batting 60 percent, we'd be doing pretty good, kinda like baseball players. It's a collective process.

"We value the input of everybody."

That input in owner Jerry Jones' organization has worked, with McClay - who our Mike Fisher calls "The Unifier'' for his ability to serve as the franchise glue inside The Star - a central figure.

With this offseason set to be notable in part for Dallas (maybe) via free agency as the organization looks to close the gap on the upper echelon of teams, the draft can't be forgotten.

But will free agency impact what McClay and his department do on draft day?

"We set our board regardless of free agency," McClay said. "Once we put up the draft board, we want to value the players the same every year. We're not going to change based on needs, or whatever else. Let's set our board based off of our historical value[s] and the way we value positions and players.

​"It's not [tied to] who we sign or who we don't sign."

The Cowboys have been linked with Texas Longhorns running back Bijan Robinson and receivers Jalin Hyatt and Jaxon Smith-Njigba in this year's draft.

So, Dallas fans can expect whichever player is taken at pick 26 to have a good chance at becoming a starter sooner rather than later, thus continuing the franchise's long-standing knack of drafting future stars with McClay - and "no egos'' - at the wheel.

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