All the Dallas Cowboys news that’s fit to print.
3 players who will benefit the most from adding George Pickens – Shane Taylor, Inside The Star
The George Pickens trade really has changed the entire feel around Brian Schottenheimer’s first season as head coach, and offensive play-caller.
Jalen Tolbert
Pickens will now be the No. 2 receiver, solving the offense’s biggest need. That should alleviate some pressure from CeeDee Lamb and now puts Jalen Tolbert into his natural position as the No. 3 receiver.
Last season, Tolbert had career highs in targets (79), catches (49), yards (610), and touchdowns (7). He led the team in touchdown catches and was the second-leading receiver in terms of yards.
Tolbert provides significant depth that Dak Prescott and the offense will benefit from.
610 yards when catching passes from Cooper Rush and Trey Lance should only set Tolbert up for a similar season with two number one guys in front of you and Dak Prescott back under center.
Jake Ferguson
Jake Ferguson should have his best year as a pro with both Pickens and Lamb on the outside.
Ferguson had a breakout season in 2023, catching 71 passes for 761 as the starting tight end in Dallas.
A Week 1 knee injury in 2024 caused him to miss three starts and he never quite looked the same all season. He finished last year without scoring a touchdown and totaled just 494 yards on 86 targets.
Ferguson should get a lot of good looks this season, and trust me I will probably draft him as my fantasy tight end this season because of it.
Cowboys’ George Pickens trade sets up huge comeback for former Pro Bowler – Marcus Mosher, The Landry Hat
Jake Ferguson had a hard time playing second fiddle to CeeDee Lamb in the passing game last season but adding Pickens could lead to way more opportunities for the tight end.
Pickens will now be the No. 2 receiver, solving the offense’s biggest need. That should alleviate some pressure from CeeDee Lamb and now puts Jalen Tolbert into his natural position as the No. 3 receiver.
But Lamb and Tolbert aren’t the only players in the passing game that will benefit from the presence of George Pickens. He could have a major impact on several other weapons in the passing game, including the tight ends, as he should keep some of the safeties away from the middle of the field.
In a recent article, Moe Morton of Bleacher Report made a case for Jake Ferguson to have a bounce-back fantasy season.
“After playing half the previous season with Cooper Rush under center, Ferguson’s fantasy outlook gets a boost as long as Prescott stays healthy,” Morton wrote. “Even with the addition of wideout George Pickens, he should see enough targets to produce at the level of a top-10 fantasy tight end.”
Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson could have a monster year in 2025
“… With the Cowboys’ uninspiring running back group, expect Prescott to fire away through the air for stretches in the upcoming term. He’ll have enough targets to spread around for Ferguson to get back into Pro Bowl form.”
Ferguson had a breakout season in 2023, catching 71 passes for 761 as the starting tight end in Dallas. But a Week 1 knee injury in 2024 caused him to miss three starts and he never quite looked the same all season. He finished last year without scoring a touchdown and totaled just 494 yards on 86 targets.
But Ferguson is healthy and going into a pivotal season with his contract set to expire. However, the addition of Pickens, along with a healthy Dak Prescott, will likely enable Ferguson to have his best season yet.
Ride or die: Understanding the financial commitment the Cowboys have in Dak Prescott – Dan Rogers, Blogging The Boys
One thing that isn’t changing for the Cowboys offense anytime soon is Dak Prescott under center.
But there is even more to the story because of the contract language. With each new year that goes by, more guarantees are triggered, increasing the team’s overall investment. For example…
$40 million of his 2026 base salary became fully guaranteed on March 16 of 2025
$45 million of his 2027 base salary becomes fully guaranteed in March of 2026
$17 million of his 2028 base salary becomes fully guaranteed in March of 2027
This means the front office must declare their commitment in the spring of every year without the knowledge of what the draft or training camp activity might bring them. Breaking it down by these time intervals, here is the financial commitment the Cowboys have with Prescott over the length of his contract.
