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Ryan Flournoy #19 of the Dallas Cowboys

It is the nature of sports and sports fandom to spend only a small amount of time appreciating what is here, right now. For most, the future is where it’s at. Just as often, the sporting public spends its time not so much watching what is happening but speculating on what will happen. It’s no different with the Dallas Cowboys, who have a much-improved roster here in the 2026 offseason, but who are very much a team looking ahead. And one key, mostly unheralded factor, in that is receiver Ryan Flournoy.

That’s because Flournoy’s development last year as the No. 3 wide receiver sets him up to be a sort of backstop for the attention-grabbing George Pickens situation. Dallas has Pickens signed on a one-year, $27 million contract, but after some tension in free agency this winter and spring, things are setting up where 2026 could be Pickens’ final year in Dallas because he hits free agency again in 2027.

That’s where Flournoy and the future come in.

Cowboys Got 2 100-Yard Games From Ryan Flournoy

Flournoy was a 2024 sixth-rounder whose work ethic has impressed coaches. He had breakout games over the course of 2025, finishing with 40 catches, 475 yards and four touchdowns on the year. He stepped up when CeeDee Lamb was down with injuries at varying times, logging 114 yards in Week 5, and nine catches with 115 yards and a touchdown in the wild Week 14 loss to Detroit, when Lamb had a concussion.

He pitched in four other games with at least three catches and 30 yards, ideal numbers for your No. 3 option.

Cowboys With Long-Term Prep to Replace George Pickens?

Flournoy, too, can be a free-agent next offseason, though the Cowboys can put a one-year tender on him and control his rights, signing him on a reasonable deal. That will make keeping him much more palatable than keeping Pickens, who could command $150 million over four years after next season.

Bobby Belt of 105.3 The Fan in Dallas suggested the Cowboys are “grooming” Flournoy for the role.

As he said on Wednesday: “When I believe they eventually walk away from George Pickens, as good as he did, when they walk away from that, I don’t think they go out and acquire their next No. 2. I think it’s just Flournoy. I think they’re grooming him to be the next No. 2 next to CeeDee. And so he’s—they are really impressed with his work ethic, his mental toughness, the type of student that he is.

“And they’re seeing the growth that comes with somebody that works the way he does.”

Brian Schottenheimer: Ryan Flournoy ‘Earned it the Right Way’

That echoes what coach Brian Schottenheimer said of Flournoy, though Schotty did not bring in any reference to Pickens’ future, of course. But count the Cowboys as impressed with Flournoy, and his future.

From Schottenheimer’s press conference this week:

“What I would say, just doing incredible. I think you saw it last year, two 100-yard games, you saw him really just do it on a consistent basis. He’ll be the first one on the practice field, he will be the last one to leave. Anytime Dak wants to throw, he will be out there making himself available. I think that’s huge—I think that’s part of that me-to-you factor that is so important when you’re talking about a quarterback-receiver timing and discipline and things like that.

“But he earned it the right way. He earned through special teams, he earned it by doing the run-blocking, by doing things in the run game, the dirty work, if you will. Now he is one of those guys who, because he does everything right, Dak doesn’t hesitate when he looks at him. He just turns it loose, throws it to a spot and he has rewarded us with very, very big-time performances.”