🏈 Ed "Too Tall" Jones 1988 Topps Football Card #266 PSA 8 NM — Dallas Cowboys Defensive End — #1 Overall Pick 1974 NFL Draft — Doomsday Defense — Super Bowl XII Champion — Tennessee State University — The 1988 Topps Football Set — PSA 8 Near Mint Certified

🏈 There are nicknames in sports that tell you everything you need to know in two words. Ed 'Too Tall' Jones had one of them. At six feet nine inches, standing on any football field in any era, he was immediately, unmistakably, perfectly named. The Dallas Cowboys selected him with the first overall pick in the 1974 NFL Draft, and for the next fifteen seasons — minus one memorable detour into professional boxing — he anchored one of the most feared defensive lines in NFL history. This 1988 Topps football card, number 266 in the set, is the late-career portrait of a Cowboys defensive legend, graded PSA 8 NM (Near Mint) by Professional Sports Authenticator. Condition: NOS.

🌟 Russellville, Alabama — Tennessee State University — The Road to the First Overall Pick

Edward Lee Jones was born in Russellville, Alabama, and grew up with the kind of natural athleticism that announced itself before he ever put on a jersey. He played football at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee — a historically Black college and university (HBCU) with a proud athletic tradition and a long history of developing professional talent. At Tennessee State, Jones was a force that opposing offensive linemen could not contain. His combination of six-foot-nine height, long arms, quick feet, and the kind of instinctive pass-rush ability that cannot be coached made him the consensus top prospect in the 1974 NFL Draft class. Every team with a premium pick had him on their board. The Dallas Cowboys, holding the first selection, had him at the very top. Condition: NOS.

🏟️ The 1974 NFL Draft — First Overall Pick — The Dallas Cowboys Make Their Choice

The 1974 NFL Draft was held in January of that year, and the Cowboys had the first overall selection — a rare position for a franchise that had established itself as a perennial contender. Tom Landry and personnel director Gil Brandt were building a roster for the next era of Cowboys football, and in Ed 'Too Tall' Jones they saw the cornerstone piece of a defensive line that could carry the franchise through its next championship window. Jones was not just a physical specimen — he was an intelligent football player who grasped the Cowboys' complex Flex Defense system faster than anyone had expected. He was ready to contribute immediately, and he did. Arriving in Dallas meant arriving at one of the most storied franchises in professional football, with Super Bowl VI already in the trophy case and another championship run being assembled. Jones fit exactly into those plans. Condition: NOS.

🛡️ The Doomsday Defense — Dallas Cowboys Defensive Dynasty — The Flex Defense Era

The Dallas Cowboys defense of the 1970s and early 1980s is remembered as one of the great aggregations of defensive talent in NFL history. The first Doomsday Defense of the early 1970s gave way to Doomsday Defense II — built around Randy White at defensive tackle, Harvey Martin at defensive end, Thomas Henderson at linebacker, and Ed 'Too Tall' Jones rushing from the other end. This was a defensive unit designed to suffocate opposing offenses through scheme, athleticism, and the kind of collective execution that only comes from years of practicing together under an elite coaching staff. Tom Landry's Flex Defense asked defenders to read run keys and protect specific gaps rather than simply pursuing the ball carrier — it was a thinking man's system that rewarded the intelligent, disciplined players the Cowboys consistently developed. Jones, despite his physical dominance, was exactly the kind of player the Flex Defense needed: a defensive end who could rush the passer with devastating effectiveness and still maintain gap discipline against the run. His presence on the left side of the Cowboys defensive line created problems for offensive coordinators across the NFC throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Game-planning for the Cowboys meant game-planning for Too Tall Jones first, and every blocker assigned to him was one fewer resource for stopping the rest of the defense. Condition: NOS.

🏆 Super Bowl XII — January 15, 1978 — Cowboys 27, Broncos 10 — The Championship

Super Bowl XII was played on January 15, 1978, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, and the Dallas Cowboys arrived as slight favorites against the Denver Broncos. What followed was one of the most dominant defensive performances in Super Bowl history. The Cowboys defense harassed Denver quarterback Craig Morton — a former Cowboy himself — throughout the game, holding him to four completions in fifteen attempts, two interceptions, and a performance so ineffective that Morton was replaced before the game was decided. The final score was Dallas 27, Denver 10. Randy White and Harvey Martin were named co-MVP of the game, becoming the first defensive players to share the award in Super Bowl history. Ed 'Too Tall' Jones was part of every snap of that defensive domination — his ability to collapse the pocket from the outside was a critical component of the pressure scheme that overwhelmed the Broncos. The Super Bowl XII championship ring represented the fulfillment of what the Cowboys had believed when they drafted Jones first overall four years earlier: that he was a player who could anchor a championship defense. He wore that ring as confirmation. Condition: NOS.

