R1 After a season in which he was clearly surpassed by rookie breakout Ryan Flournoy and trade acquisition George Pickens, Jalen Tolbert is expected to be let go by the Dallas Cowboys this offseason.
Cowboys Expected to Cut Ties With Former 3rd-Round Pick
For the Dallas Cowboys, the 2025 season was certainly a disappointment, with the 7-9-1 record, the failure to earn a spot in the postseason and the defense that was almost shockingly bad. But it was not all frustration and disappointment. That’s because, on the offensive side of the ball, there were a handful of additions and breakouts that helped qualify the team as an undoubted success.
Dak Prescott, after an injury-riddled 2024, returned to top form in 2025. The addition of George Pickens via trade made the Cowboys’ 1-2 receiving punch of Pickens and CeeDee Lamb the envy of the league, and Ryan Flournoy was as good as any WR3 in the NFL. Tight end Jake Ferguson was back to his old form, too. Free-agent running back Javonte Williams was the best ball-carrier the team has had since 2019, Ezekiel Elliott’s prime.
But the rise of some inevitably means the fall of others, and for the Cowboys, as the offense moves into the offseason and prepares for a retooling, one player in particular appears in for a fall: former third-round pick Jalen Tolbert.
Cowboys Jalen Tolbert Was Surpassed in 2025
Indeed, the Cowboys have established a four-man receiving crew, with Lamb, Pickens, Flournoy and speedy gadget-play specialist KaVontae Turpin, that figures to leave little room for more names on the depth chart–a fifth will likely be on the roster, but probably not six. That could mean not only Tolbert falls off, but perhaps Jonathan Mingo and futures contract signee Parris Campbell, too.
In previewing the offensive outlook for the Cowboys in 2026, Jon Machota of The Athletic writes that Tolbert is “out,” assuming the Cowboys keep Pickens (a free agent) on board. The breakout season for Flournoy (with 40 catches and 475 yards, including two 100-yard games) makes Tolbert expendable.
“Flournoy is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He had a breakout season in 2025, making it easier for the Cowboys to move on from Tolbert and possibly Mingo, who has a year left on his rookie contract,” Machota wrote.
Tolbert, a third-round pick from South Alabama in 2022, has frequently been hyped as a player ready for a breakout year. But the year has never really come, and this season, he had all of 18 catches for 203 yards.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens.
Offense Was Not to Blame
In all, though, Machota is not expecting much to change for the Cowboys’ offense in 2026. Prescott will be back, and even with the Cowboys’ questionable history in free agency, bringing back Pickens and Williams are no-brainer decisions.
The offensive line could get some reconfiguring but all in all, the unit is expected back.
That’s good news for Prescott who was blunt at the end of the season in pointing out that the Cowboys’ struggles were not the fault of the offense this year.
“Tough season. Frustrating in a sense, you know? I think I’ve alliterated this before, one of the first seasons, if not the first of my career, I can’t directly correlate my play to the wins and loss, or the end of the season, or overall success of the season,” Prescott said. “So that makes it frustrating. One of the best offenses in the league, explosive.”
“Now sure, not always to our standard, didn’t play like that every week, week in and week out, but put up a lot of points. Unfortunately, just didn’t win the games that we should’ve and didn’t finish out some of those one-score close games on our end. Ultimately, it leads us to an 8-9-1 record. It sucks, but it’s the reality.”
Cowboys Expected to Cut Ties With Former 3rd-Round Pick-vdt
For the Dallas Cowboys, the 2025 season was certainly a disappointment, with the 7-9-1 record, the failure to earn a spot in the postseason and the defense that was almost shockingly bad. But it was not all frustration and disappointment. That’s because, on the offensive side of the ball, there were a handful of additions and breakouts that helped qualify the team as an undoubted success.
Dak Prescott, after an injury-riddled 2024, returned to top form in 2025. The addition of George Pickens via trade made the Cowboys’ 1-2 receiving punch of Pickens and CeeDee Lamb the envy of the league, and Ryan Flournoy was as good as any WR3 in the NFL. Tight end Jake Ferguson was back to his old form, too. Free-agent running back Javonte Williams was the best ball-carrier the team has had since 2019, Ezekiel Elliott’s prime.
But the rise of some inevitably means the fall of others, and for the Cowboys, as the offense moves into the offseason and prepares for a retooling, one player in particular appears in for a fall: former third-round pick Jalen Tolbert.
Indeed, the Cowboys have established a four-man receiving crew, with Lamb, Pickens, Flournoy and speedy gadget-play specialist KaVontae Turpin, that figures to leave little room for more names on the depth chart–a fifth will likely be on the roster, but probably not six. That could mean not only Tolbert falls off, but perhaps Jonathan Mingo and futures contract signee Parris Campbell, too.
In previewing the offensive outlook for the Cowboys in 2026, Jon Machota of The Athletic writes that Tolbert is “out,” assuming the Cowboys keep Pickens (a free agent) on board. The breakout season for Flournoy (with 40 catches and 475 yards, including two 100-yard games) makes Tolbert expendable.
“Flournoy is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He had a breakout season in 2025, making it easier for the Cowboys to move on from Tolbert and possibly Mingo, who has a year left on his rookie contract,” Machota wrote.
Tolbert, a third-round pick from South Alabama in 2022, has frequently been hyped as a player ready for a breakout year. But the year has never really come, and this season, he had all of 18 catches for 203 yards.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens.
Offense Was Not to Blame
In all, though, Machota is not expecting much to change for the Cowboys’ offense in 2026. Prescott will be back, and even with the Cowboys’ questionable history in free agency, bringing back Pickens and Williams are no-brainer decisions.
The offensive line could get some reconfiguring but all in all, the unit is expected back.
That’s good news for Prescott who was blunt at the end of the season in pointing out that the Cowboys’ struggles were not the fault of the offense this year.
“Tough season. Frustrating in a sense, you know? I think I’ve alliterated this before, one of the first seasons, if not the first of my career, I can’t directly correlate my play to the wins and loss, or the end of the season, or overall success of the season,” Prescott said. “So that makes it frustrating. One of the best offenses in the league, explosive.”
“Now sure, not always to our standard, didn’t play like that every week, week in and week out, but put up a lot of points. Unfortunately, just didn’t win the games that we should’ve and didn’t finish out some of those one-score close games on our end. Ultimately, it leads us to an 8-9-1 record. It sucks, but it’s the reality.”
