Troy Aikman believes the Cowboys should draft a QB No. 4 overall. They just don’t need to if they want to find their next franchise QB.

Aikman -- who led Dallas to three Super Bowls -- was asked to address the the team’s backup QB situation on Thursday. Rather than pursue the usual suspects in Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III, the Hall of Famer sees value in selecting the future No. 4 overall.

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“If there is a player who is what you view as a franchise quarterback, I think you have to take that guy,” Aikman said, per Pro Football Talk. “To have a chance to set your team up for 15 years, I don’t know how you bypass that.”

The only player justified to go as high as No. 4 -- at least according to the mock drafts -- is Jared Goff, but even he isn’t projected to go beyond Cleveland’s pick at No. 2.

Carson Wentz is another name floating around draft circles, but even he’s seen as a mid-to-late first-round pick according to Mel Kiper Jr..

Fortunately for Dallas, they won’t have to reach that high. Not if Trent Dilfer’s acumen is of some value.

"Christian Hackenberg, once he gets out of that situation, which is not a good situation at Penn State, scouts and GMs and coaches will drool over Christian Hackenberg," Dilfer said last September, per ESPN. "He's very, very similar to Troy Aikman. They're the same type of body, thrower, personality, competitors. You go back and look at Troy Aikman coming out and look at Christian Hackenberg, they're very similar.

“I think it's going to be [Hackenberg] and Goff. [They] will both go in the top five. There's a bunch of guys that will get talked about, but they're really the two that have franchise-quarterback potential."

Hackenberg isn’t exactly seen as a top-five pick anymore, opening the door for the Cowboys to address needs early and find their franchise QB later in the draft.

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