The values in blue represent how much of his base salary is guaranteed, whether it’s from the current year or the following year. The values in red are his signing and restructuring bonus money that has already been paid to him, but still must be accounted for on the books. Adding those numbers together produces the purple values on the far right. That’s the figure that matters the most in terms of describing their financial commitment to him. Using a timeline, it looks like this…
This makes it really easy to identify a potential out for the Cowboys, which is not until 2028. That means three more years of Dak, whether people like it or not. That is not to say that if some of those extenuating circumstances we mentioned yesterday started happening, the team couldn’t replace him on the field, but it wouldn’t alter their financial commitment to him. This means Prescott has a very long leash.
Rushin’ Roulette: Cowboys’ strengths, weaknesses at RB along with a 2025 wildcard – Reid Hanson, The Cowboys Wire
How the Cowboys will support Dak Prescott with a better run game might be the biggest question of all going into training camp.
Cowboys’ RB strength: Offensive line
The Cowboys offensive line might be worrisome in pass protection but they are possible rockstars in run blocking. The middle of the offensive line is stacked, featuring two first-round picks at guard and a top 100 pick at center. All three are ascending players who have just scratched the surface of their potential.
Cowboys’ RB weakness: RB1
The Cowboys have more than enough complementary options on their roster but appear to lack a true RB1. Williams has the size and experience to be that guy, but his play has been so uninspiring over the past two seasons, giving him the bulk of the carries would be malfeasance. Similar things can be said for the veteran Sanders who was signed as a sort of one-year, $1,337,500 insurance policy.
Jaydon Blue, the first rookie selected, lacks the size and track record to be a realistic RB1 option and Phil Mafah, a seventh-round pick, is missing the pedigree that would even guarantee him a roster spot in 2025. For better or worse it looks like “committee or bust” and that might run as deep as four players on a weekly basis.
Cowboys’ RB wildcard: The rookie
A case can be made for both rookies since both carry a bit of the unknown along with some sky-high potential. Mafah, 6-foot-1, 234-pounds, is a big man with a physical playing style and a bad attitude. He appears to be the banger the Cowboys have been missing and could carve out an important role if things fall right.
15) How do the Cowboys stack up against NFC East – Staff, DallasCowboys.com
The NFC East has a remarkable streak of not having repeat winners, but to most experts the Cowboys have still not done enough to surpass the reigning champion Eagles or even the Commanders.
Tommy: Without question, Philadelphia is still the best team in the division to me. They lost a lot from a numbers perspective in free agency, but I don’t think there will be much of a noticeable drop off considering they kept all of their elite players in the boat and did really well in the draft. I see the Cowboys competing with the Commanders for the second place spot in the division. You may say: “But Tommy, the Commanders went to the NFC title game last year, how could the Cowboys be even close to that after going 7-10 last year?” Well, remember that Dallas beat the Commanders in D.C. in a thriller back in Week 12 and lost on a game-winning touchdown in the final week of the season last year, and relative to the other teams they faced, played pretty well defensively against Jayden Daniels in his electric rookie season. Can they do it again in 2025? Who knows, but I think that’s who they’ll have to get past for the second place spot. The Giants got better this offseason, but I don’t think they’ve done enough yet to climb up from last place in the division.
Kyle: The NFC East is stacking up to be one of the best in football. Two teams coming off an appearance in the NFC Championship game a year ago and a team with the expectations to make a return to double-digit wins. Right now, the Cowboys are still a sliver behind both Philadelphia and Washington, but that doesn’t mean they can’t catch up.
All three teams have a solidified franchise quarterback, elite weapons on offense, and playmakers at every level of the defense. The biggest question for me, is depth. Philadelphia showed their depth when making the run for their second Lombardi trophy, despite injuries and big-time competition. Dallas had more injuries to deal with last season, but the depth just wasn’t up to the necessary level to sustain success. I believe the Cowboys have added more quality depth this offseason than they did last year. Hopefully that helps them stack up.
