Cowboys greats to flank Goodell at start of draft

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell isn't a popular man in some circles.

With that in mind, Goodell is expected to have some rather familiar company when he takes the stage Thursday night at the 2018 NFL Draft at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Goodell will be flanked by Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman, as well as Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, ESPN reported on Thursday.

"I'm sure he's going to get a good response with us being out there," said Staubach, a longtime Cowboys quarterback. "If they boo, all of us are in trouble."

Goodell may not exactly be popular with Cowboys fans after he established and upheld a six-game suspension last season for Ezekiel Elliott. Dallas split the six contests without its star running back before finishing with a 9-7 mark to miss the playoffs.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones also had his public issues with Goodell last season, with the former forced to pay a portion of the NFL's legal fees for the Elliott case as well as his fight against the latter's contract extension.

"I don't know of anybody, maybe other than me, that's had more boos than Roger has," Jones said. "I know about how that works. I do hope we can be positive in our reception. We are going to do something pretty special, and he did have a final say in that."