On the Clock: Dallas Cowboys: Behind the Scenes with the Dallas Cowboys at the NFL Draft

by Calvin Watkins

An insider history of the Dallas Cowboys at the NFL draft

A singular, transcendent talent can change the fortunes of a football team instantly. Each year, NFL teams approach the draft with this knowledge, hoping that luck will be on their side and that their extensive scouting and analysis will pay off.

In On the Dallas Cowboys, Calvin Watkins explores the fascinating, rollercoaster history of America's Team at the draft, from Roger Staubach through Emmitt Smith and beyond.

Readers will go behind the scenes with top decision-makers as they evaluate, deliberate, and ultimately make the picks they hope will tip the fate of their franchise toward success.

From seemingly surefire first-rounders to surprising late selections, this is a must-read for Cowboys faithful and NFL fans eager for a glimpse at how teams are built.

Genres: Sports

274 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed with this book. I thought it was going to be a deeper dive on the Cowboys Draft process and how certain picks played out and why. There was SOME of that, but not nearly as much as I expected. In some cases it was simply a recounting of pretty common information, if you’re a big fan of the team, or just a simple recounting of who got drafted where with little insight from the Cowboys perspective. That’s what I was really hoping for so it was a bit of a letdown. I did enjoy him going over how different the Draft process used to be before it became the spectacle it is today. That was pretty cool. I was also shocked at what a poorly written book this was, overall. I have read Calvin's work for a long time and followed him on Twitter for a long time and he's usually very good. So……I expected more from a guy with so much experience, to be completely honest. There was one page where I swear he used the word “talent” about eight or nine times. It felt like I was reading an eighth grade book report at times. And on several occasions he repeats himself or repeats his thoughts or both within a few paragraphs. As a reader you’re like……. Yea, I know…..you just wrote that same thing two paragraphs ago. It was very strange. Like, if there was an editor for this book, that person should get fired. Anyway, I was surprised in a bad way with this book. I thought it would be way better. I would call this one, for die hard Cowboys fans only.

[Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in preparation for the 2023 NFL Draft and I thought that it offered a lot of great insight into the Cowboys’s draft process.