The last time the Cowboys drafted a wide receiver this early, they went on to win three Super Bowls

It’s a beautiful thing to select one of the few blue-chip players while sitting all the way back in the 17th spot of the first round of the NFL Draft. Of course, the Dallas Cowboys have developed quite a knack for landing stars whenever their draft position has been in what I like to refer as the “HOT ZONE.”

The Cowboys have done a fantastic job of finding the falling star every time they’ve been in that position. It looks like they’ve once again pulled it off as Oklahoma star receiver CeeDee Lamb may be the biggest faller of them all. People are still scratching their head as to how he managed to slide that far, and some people aren’t handling it well.

We’ve all had our drop-kicking the TV moments, I suppose.

The Cowboys 17th pick is the highest spot they’ve drafted a wide receiver in almost 30 years. You have to go all the way back to 1991 when the team selected Alvin Harper with the 12th overall pick in the draft. And they’ve only done it one other time before that, which just so happened to be a few years earlier when they drafted Michael Irvin with the 11th overall pick.

You don’t have to remind fans what that tandem of receivers did for the Cowboys, but if you did, it would go something like - they became the first team in the NFL to win three Super Bowls in four years. Those were exciting times.

And exciting times may once again be upon us with the addition of Lamb to the offense. A couple months ago, when discussing the status of Amari Cooper’s future and the possibility of drafting a wide receiver in the first round, we pointed out that it didn’t have to be one or the other. Even though we didn’t think Lamb had a good shot at being there, the idea of him joining the Cowboys was pretty exhilarating.

The Ball Hawker

You won’t find a better receiver in this draft who is capable of adjusting his body to catch the ball than Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb. He’s a super smart player who is hard to bring down in the open field and he is projected to be the top wide receiver in this draft class. Will he fall all the way until pick 17? It’s hard to know exactly what other teams will be thinking, but anything is possible

Although Lamb has WR1 talent, considering him as a potential draft target wasn’t because the team was going another direction, as we’ve seen since with the extension of Cooper.

So, rather that using all that great first-round talent to rationalize letting Cooper walk, instead - think of possibilities of what this team would look like if one of these players was added to the position group. The Amari, the merrier.

The Cooper/Lamb tandem certainly has the potential to be the most talented duo of wide receivers this franchise has ever seen. On the surface, it definitely rivals the Irvin/Harper combo the team had in the ‘90s. Of course, why stop at two great receivers when you can have three?

Let’s not forget that Michael Gallup is coming off a breakout season where he topped 1,000 yards receiving in just his second year in the league. The future looks bright for that one. When you really think about it, the Cowboys now have three wide receivers who all had over 1,000 yards receiving last year, albeit Lamb’s was at the college level. Even still, this is a rather impressive stat line for Cowboys new receiving group.

• Amari Cooper - 79 catches for 1,189 yards and eight touchdowns
• Michael Gallup - 66 catches for 1,107 yards and six touchdowns
• CeeDee Lamb 62 catches for 1,367 yards and 14 touchdowns

The Cowboys already boast the top offense in the league in yards last season, and they have one of the rare elite running backs in the league under contract for the next several years. They have a new offensive-minded head coach who helped his old team finish in the top five in scoring in seven of his 13 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, including twice finishing as the highest scoring team in the league. The also have a brilliant young offensive coordinator who has yet to take off. With what the Cowboys have as offensive weapons this upcoming season, brace yourself for lift off.