Without George Pickens last week against the Colts, the Dallas Cowboys leaned on CeeDee Lamb for 10 catches, but Ryan Flournoy had the biggest catch of the game.
Before I get into all of that, the first thought I had about an hour before the game started was that we need to find out if the Cowboys can let Pickens walk at the end of this season and allow us to feel like they won’t have a significant drop-off.
Well, Flournoy was limited to only two catches, but one other big catch was wiped away due to an ineligible man down field, which was one of the Cowboys’ season-high 14 penalties on Sunday.
.@RyanNumba9 makes a big play 👏
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Interesting Spot
The last thing I am trying to do is punt on the season and give an outlook to what next season will look like, but get in front of this now in case we see something happen.
I think Flournoy would be fine as the WR2 behind CeeDee Lamb, who had a career day yesterday, and we aren’t going to see that type of production every single week, but Flo had the biggest catch of the day on the game-winning drive down the sideline with less than two minutes left.
Anyway, this gets me to the point of this post: Flo is currently under contract through 2027, and signed a 1-year contract extension worth up to $6 million in September.
The one-year extension keeps him under contract with the Cowboys through the 2027 season.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, Pickens is going to cost nearly $30 million dollars, and Flo, you could probably get him locked in for less than half of that.
Pickens is clearly the better wide receiver, but the type of production that Flo can provide can be just as good as GP if he is given the targets.
Flournoy currently has 32 catches for 395 yards, and is on pace to set his career high in both catches and yards from last year when he had 40 grabs for 475 yards.
Now when you look at Pickens, he is making $30 million and has 39 catches for 533 yards, so take that for what it is worth. I think Pickens, if not traded, will get over 1,000 yards this year, but Flo will close behind and finish the year with probably 700–800 yards and for the price they can bring Ryan back for, I think that is the way to go.
They both have scored twice this season, so I think if we continue to see production, and again if not for Lamb having 10 catches for nearly 200 yards, Flo would have probably added plenty to this stat line.
Either way, we will see how the rest of this season goes, and maybe the Cowboys will run it back again next season, but we have a long way to go. I just think this decision should be an easy one if they run into an issue this offseason.
Ryan Flournoy walking to the locker: “I was made for this.”
After CeeDee Lamb’s fumble, he went and sat off by himself on the bench and started watching the tablet. Flournoy made sure to follow him over and sit with him.
He followed that up with the pivotal catch of the game.
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Remember, the Cowboys could throw the tag on Pickens for a second year in a row, but man, do you really think he is going to suck it up and play on it twice in a row?
It is going to be all hands on deck this week as the Cowboys host the 49ers, who are going to score at will against the Cowboys defense.
If I were Dallas I would just be aggressive from the opening kickoff. Don’t even beat around the bush, you are going to need to score over 40 if you want a chance to win this game. I give the Cowboys a 0% chance to win this game, but if they somehow do, it saves their season.