There was a time when Will McClay was superstitious heading into an NFL draft. He wouldn't talk about the player he was targeting in the first round. Say that player's name, and it was likely he was off the board by the time the Cowboys went on the clock.

The team's vice president of player personnel has since done away with any superstitions or draft day routines.

Last weekend marked the sixth year McClay has been in charge of Dallas' draft. During that time, the Cowboys have picked six players who have gone on to make at least one Pro Bowl: Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence, Byron Jones, Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott and Leighton Vander Esch. The group has combined to make 13 appearances in the NFL's all-star game, most of any NFL team.

The Los Angeles Rams are second with 11, followed by the Oakland Raiders with 10 and the Kansas City Chiefs with nine. Dallas' three NFC East rivals have combined for a total of 10.

That same group of six Cowboys have been named first- or second-team All-Pro a combined 10 times, which also tops all teams' draft picks since 2014. The Rams are second with eight.

McClay insists that their recent success doesn't bring additional pressure.

"If there's any pressure, it's pressure we put on ourselves to make sure we get it right," McClay told The Dallas Morning News. "The objective of the scouting department is to continue to add players that give us an opportunity to be successful for a long time.

"I think if we do our job in free agency, it will allow us to draft as pure as we possibly can, with the best player available at a position of need in mind. I think we're always going to be successful because we have our way of doing it. And I think that's the right way of doing it."

Unlike McClay's previous five drafts, the Cowboys went into this one without a first-round pick. That selection was traded to Oakland for Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper in October.

McClay was content with being patient and not making a pick until their second-round choice, No. 58 overall. But that would mean waiting almost 24 hours until the second round started on Day 2.

That's a lot of patience to ask of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, someone well-known for making draft trades.

"We went into it a little concerned about wanting to get in the action, wanting to make something happen and looking to move up," McClay said. "But when we figured out, looked at all the points and [the cost of] doing anything like that, even if we were going to do it, how difficult it would be. So I calmed down a little bit."

McClay said Jones helped pass time during the first round by telling stories and sharing information about the future of the NFL and the league's constantly increasing salary cap.

RELATED: Get to know the 13 undrafted rookie free agents the Cowboys signed to their 90-man roster

The Cowboys ended up making two trades on the final day to add two additional picks. When the seven rounds were complete, Dallas had selected eight players, highlighted by second-round pick Trysten Hill, a defensive tackle out of UCF. Following the draft, the Cowboys signed an additional 13 undrafted free agents. Seven of them were on Dallas' draft board.

McClay, who joined the Cowboys' scouting department in 2002, now gets an opportunity to catch up on some rest.

As much as he enjoys his job, McClay is thrilled to start getting a normal amount of sleep and more time with his 13-year-old son, Gabriel.

"That's the biggest thing," McClay said. "I think for me and for him, there's that real month that it's like, 'Hey, how are you doing? OK, see you later.' But now, once it's over with, it's like, 'Dad's back, we can go see Avengers: Endgame, and all that good stuff.'"

Here are a few other topics discussed during a recent conversation with McClay:

On the impact new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had on the players they targeted in this draft class:

"I think Kellen added a new voice into how we could potentially use players, just like Scott [Linehan] did or any other coach that we have on the roster. We talk about the guys that they like and why they liked them. There was no special Kellen Moore player or anything like that. I think we feel good about him having a vision for whatever player we picked because he did watch them and he had input on them."

On if the Amari Cooper trade cost them a first-round pick, instead of a second, because this draft was weaker than previous drafts at the top:

"We didn't look at it from the standpoint of what's available in the draft. It was the value we had on that player and the impact he could have. I think each draft is different from the standpoint of the strengths and weaknesses of the draft. Like this year's draft had a lot of long, athletic corners, and it had a lot of depth defensive linemen, so it was a little bit different. The makeup of each draft is a little bit different. I think we have an awareness to that, but not until we know all the juniors coming in and all that other stuff. You really can't look at the future drafts because the juniors make so much of what is coming out. It was the value that they placed on him. If we wanted to get that player, that's what we had to go spend."

On if this class of undrafted rookie free agents is one of the stronger ones they've signed:

"We really feel like it because of where we had the players rated and what we thought they could do for us. And then the fit of the players that we brought in during free agency. So I think it's a strong free-agent college class for sure."

On his most enjoyable and least enjoyable part of the draft process:

"The most enjoyable part of the draft process to me is all of it starting with the December meetings before we go to the all-star games, to the all-star games, and then the combine. That's the most enjoyable part. The least enjoyable part is the lack of sleep that I get. We all love what we do. We really love this process. We put a bunch into it, and the privilege of having a voice and helping to put a group together that has a voice in the process, that's the whole draft thing and that's the greatness of it. But I'm worn out after it."