Once again, the 1986 Dallas Cowboys needed help in the draft. After losing out in their bid for receiver Eddie Brown in the 1985 draft, the Cowboys moved up in 1986 to take UCLA’s Mike Sherrard. In the second round, Dallas used a pick acquired from Indianapolis to take Arizona State running back Darryl Clack.
Dallas took UCLA WR Mike Sherrard with the team's first pick in the 1986 draft.
The potential: Two explosive rookies who could provide immediate help for the offense.
What happened: Sherrard had a very promising rookie season in 1986, but he suffered two horrible injuries in 1987 and 1988 and missed both seasons. Clack played behind Herschel Walker and Tony Dorsett and contributed very little except on kickoff returns.
Here’ s the draft list:
1(18): Mike Sherrard, WR, UCLA
2(33): Darryl Clack, RB, Arizona State
3(74): Mark Walen, DT, UCLA
4(100): Max Zendejas, K, Arizona
6(140): Thornton Chandler, TE, Alabama
6(150): Stan Gelbaugh, QB, Maryland
6(158): Lloyd Yancey, G, Temple
7(185): Johnny Holloway, DB, Kansas
8(212): Topper Clemons, RB, Wake Forest
9(242): John Ionata, G, Florida State
10(269): Bryan Chester, G, Texas
11(296): Garth Jax, LB, Florida State
12(307): Chris Duliban, LB, Texas
12(322): Tony Flack, DB, Georgia
Two months after the draft, none of the picks had signed with the team. Most either never played or did very little in the NFL.
- Walen had five career sacks, including four in 1988. However, he spent his rookie season on injured reserve, and an injury in 1989 ended his career.
- Max Zendejas was not the Zendejas who was the focus of the Philadelphia Eagles (that was Luis). Max kicked for the Redskins and Packers in his brief career.
- Johnny Holloway at one time posted a comment on this site. He had one career interception, which you can watch on a post from 2008.
- Jax played in Dallas until 1989. From 1989 through 1995, he was a backup linebacker with the Cardinals.
- Four of Thornton Chandler’s 29 career receptions were touchdowns. That was his claim to fame as a backup TE with Dallas.
- Clemons and Duliban saw action during the scab games of 1987.
Interesting how some of these irrelevant e-mails (see above) infiltrate into different websites. That being said, I remember Mark Walen and thought he was going to turn into a good DT. Of course, like too many of the DL players drafted in the late 70′s and into the 80′s it didn’t pan out. Jim Jeffcoat stands out from my memory as the lone really good DL pick for Dallas at the latter end of the Landry era.
I am not sure why this site has been targeted for spam about shoes, but I’ve had to delete about 25 comments from these idiots.
Regarding defensive linemen, you will undoubtedly remember that the Cowboys weren’t done drafting busts in the 1980s.
Re: “scabs”, I prefer “replacements”. I have a story about one of the ’87 replacement games, but I’ll hold it until you publish your ’87 article.