Ranking WR, TE, RB groups for 2026: Best and worst NFL teams – Bill Barnwell, ESPN
An offseason ranking looks at the skill positions.
2025 rank: 11 | 2024 rank: 8
The Cowboys might claim to have the best one-two punch in the league at wide receiver between CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
Pickens’ performance after moving from Pittsburgh to Dallas is a great example of how context can dramatically change a player’s production. Pickens shifted from a run-first offense with bad quarterback play in Pittsburgh to one that played faster, threw more often and was operated
by a much better signal-caller in Dallas. Pickens played better in a vacuum, but he also was in a much more advantageous situation to succeed.
Lamb’s 2023 season might look like an outlier if he can’t come close to hitting that 1,749-yard mark again in 2026. He’s still extremely efficient, but Lamb has missed time with injuries each of the past two seasons and hasn’t been able to command the outlandish target share he saw during that big campaign. Between Pickens and tight end Jake Ferguson, who made it back to the Pro Bowl after catching more than 80% of the passes thrown in his direction last season, it’s tough to see Lamb earning 181 targets again anytime soon.
Javonte Williams was a pleasant surprise at running back in 2025, staying healthy for the majority of the season and averaging nearly 5 yards per carry along the way. He had struggled to stay on the field since an early-career knee injury, so if he can keep this up in 2026, it’ll be difficult to find many faults with what the Cowboys can roll out for Dak Prescott.
Malachi Lawrence comfortable with ‘being in the shadows’ ahead of rookie year – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys other first-rounder speaks.
When the Cowboys selected Ohio State safety Caleb Downs with the 11th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, Dallas’ war room erupted in celebration. In the press conference following the first round, the Cowboys’ brass admitted they didn’t think Downs would be close to being available.
In the days and weeks after, Downs’ selection captured headlines as one of the best picks in the draft, and rightfully so. But 12 picks after Downs became a Cowboy, Dallas’ second first-round pick Malachi Lawrence was drafted to help the defense too. Lawrence’s name hasn’t been in as many headlines, and he’s perfectly fine with that.
“I’m kind of used to being in the shadows,” Lawrence said. “It doesn’t faze me. Once the time comes, people will see the work that you put in…”
“Not being in the spotlight, if you get on Instagram, you probably won’t scroll and see my name, but you’ll probably see some other guys’ names. Once you kind of get to know who I was, it’s like I became out of the spotlight.”
The Cowboys are excited about what Downs and Lawrence can do to help their defense, which was among the worst in the league and franchise history in 2025. Throughout the draft process, Downs was regarded as one of the best overall prospects in the class. Lawrence on the other hand was a name that wasn’t discussed as widely, but that changed in Indianapolis.
One Dallas Cowboys Contract That Will Age Poorly in 2026 – Randy Gurzi, Cowboys on SI
DaRon Bland has some doubters.
Dallas decided to lock up cornerback DaRon Bland, signing the former fifth-round pick to a four-year, $92 million extension. This was a surprise move from the Cowboys since Bland was coming off a frustrating season, which was marred by a foot injury. The Cowboys were banking on Bland returning to the form we saw in 2023, but that wasn’t the case.
Bland continued to struggle with durability and wasn’t the impact player we saw during his breakout season when he was on the field. Now, he enters his fifth season in the league with a hefty price tag, and there are questions about his long-term status with the team.
According to Over The Cap, Bland has the fifth-highest cap hit on the team this season. Bland, who is earning an annual average salary of $23 million, has a hit of $17 million this year.
The good news for the Cowboys is that they seemed to protect themselves slightly with this deal. While they can’t feasibly move on in 2026, even if Bland loses his starting job, they do have a way out of his deal next year.
Dallas can release Bland ahead of the 2027 season while absorbing a dead cap hit of $12.941 million. That would essentially make his deal a two-year contract for $36.355 million. That’s still not an ideal situation for the Cowboys, but that’s also what happens when the front office rolls the dice.
Commanders 2026 opponent breakdown | Dallas Cowboys – Zach Selby, Commanders.com
How the Commanders official website sees the Cowboys.
What version of Dak are the Cowboys getting this year? At this point, there’s little evidence to oppose the viewpoint that Prescott is one of the league’s top 10 quarterbacks. He’s 11 yards away from 36,000 passing yards in his career — a feat only 31 other players in NFL history have accomplished — and led the league in completions last season. Prescott’s problem since 2019 is that he only seems to thrive in odd-numbered years. In 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025, he threw for at least 4,400 yards and 30 touchdowns. However, in 2020, 2022 and 2024, he missed time with various injuries and struggled with turnovers. If we follow that trend in 2026, Prescott is set to have those same issues. The pieces are certainly there for him to buck the trend. He still has CeeDee Lamb and Pickens; Williams has emerged as an exciting option out of the backfield; and the defense should take some pressure off him if the personnel changes work out. Like everything associated with the Cowboys, though, we’ll have to see actual results on the field before we can draw any real conclusions.