🥊 The Boxing Year — 1979 — Ed Jones Steps Away From Football

In 1979, at the peak of his professional football career, Ed 'Too Tall' Jones made a decision that no first overall pick in NFL Draft history had ever made: he left professional football to pursue professional boxing. Jones had always been an extraordinary athlete — his coordination, hand speed, footwork, and reach were the tools of a legitimate heavyweight contender, and he wanted to test them in a completely different arena. He compiled a professional boxing record of 6 wins and 0 losses, with all six victories coming by knockout. He fought as a heavyweight and performed well enough that the boxing experiment was taken seriously by the sports world. A year after walking away from the Cowboys, Jones returned to Dallas, having satisfied whatever internal competition drove him to the ring. The boxing year is one of the most fascinating chapters in the career of any professional athlete — a detour that demonstrated the depth of Jones's competitive drive and his absolute confidence in his own physical abilities. When he came back to the Cowboys for the 1980 season, he was the same Too Tall Jones — and the rest of his career proved it. Condition: NOS.

⭐ Return to Dallas — Pro Bowl Selections — The Second Chapter

Jones returned to the Dallas Cowboys in 1980 and immediately reclaimed his position as one of the premier defensive ends in the NFL. In the three seasons that followed — 1981, 1982, and 1983 — he was selected to the Pro Bowl three consecutive times, a recognition from his peers and the league's coaches that he had lost nothing in his year away from football. If anything, the time away had sharpened his hunger and refreshed his approach to the game. The Cowboys of the early 1980s were still a dangerous team, still playing in the NFC East alongside the Giants, Eagles, Redskins, and Cardinals — a division that produced some of the most intense rivalries in professional football. In that environment, Jones was the kind of defensive presence who made those rivalry games into occasions, the kind of player who changed the energy of a stadium when he lined up on the left side of the Cowboys defensive line and opponents had to account for six feet nine inches of pass-rush talent with fifteen years of professional experience. Condition: NOS.

📋 The 1988 Topps Football Set — Classic Design, Era-Defining Cards

The 1988 Topps football set is a beloved entry in the company's long history of NFL card production — a clean, classic design with team-color borders, posed and action photography, and the Topps logo that defined American sports cards for generations. The 396-card set covers the rosters of every NFL franchise for the 1988 season, and for collectors interested in the Cowboys of the Tom Landry era — the dynasty years that are as celebrated today as they were when they happened — the 1988 Topps set provides accessible collector entries into the careers of the players who built that dynasty. The Ed Jones card, number 266 in the set, captures him in the penultimate year of a fifteen-year professional career. It is a late-career card, not a rookie card, but it is a document of a player who was still contributing at the elite level as his career moved toward its conclusion. In 1988, Jones and the Cowboys were still fighting for relevance in a changing NFC East — still the team that every opponent circled on their schedule. Condition: NOS.

🎯 PSA 8 NM — Near Mint Grade — What It Means for a 1988 Topps Card

Professional Sports Authenticator assigned this card a grade of PSA 8 NM — Near Mint — one of the more desirable grades for a card from 1988 that has been in circulation for nearly four decades. A PSA 8 confirms excellent corners with minimal fraying, a clean card face with only minimal surface wear visible under close examination, good centering within the tolerances the grade requires, and the overall condition of a card that was well-handled and well-stored from the time it left the pack. The PSA slab encases the card in a tamper-evident, UV-resistant holder that protects the grade and the card itself for long-term collection. For a 1988 Topps football card, PSA 8 NM is a condition that most surviving copies of this card will never achieve — the standard wear of three-plus decades of handling takes its toll on corners, edges, and surfaces in ways that bring most cards below this threshold. The PSA 8 specimen in this listing is among the well-preserved examples, certified and authenticated by the most trusted name in the hobby. Condition: NOS.

🏈⭐ Ed Jones. Too Tall. Russellville, Alabama. Tennessee State University. Dallas Cowboys. First overall pick. 1974 NFL Draft. The Doomsday Defense. Super Bowl XII champion. Six feet nine. The boxing year. 6-0 with six knockouts. Return to football. Pro Bowl. Three times. Fifteen seasons. One franchise. Tom Landry. Randy White. Harvey Martin. The Flex Defense. The NFC East. 1988 Topps football #266. PSA 8. Near Mint. The late-career portrait of a Cowboys defensive legend. Condition: NOS.