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6 players Cowboys must evaluate in final 3 games include playmaking QB, RB
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- 6 players Cowboys must evaluate in final 3 games include playmaking QB, RB
It's now time for the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff, as well as the front office, to focus on next year. Fans and media have been rounding up, but it's now officially 30 years since the team last appeared in an NFC Championship game, much less won one or won a Super Bowl. With three games remaining in the 2025 season, the biggest takeaway from the final three games on the schedule is intel on player's baselines.
The club has 12 quarters to form an opinion on a lot of their young talent, who for various reasons still have question marks next to their ceilings. Before players get buried by progress stoppers, or usurped by shiny, new draft picks, they need to be given a chance to show what they can do at the NFL level.
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Here's six players the Cowboys need to give meaningful snaps to over the rest of the 2025 season.
QB Joe Milton
The Cowboys have one of the game's best quarterbacks in Dak Prescott . The issue is that Prescott hasn't been able to stay healthy for two seasons in a row since the 2018 and 2019 seasons. When he plays, he's one of the best in the league, flirting with MVP consideration. When he doesn't, the team tanks. This past offseason, Dallas traded a late-round pick in hopes of finding a young, athletic backup when they acquired second-year man Joe Milton from the New England Patriots .
He didn't look good initially in the preseason, but Joe Milton's stock went up based on the final 2025 preseason performance.
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It's time to let Milton play and find out what they have in him. Chances are, the backup is going to be called upon for several games next season, and the staff needs to know what they have in the former Tennessee Volunteer. Milton has appeared in two blowout losses, first to Chicago in Week 3 and then to Denver in Week 8, and has completed 6 of 9 passes for 99 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Give him some extended action over the next three games so that offseason plans can be made accordingly.
RB Jaydon Blue
The Cowboys' fifth-round selection had run afoul of the coaching staff since the summer. Rumors ran rampant about whether he was taking his opportunity seriously and his work ethic was questioned. He's appeared in just four games this season, rushing only 22 times, while being a healthy scratch more often than not.
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It's clear that the coaching staff is not enamored with him, and at a position like running back where a player is the last line of protection for the $60 million quarterback, incompetence and unprofessionalism cannot stand. So while Dak Prescott is under center, the team cannot trot Blue out there.
However, when the team plays the more mobile Milton, they need to have Blue out there the majority of the snaps so that they can see whether he's one of those guys who practices horribly, but plays at a high level. Perhaps the second chance inspires him to hit the offseason hard and work on the things that were issues this season.
WR Ryan Flournoy
The Cowboys are about to enter what is probably going to be contentious negotiations with WR1A George Pickens and his representative, David Mulugheta . The thinking is that there won't be bad blood between the organization and the very professional agent of Micah Parsons , who Jerry Jones publicly insulted during those failed negotiations. Good luck with that.
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The Cowboys need to know that if Pickens balks, and they have to either tag-and-trade him come March, or let him hit free agency all together, whether or not Flournoy is what he appears to be, a true WR2 solely in need of more opportunity.
Twice this season Flournoy has stepped up in a big way, with 100-yard receiving games during CeeDee Lamb 's absences. The former sixth-round pick hasn't been asked to do much outside of those two games, only seeing more than three targets four times all season. Feed him the rock. At worst, the Cowboys will know whether or not they have a three-headed monster for 2026.
CB Josh Butler
I promise, this article was in the works before Wednesday's announcement that the Cowboys were finally opening Butler's practice window. Butler isn't a youngster, he's been in the league since 2020, but we'll include him here because he has limited work in the pros.
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The former Michigan State Spartan played in five games last year in a lost season, but showed enough for him to stick around. He's been ready to go, but stuck on PUP after a late-season ACL tear. The Cowboys have his rights in 2026 if they want them; he's an exclusive-rights free agent, but it would still be nice to see him on the field considering everything that's happened at the CB position this year.
DT Perrion Winfrey
The Cowboys grabbed Winfrey from the spring league and before they traded for Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams , he looked like the team's best DT. Yes, he outplayed Osa Odighizuwa , though only Winfrey had something to prove during the preseason.
Shockingly, he suffered an injury during practice leading up to Week 1 and though he was added back to the roster after an IR stint, he's yet to see the field. Winfrey looks like a pressure creator, the team would be doing a disservice not finding out if that works against starting NFL talent in actual game action.
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Safety Alijah Clark
The Cowboys grabbed safety Alijah Clark as part of their 2025 Undrafted Free Agent Class (UDFA) . They gave him one of the 10 richest UDFA contracts of the offseason . He's been mostly a specialist, appearing on just 39 defensive snaps, but he's made one of the NFL plays of the year in his limited teams action.
With Donovan Wilson on an expiring deal, and Malik Hooker a potential cap casualty next spring, it makes a ton of sense for the Cowboys to throw Clark out there and see how much progress he can make over extended action with his feet in the fire.
Honorable Mention: LB Shemar James
The Cowboys got plenty of looks at James across the first half of the season, and he's been relegated to the sidelines for the most part since the bye week. The fifth-round rookie has 49 snaps from Week 10 on, a number he surpassed in three different games. It's time to put him back on the field and see what he's learned. The linebacker corps is going to be revamped in the offseason. Do the Cowboys have anyone other than DeMarvion Overshown to build around?
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: 6 players Cowboys must evaluate include Joe Milton, Perrion Winfrey
