There’s a cloud of mystery surrounding the Dallas Cowboys right now under first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer. With the help of free agency, trades, and the 2025 NFL Draft it’s looks as if he’s put together a pretty solid roster with quite a bit of upside. However, even the positivity surrounding this team right now in no way equates to success this season.

It’s still way too early to predict with any kind of accuracy how the Cowboys will do this season, but that doesn’t stop any of us from speculating where they may rank among their peers. There’s a chance they could return to being one of the better teams in the league or just as easily be one of the also-rans. It’s a wide spectrum that is currently up for debate.

Pro Football Network is one source who currently has the Cowboys ranked poorly based on their recently released offensive and defensive rankings for all 32 teams. PFN had the Cowboys slotted 23rd in their offensive rankings and 25th defensively.

23) Dallas Cowboys

Dak Prescott’s injury last season derailed things, slotting them into a bottom-10 ranking after back-to-back-to-back top-seven grades. The offensive line isn’t the powerhouse it used to be, but the addition of George Pickens gives the Dallas Cowboys the chance to be potent through the air. Meanwhile, a committee backfield should provide them with enough balance to keep defenses honest.

We aren’t ready to call for a full rebound, but ranking in the middle third of the NFL is likely, and a top-10 grade isn’t out of the question.

PFN ranking the Cowboys offense 23rd out of 32 NFL teams feels very low. They did cover themselves by saying a “top-10 grade isn’t out of the question”, but still decided to rank them in the bottom third of the league nonetheless.

This just seems way too low for a Cowboys offense that will feature one of the best WR duo’s in the entire league. Sure there are other questions about the offense, but Dallas covered their bases pretty well. They drafted the best guard in the 2025 draft class to replace Zack Martin and put together a solid RB committee, arguably upgrading the unit.

It’s easy to forget Dallas’ offense was one of the best in the league not long ago in 2023. They ranked second in expected points added (EPA) for play, eighth in explosive play rate, and first in points per drive. But despite all of that they seem to be judged by their drop-off in 2024 when injuries negatively impacted production all season.

Being rank the 23rd offense in the league is way too low for the Cowboys. Expect them to be closer to that top-10 range this season, much like they were consistently for several years prior to that injury-plagued 2024 season.

As much as we disagree with PFN’s ranking the Cowboys offense so low, we don’t feel as strongly about the way they ranked Dallas’ defense.

25) Dallas Cowboys

The Panthers.

That was the only team that allowed more points during the 2024 regular season than the Cowboys, a disastrous showing for a franchise that had previously posted three straight top-5 Defense+ finishes.

They surrendered 6,039 yards of offense, 944 more than they surrendered the year prior, which is the easiest way to understand how dramatic their decline was. Micah Parsons still reached a dozen sacks despite missing four contests, and as long as he is wreaking havoc, this unit has for much more upside than any team swimming in this area.

That said, this was easily the worst red zone defense in the league, and if that doesn’t get corrected, it doesn’t matter how impactful Parsons is in the red zone. If Dallas is going to rebound in a big way this year, it’s because they’re turning seven-point drives into three-point attempts. It is that simple.

The Cowboys defense was disastrous a season ago in 2024, and they might not have done enough to suggest they upgraded that side of the ball throughout the offseason. Right now, there are more questions than answers, making it difficult to project how good or bad Dallas’ defense will be under new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.

Eberflus has his work cut out for him to prove PFN ranking the Cowboys defense 25th is inaccurate. His first order of business to improve the run defense that ranked 29th in the league last year, allowing 137.1 yards per game. Then he has to work out who replaces Jourdan Lewis and DeMarcus Lawrence all the while navigating around the multitude of injuries.

Until some of these questions are answered, PFN’s defensive rankings for the Cowboys seem reasonable, at least for right now. However, this is also a unit that has some upside to it and could end up moving up about 10 spots when all is said and done. Only time will tell though.