{"id":296212,"date":"2026-05-16T17:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T17:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/296212\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T17:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T17:06:07","slug":"30m-savings-cowboys-wr-ryan-flournoy-could-be-salary-cap-key-in-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/296212\/","title":{"rendered":"$30M savings? Cowboys WR Ryan Flournoy could be salary cap key in 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 16, 2026, 10:51 a.m. CT<\/p>\n

Of all the ups and downs the 2025 season took Dallas Cowboys fans on, Ryan Flournoy\u2019s emergence was perhaps one of the most compelling. The second-year receiver out of Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) was a bubble player when the season began, but a certified success story by the time the campaign concluded.<\/p>\n

Flournoy was even released in the initial cut to 53 players, allowing any of 31 other teams to claim him. After posting 475 receiving yards and four touchdowns behind the likes of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, Flournoy established himself as the undisputed WR3 in Dallas and heavy favorite to claim the same role in 2026. Under team control for the next two seasons, Flournoy has the potential to make some high-priced players expendable, by proxy offering the Cowboys well over $30 million in savings.<\/p>\n

Playing under the franchise tag in 2026, the Cowboys are uncommitted to Pickens long-term. Their wait-and-see approach could be as much about Pickens\u2019 ability to repeat his 2025 magic as much as it\u2019s about seeing if Flournoy takes the next step in his development.<\/p>\n

At 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, Flournoy is built to play any role across the formation. Size, speed and athletic ability indicate WR2 potential is well within his grasp. He\u2019s obviously not going to supplant Pickens in 2026, but a breakout season this year may very well make Pickens expendable in 2027. \u00a0<\/p>\n

For the sake of roster balance, the Cowboys would like to spread some of their payroll from the offense to the defense. Saving money on Pickens could facilitate a quick shift in spending. Pickens is at WR1 levels, and if he stays out of trouble and repeats his 2025 season, he could be pushing the $40M\/year barrier in 2027. Flournoy probably won’t approach half that number, even with a breakout season in 2026.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

At the moment, Pickens is a special player who in no way appears to be expendable on this Cowboys offense. That’s because even if the defense improves significantly in 2026, this will still be a team that leans on offense to win games.<\/p>\n

But with steady improvement from the defense and a breakout year from Flournoy, 2027 could look significantly different for Dallas. It would be the first step in building a balanced team and would situate the Cowboys well in the long-term.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can follow Reid on X\u00a0@ReidDHanson<\/a>\u00a0and be sure to follow\u00a0Cowboys Wire on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 16, 2026, 10:51 a.m. CT Of all the ups and downs the 2025 season took Dallas Cowboys…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[33,102,104,103,103483,10132,10133,44,3562,2619,184,18353,62471,46,36],"class_list":["post-296212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-accessfree","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-sourcecowboys-wire","tag-sstssportsnflcowboys","tag-sstsncowboys","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagceedee-lamb","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagryan-flournoy","tag-tagsoutheast-missouri-state-university","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}