The 2026 Dallas Cowboys, under first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer, finished 7-9-1 and missed the postseason.
Many were unsure how the 2025 Cowboy season would pan out. Most said the Cowboys would struggle under their first-year head coach, Brian Schottenheimer. Though the offense did not struggle one bit, Schotty is still responsible for the whole team.
Schottenheimer focused on building a strong culture and forming relationships with the team, which he believes would ultimately help lead this team to a championship. It is a rare feat to win a Super Bowl in your first year, so I wouldn’t hold too much against Dallas for not playing in February for this season.
What Followed Through?
Fans were concerned about Brian Schottenheimer being the main playcaller for the Cowboys offense. Though early on in the season, the Cowboys offense showed its ability to score big. Dallas finished 2nd right behind the Rams in total offense and passing yards gained. The offense also finished 7th (471) in points scored, surrounded by playoff teams.
The Cowboys had a ton of players show up for them offensively. Some being stars, like Dak Prescott, who finished 3rd in passing yards, Dak needed a big year to support his rookie head coach— he did just that.
Dallas also rolled out a running back by committee strategy with two vet minimum signings in Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders, along with drafting two rookies in Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah.
Turned out that Mafah wouldn’t get onto the field until week 18. Jaydon Blue had some issues in practice which limited his playing time. Miles Sanders had some flashes yearly but due to an injury, he only played in the first four games of the season.
But all of that didn’t matter as Javonte Williams stepped up big time and became the bellcow back for this Dallas offense. Finishing in the top ten for rushing yards, and having a career high of 1201 yards.
The last guy to mention that stepped up, George Pickens. While many considered this trade too big, many wondered how he would fare as the WR2 behind Ceedee Lamb. Pickens instead stepped up and performed as a number 1 this season. Lamb was injured early on in the year, and Pickens had great weeks to keep Dallas afloat.
Pickens posted his best receiving season, finishing 3rd in yards with 1429, paired with nine touchdowns.
What Obstructed the Goal?
Talking about such a stellar offense, how in the world did this team miss the postseason?
By coupling a great offense with a historically bad defense. The Cowboys immediately dropped to the worst defense in the NFL by week 2 when Russell Wilson posted career numbers against an awful secondary.
Each week, teams would take turns torching the Dallas secondary, so much so that we thought they had a pretty good run defense. That’s just because teams hadn’t tried to run it against us just yet. Then Dallas saw big games from Breece Hall and Rico Dowdle.
The defense improved, though…they didn’t finish bottom of the league, they ended up better than Washington and Cincinnati. Getting to the 30th-ranked defense in yards given up. But the most embarrassing number was the franchise record for points given up. Remember the Dallas offense scoring 471 points?
Well, they gave up 511.
The defense continued to roll out players that weren’t getting the job done each week, and well, that ended up costing DC Matt Eberflus his job.
A Moment that Changed Everything
The Cowboys came out of their bye week as a new team. They carried a lot of weight as they won three straight, including a victory against Philadelphia, and then hosted the Chiefs three days later on Thanksgiving.
The team bonded with tragedy. During the bye week, the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys, and the world suffered the sudden and tragic loss of Marshawn Kneeland. A life gone too soon, Marshawn, the football player, was growing every day, having scored his first NFL touchdown earlier in the year. But, that was no match to Marshawn the teammate and human, off the field, he was described to have a personality to light up the in the locker room.
The Cowboys played out the 2025 season in his honor and played their first game less than two weeks later. Playing in Las Vegas, the Cowboys beat the Raiders 33-16.
Ultimate Assessment
Season Awards:
MVP: Dak Prescott, QB
Prescott posted one of the best seasons of his career. He did everything he could…if only he could play safety or linebacker.
Dak was uber efficient this season, 2nd (behind Bo Nix) in pass attempts with 600. He threw a 67% completeion rate and a 3:1 TD:INT ratio with 7.6 yards per attempt.
Rookie of the Year: Tyler Booker, RG
The Cowboys found a stud at guard with the 12th pick in the draft. Booker was an immediate starter and posted solid numbers for year one.
631 pass pro snaps (most of any rookie iOL), 3 sacks allowed, 6 games of 40+ pass pro snaps with 0 sacks allowed.
Breakout Player: George Pickens, WR
The surprise when the trade was made. The surprise when we realized what kind of dog he is.
Pickens broke out onto the scene when he was asked to be the WR1 after week 3. Posting one of the best seasons as a first-year Cowboy and the top-3 receiving seasons of all-time in Dallas.
Unsung Hero: Javonte Williams, RB
Though a lot of focus goes on the passing game for Dallas and its top-rated attack. Williams kept the Cowboys in a lot of games with his monster ability during the year. He always fought for extra yards and fell forward.
He was a surprise as he took over the RB committee and became the bellcow. Williams posted a career high in rush yards, rush TDs, total TDs, longest run, and total carries.
Game Changer: Quinnen Williams, DT
The Cowboys made a trade at the bye week for Quinnen Williams, and he immediately changed the game for the Cowboys rushing defense. He also played a role in getting some pressure on the QB.
He dealt with a concussion during that final stretch and missed some games. But as the Cowboys move forward, they will be happy to have Williams be their new game changer.
Clutch Performer: Brandon Aubrey, K
Butter constantly shows up for Dallas in big moments. Though a lot of people will point to the little struggles he had at the end of the season. He missed 6 field goals all year, 5 of those being from beyond 55 yards.
Remember games like New York, where he forced overtime because of his big leg, then went on to win the game. When the game is on the line, call 17 and he puts it through the uprights.
Coaching & Front Office Review
The head coach stayed true to his message this year and had a lot of successful moments. It is hard to be mad at a guy with a successful offense that he had…but if there is room for improvement.
I want to see Schotty get better with his timeout usage. I feel like he blew a lot of timeouts early in the game because the play clock got away from them, or they didn’t like a look from the defense.
Also, the redzone efficiency was not where I would like to see it. It seemed Schotty had an embarrassment of riches when he got inside the 10, he didn’t know if he wanted to throw the fade to Pickens, find Ferguson or just run it with Williams. There were plenty of times where he went away from the run inside the 5 and got too cute with some passes.
As Dallas is trying to find a new defensive staff, that will pretty much sum up the year that group had.
The front office had the most activity with trading that I have ever seen from Dallas in my life. Making splash moves for George Pickens and Quinnen Williams but also the minor moves— though it didn’t pan out— trading late round picks for Kenneth Murray and Kaiir Elam.
In free agency, the team still participated in some bottom-of-the-barrel signing, though it was done earlier than last year. That is still a frustrating part of the offseason. They need to spend a little more to get a little more in return.
Thought the one $10 million deal they handed out didn’t really pan out with Dante Fowler Jr.
Final Verdict
It is hard to not look around the league and get jealous of Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen, who are division winners as first-year head coaches.
But for Schotty to be completely reworking the identity of this team, he has made some good progress. And you would like to think, if they can fix the defense and replicate the offense…next year the Cowboys could play for more.
The Cowboys missed the playoffs, so you can’t call it a successful season…But I don’t feel bad about this team in any way. Schotty gave himself a C for this year.
I give the team a C+, which would be the highest possible grade for any non-playoff team.
Brett's Cowboys Corner 
Leave a comment