When Less Equals More: A Shift in Offensive Philosophy Could Lead to a Big Bounceback for Dak Prescott and the Dallas Offense

Kevin Szafraniec
June 25, 2025

Kevin Szafraniec details why things went wrong for Dallas in 2024 and what the front office has done this offseason to instill confidence that the Cowboys’ playmakers can return to glory for fantasy managers in 2025.

Fantasy championships aren’t won by chasing last year’s production – they’re secured by managers who understand how team-level changes create cascading effects throughout a roster. This exhaustive 32-team outlook series leverages our proprietary metrics and tools to identify these critical transitions before your leaguemates catch on.

Little went according to plan for the Cowboys in 2024, as injuries to key contributors and a decline in production sapped any lingering optimism following Dallas’ NFC East championship the year prior. Even before the wheels completely fell off, there were signs of decline across the entire Cowboys organization. Fresh off the largest contract in NFL history, Dak Prescott came out of the gate flat, with the rest of the offense following suit. Additionally, a defense that ranked in the top five the previous season massively underperformed all season long.

Heading into the offseason, it became apparent that head coach Mike McCarthy was on his way out of Dallas. However, it came as somewhat of a shock when offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was tabbed as his replacement. Although Schottenheimer did not call plays, it is difficult to entirely excuse him from the ineffectiveness of the Cowboys’ offense last season. Still, Schottenheimer’s past usage of motion and play action should allow Prescott more time to process his pre-snap reads compared to McCarthy’s fast-paced attack.

Will the tweaks to Dallas’ offensive philosophy help Prescott and the Cowboys’ offense return to their former fantasy glory, or will these changes turn out to be a case of “too little, too late”?

Don’t miss the other installments in our comprehensive 2025 Team Breakdown series:

AFC

NFC

Let’s Just Cut Our Losses and Move On

Following a playoff berth in 2023, injuries ravaged the Dallas roster, causing a downturn across the board last season. We should get a better understanding of how much talent Dallas has on their roster early on in 2025, as 2024 was more or less a lost season for the franchise.

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Kevin Szafraniec

Lead Writer and Full-time Cat Dad. Sneakerhead, Record Collector, Beatmaker, Lord of the Rings Superfan, and Jeopardy Enthusiast in my free time. Follow me on X and Bluesky @thecatdadff

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