Dallas

Cowboys

Machota noted Blue’s pass-catching ability as the biggest reason for him to potentially see some work behind Williams. Blue caught 42 passes for 368 yards and six scores during his final season at Texas. He then flopped as a rookie, seeing just one catch and 38 carries in total. The bulk of his opportunities came in a meaningless Week 18 game. Still, Dallas did nothing to address their backfield depth this offseason and head coach Brian Schottenheimer has talked up Blue’s work ethic this time around. With a strong training camp, Blue could cement himself as a change-of-pace option for the Cowboys, putting him on the menu for fantasy drafters in deeper leagues.

Solak’s prediction was among his bold predictions for the 2026 NFL season. Prescott having a shot at 5,000 yards, Solak said, would hinge on the Cowboys remaining a fast-paced offense in 2026. Last season the Cowboys led the league in play clock remaining at the snap and offensive plays per game, leading to 600 passes for Dak — a career high. The wideout duo of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb won’t hurt matters for Prescott, who has eclipsed 4,500 passing yards three times in his NFL career. Pickens’ downfield ability was reflected in Prescott finishing sixth in deep ball accuracy last season. “The volume will be there for Prescott to not just lead the league in passing in 2026 but to once again challenge for the 5,000-yard milestone,” Solak said. Quarterbacks have thrown for more than 5,000 yards just 14 times in league history.

The former 2014 undrafted free agent spent time with the Steelers, Falcons, Cardinals, Giants, 49ers and Bengals before joining the Cowboys in 2018. Per NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk, Goodwin appeared in 108 games with the Cowboys, playing 2,211 snaps on special teams, 62 on defense and one on offense. He totaled 94 tackles, two passes defensed and two forced fumbles over the course of his career.

Archer mentioned Flournoy as the biggest surprise for the Cowboys so far this offseason. The third-year receiver totaled 40 catches for 475 yards and four touchdowns last season, and played 34.4 percent of his snaps in the slot. The Cowboys ran the fourth-most plays from 11 personnel last season, per TruMedia. While it’s possible that Flournoy’s increased slot role leads to more production, fantasy managers should take this with a grain of salt. As long as CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, and Jake Ferguson are healthy, Flournoy will face an uphill climb to improve on the 3.8 targets per game he averaged last season. That said, if either Lamb or Pickens were to miss time, Flournoy could have some streaming upside in deeper leagues after he posted a few 100-plus yard games last season in games where either Pickens or Lamb were sidelined.

Bringing Snowden aboard gives the Cowboys a capable backup pass rusher. He tallied 10 quarterback pressures and two sacks on 52 pass-rushing snaps last year. He also chipped in 18 solo tackles and five TFLs, while earning a career-best 70.5 PFF defense grade.

Schottenheimer began this section of the press conference by saying that he was very pleased with Pickens’ playbook preparedness when he showed up for mandatory minicamp this week. He did not attend organized team activities, so this is great to hear. Regarding Pickens’ pre-snap alignment, he will not just play X-receiver this season — Schottenheimer notes that Pickens does not like doing that anyway. Schottenheimer plans to line Pickens up in the slot, and isolated on the front side, on the same side as the tight end. Pickens logged just 77 slot snaps last season and 891 out wide. Giving him more opportunities to run routes against safeties and linebackers from the slot will increase his fantasy-scoring floor and ceiling. Schottenheimer also plans to expand Pickens’ route tree and build elements of the offense around his strengths, noting Pickens’ slant route successes last season in particular. He’s a WR1.

Reporters noticed Williams was not participating in organized team activities last week. The Cowboys hosted their three-day mandatory minicamp this week, and it sounds like Williams was either limited or held out again today. Schottenheimer was asked whether this was due to Williams’ shoulder injury from last season or simply veteran maintenance. Fortunately, Schottenheimer said Williams is “in a great spot” and “looks great.” His absence was “more about getting the young guys some reps in this last full-speed practice.” It seems like the Cowboys are hoping that one of Blue or Mafah can step up and be a reliable backup. If one separates from the other, he will be a worthwhile late-round pick.

Hennessy’s season is over. The Cowboys also released CB Corey Ballentine and waived WR Romello Brinson. The Cowboys correspondingly agreed to terms with two UFL players, former Houston Gamblers CB Ameer Speed and former Columbus Aviators OL Chris Glaser. Glaser unsuccessfully competed for a Cowboys roster spot last summer before entering the UFL.

The Jaguars are the last NFL team to roster Mims, though he did not take any snaps with them. That was back in 2024. The Cowboys hosted him for a workout two months later, but did not sign him. He spent 2025 with the UFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks and 2026 with the Dallas Renegades, where he caught six passes for 55 yards. Mims, 28, will have to compete for a roster spot with the Cowboys.

Pickens’ current ADP is in the 20-30 range and we expect most analysts will give him a little bump now that he’s not holding out of camp. CeeDee Lamb’s health clearly played a role in Pickens’ 2025 season, as did Dallas’ cataclysmically bad defense. Still, he has a real chance to finish as a WR1 this year and full reps at training camp can only help him out as he plays out the franchise tag.