Ranking the 5 best Cowboys draft picks of the last decade

5. Travis Frederick (2013)

Coming in at number five is Travis Frederick, the now-retired center and anchor for the better part of a decade. Frederick was a standout first-team All-American at the University of Wisconsin. At the 2013 NFL Draft, he was considered the best center in the class by ESPN and expected to go somewhere in the second round. The Dallas Cowboys, however, drafted Frederick in the 1st (31st overall).

From early on in training camp, Frederick was named a starter. He made his first Pro Bowl in 2014 as part of one of the best offensive lines in the league. The following year, the Cowboys went through a number of QBs, complicating Frederick’s role, but he was named to his second Pro Bowl.  By the time he retired after the 2019 season, he had reached five Pro Bowls, had been named a first-team All-Pro once, and a second-team All-Pro twice. He, unfortunately, had to retire early, after a continued battle with an autoimmune disease.