The Dallas Cowboys showed they are investing big in their offense ahead of the 2026 regular season by inking another critical skill player to a new contract late Thursday night.
“Sources: The Cowboys and WR Ryan Flournoy have agreed to a 1-year contract extension worth up to $6M,” NFL insider Jordan Schultz wrote on his official X account. “Flournoy is coming off a career year with 40 catches for 475 and 4 TDs. He’s expected to have an even bigger role in the offense this season as the solidified WR3 and now gets a new deal ahead of it.”
“Really +EV deal for the Cowboys,” NFL analytics reporter Zain Dhanani wrote on his official X account. “Think Ryan Flournoy is in for a strong season.”
“The Cowboys have agreed to a one-year extension with No. 3 wideout Ryan Flournoy,” Pro Football Rumors wrote on its official X account.
Flournoy’s deal was the 2nd new contract the Cowboys handed out on Thursday after signing veteran tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford to a 3-year, $18 million extension.
PFF Called Ryan Flournoy ‘Secret Superstar’
While the Cowboys went 7-9-1 in 2025 and missed the playoffs in 2025, their offense was among the NFL’s best.
It’s actually kind of incredible that Flournoy was able to make the impact he did, considering he’s playing alongside a pair of NFL All-Pro wide receivers in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
Still, Flournoy had 40 receptions for 475 yards and 4 touchdowns, including a pair of 100-yard receiving games — a massive leap after 10 receptions for 102 yards and no touchdowns as a rookie in 2024.
Pro Football Focus thought enough of Flournoy’s sophomore campaign to call him one of the NFL’s “Secret Superstar” players.
“Hiding in plain sight on a dynamic Cowboys offense, Flournoy posted an 80.3 PFF overall grade as the unit’s third-highest-graded player,” PFF’s Zach Tantillo wrote. “He brought in 40 of his 42 catchable targets and led Dallas in touchdown receptions from Weeks 9 through 18. Despite limited snaps, Flournoy ranked fourth on the Cowboys’ offense in PFF Wins Above Replacement.”
Flournoy’s Unusual Path to NFL Stardom
Flournoy, 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, took a circuitous path to becoming the Cowboys’ 6th-round pick (No. 216 overall) in the 2024 NFL draft — a path which included 6 years of college football at 3 different schools.
The Flossmoor, Illinois, native started his college career with 3 seasons at NCAA Division II Central Missouri — 3 seasons in which he essentially never played in actual games.
Flournoy redshirted in 2018, missed almost all of 2019 with a partially torn ACL, and missed the entire 2020 season due to the pandemic.
All of that precipitated a transfer to junior college football powerhouse Iowa Western for 1 season in 2021. He came away with exactly 1 Division I offer, from FCS Southeast Missouri State. That’s where Flournoy finally came into his own, earning All-Ohio Valley Conference honors each of his 2 seasons before becoming the first SEMS to play in the Senior Bowl since 1998.
Flournoy cemented his draft status at the NFL Scouting Combine, where he put up big-time numbers: 4.44 seconds in the 40-yard dash to go with a 40-inch vertical leap, 11-foot broad jump, and 19 reps in the 225-pound bench press.
Cowboys Sign ‘Secret Superstar’ to Contract Extension