Ryan Flournoy's 2025 season has included two starts, two 100-yard games and two weeks on the Cowboys' practice squad.
The tumult was all worth it for Flournoy, who is now thankful he trusted the process and was ready to capitalize when called upon. Fresh off a career-best nine-catch, 115-yard, one-touchdown showing in Dallas' Week 14 loss to Detroit, Flournoy is thankful for the journey that led him to this promising place, a voyage that began as a sixth-round pick in 2024, included him being waived after initially making the 53-man roster in 2025, and required a bit of faith in his new coach, Brian Schottenheimer.
"It was a meeting, probably a quick 10-minute meeting, he said he would love to get me back, for me to survive waivers and stuff like that," Flournoy said of the conversation he had with Schottenheimer in late August, via the team's official site. "That he would be devastated if I was to go to a different team. I came back, got put on practice squad, got elevated and everything he said came true. He is a man of his word."
Since rejoining the team, Flournoy has appeared in 13 games, spending time on special teams and as a rotational receiver. In recent weeks, the latter role has become much more important, and he played a season-high 53 snaps in the Thursday night game in Detroit, clearing the runway for him to make his biggest impact for the high-powered Cowboys offense.
"Just got thrown in the fire," Flournoy said. "I prepared for it. I know what everybody's supposed to be doing, I know where everybody's supposed to be at, so when CeeDee (Lamb) went down, I was like 'OK, let me step up and let me be the player they need.' I wanted to win that game, a lot of my teammates wanted to win that game, so I was just going out there to win."
Powered by quarterback Dak Prescott, Dallas' passing game is both prolific and essential to the Cowboys' chances of victory each week. Typically, the Cowboys have leaned on either Lamb or offseason addition George Pickens, depending on the week. But when Lamb exited due to injury on Thursday night, Flournoy suddenly became Pickens' most important running mate.
Prescott had plenty of reason to trust his lesser-known teammate, feeding him a game-high 13 targets and giving Flournoy a chance to announce his presence on a national stage, an opportunity Flournoy didn't waste. After all, as he said, he'd prepared for it.
"Whenever [Prescott] had texted our group chat that he's throwing, I always try to make myself available," Flournoy said. "Anything I had, I'm like, 'Alright, I've got to go run routes for Dak.' I knew I wanted to pick his mind, he's a 10-year veteran, one of the greatest quarterbacks to me. Honestly, I knew that if I could gain his trust, I could develop and be a top receiver. My whole goal is to make it to the Hall of Fame, and me and him had countless conversations about that."
One 115-yard game won't move Flournoy any closer to Canton, but it's a good start. Since the productive outing in Detroit, Flournoy has grabbed the attention of both those routinely covering the Cowboys and the greater NFL landscape.
He can remain in the spotlight by proving to be a consistent pass-catching opposite alongside Pickens and Lamb. Dallas might need Flournoy to do so if the Cowboys want to complete a once-unlikely run to the postseason.
"When I get a play called for me, I'm like, 'Alright, let's do this, come on. Let me show everybody. Let me prove to myself that I could be a Hall of Fame caliber receiver,'" Flournoy said. "I always looked up to Jerry Rice. I like how he always went hard every single play ... so I just go out there, run play, pass play, I just go fast."
