Draft History: 1991

IRVING – The Cowboys didn't get the Rocket on Sunday. Nor, apparently, did they want him.

Less than 12 hours after Notre Dame speedster Raghib Ismail announced he had signed a four-year, $18.2 million contract to play his pro football in Canada with the Toronto Argonauts, the Cowboys used the first overall selection of the 1991 NFL draft on defensive tackle Russell Maryland of the University of Miami. The Cowboys also signed him to a five-year contract that sources close to the negotiations said is worth $7.9 million.

The Cowboys selected wide receiver Alvin Harper of Tennessee with their second pick of the first round and, three trades later, took linebacker Dixon Edwards of Michigan State in the second round.

With their three third-round picks, the Cowboys selected linebacker Godfrey Myles of Florida, guard James Richards of the University of California and offensive tackle Erik Williams of Central State (Ohio). They added four more players in the fourth round.

But the key to this draft clearly was the trio of Maryland, Harper and Edwards.

"They are three guys we had pinpointed as players we wanted to have with the Dallas Cowboys," Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson said.

And Ismail wasn't. The Cowboys acquired the first overall pick from the Patriots on Friday, but they did not even negotiate that day with Team Rocket, Ismail's negotiating group headed by Ed Abram.

Saturday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked Team Rocket to fax him a contract proposal. But club sources said the Cowboys never even faxed a response. The source said the Cowboys talked by telephone with Abram about financial parameters but never made a specific contract offer.

"Our strategy was to see if he was financially interested in the NFL and wanted to play here," Jones said. "If that was the case, we could go to Atlanta or another team and see if we could drop a spot or two (in the first round) for a deal.

"But it was very apparent when we got their offer that the Rocket was headed to Canada. His numbers were totally out of range with anything we thought any team in the NFL might be interested in."

Jones confirmed the Cowboys had contacted Leigh Steinberg, Maryland's agent, to determine the signability of Maryland even before the Cowboys had acquired the first pick from the Patriots. When Jones heard figures to his liking, he made the deal.

"The last two years, we've been shut out of defensive players in the first two rounds," Johnson said. "We were not going to let that happen this year. We knew two days ago that Russell would be our pick."

A club source said the Cowboys did not get a single phone call Friday from teams wanting to trade up for that first pick. Jones said there was some light interest Saturday, but the Cowboys no longer had any interest in trading down.

"I told Jerry if there's one chance in 100 that we'd lose him, we'd all be sick Sunday night," Johnson said. "I said we've got the No. 1 pick, let's take him."

Maryland was the last player offered a scholarship at Miami by then-coach Jimmy Johnson in 1986. He became a starter in his sophomore year and went on to win the Outland Trophy as the nation's top lineman as a senior in 1990.

With their second pick of the first round, the Cowboys set their sights on an offensive tackle, either Charles McRae of Tennessee or Pat Harlow of Southern Cal.

An NFL source said the Cowboys tried trading up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the seventh pick of the draft so they could select McRae. They offered to swap their 12th overall pick with Tampa and throw in a third-rounder, but the Bucs turned them down and took McRae for themselves.

The Cowboys then hoped for Harlow to fall to them at 12. They were discussing Harlow and wide receiver Alvin Harper when it came time for New England to make the 11th pick. But the Patriots made the decision for them, selecting Harlow and denying the Cowboys their tackle. Ironically, it was the pick New England had acquired from the Cowboys in the Maryland deal.

So the Cowboys took Harper, who has size (6-3, 204 pounds), speed (4.5 in the 40-yard dash) and productivity (a school-record eight touchdown catches last season). He also reached a pre-selection contract deal with the Cowboys, although terms were not disclosed.

Then the drama began. The Cowboys wanted a linebacker and the highest one remaining on their board was Edwards. But he was projected as a second-rounder – not the 14th pick of the draft. So the Cowboys started dealing down ... down ... down.

They made another deal with the Patriots to move down to 17. Then they cut a deal with the Redskins to move down to 20. They cut their final deal with Detroit, using that pick on defensive tackle Kelvin Pritchett and trading him to the Lions for second-, third- and fourth-round picks.

That gave Johnson the second-rounder he would need for Edwards. But it was the 37th pick of the draft, so the Cowboys would have to sweat out 17 picks before they could take him.

But Johnson had a parachute for this jump. Still out there was UCLA's Roman Phifer, whom the Cowboys rated behind just Edwards. When Phifer went on the fourth pick of the second round to the Los Angeles Rams, the Cowboys got back on the phones.

"We started calling all the other teams to try to trade up," Johnson said. "Phifer was the other linebacker we really liked and we didn't want to take a chance of losing Dixon Edwards. We didn't want to get shut out and lose both of them."

The Cowboys didn't – and backed up that pick by selecting Myles with the very next pick in the third round.