{"id":46895,"date":"2026-05-10T23:42:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895"},"modified":"2026-05-10T23:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:42:59","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8breaking-with-the-dallas-cowboys-desperate-to-snap-their-playoff-drought-all-eyes-are-on-2026-breakout-candidates-donovan-ezeiruaku-shavon-revel-jr-and-ryan-flournoy-to-elevate-a-reva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47"},"content":{"rendered":"
For the Dallas Cowboys to make the playoffs in 2026, the team is going to need its defense to improve greatly after it was the\u00a0biggest cause of their missing the postseason\u00a0in 2025.<\/p>\n
For that to happen, the Cowboys need contributions from some of their 2026 NFL Draft picks, but they will also need some returning players to step up.<\/p>\n
Thankfully for Dallas, we expect two of those defenders to answer the bell and break out in 2026. Our list of breakout candidates also includes a player on the offensive side of the ball who is primed to have another career year this coming season.<\/p>\n
EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku<\/h2>\n\n
<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>Dallas Cowboys defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
With all the attention on first-round pick Malachi Lawrence, it’s easy to forget about Ezeiruaku, who is entering his second campaign and\u00a0figures to start opposite Rashan Gary.<\/p>\n
Ezeiruaku\u00a0showed plenty of promise\u00a0over 17 games last season. He notched\u00a0two sacks and 36 pressures in total, with the latter stat ranking 53rd among edge rushers in the entire NFL.<\/p>\n
With the talent he has, and with Gary now across from him to take some pressure off, Ezeiruaku has a real chance to eat in 2026.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
CB Shavon Revel<\/h2>\n\n
<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>Dallas Cowboys cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The\u00a0early returns on Revel were not good. In 2025, he surrendered a completion rate of 73.7% and a passer rating of 126.1 in seven games.<\/p>\n
But context is needed here. Revel was in his\u00a0first year back from a torn ACL\u00a0and may not have been himself, which is common for players coming back from such an injury. It also didn’t help that Revel did not have a normal offseason and missed the first 10 games as he worked his way back.<\/p>\n
As a result, Revel could look very different as a starter on the outside in 2026, and after what we saw of him in his rookie campaign, the bar is low for a breakout showing.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
WR Ryan Flournoy<\/h2>\n\n
<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Ryan Flournoy. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I guess you can make the argument that Flournoy had a breakout year in 2025. After all, he posted a career-best 475 receiving yards.<\/p>\n
However, we’re anticipating even more from Flournoy in 2026. He’s\u00a0projected to be the undisputed No. 3 receiver\u00a0in Dallas’ offense and should see very little attention with opposing defenses focused on stopping George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb.<\/p>\n
We don’t expect Pickens to have the yardage output he had in 2025, and Jalen Tolbert’s 203 yards are no longer on the roster. Look for Flournoy to scoop up some of that production for another career year in his third season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the Dallas Cowboys to make the playoffs in 2026, the team is going to need its defense to improve greatly after it was the\u00a0biggest cause of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":46896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n
\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47 - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47 - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the Dallas Cowboys to make the playoffs in 2026, the team is going to need its defense to improve greatly after it was the\u00a0biggest cause of...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-10T23:42:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anh-dang-bai-1-10.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"944\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1146\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrTuan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrTuan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895\",\"name\":\"\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47 - Breaking News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anh-dang-bai-1-10.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-10T23:42:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-10T23:42:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9dc0774b09b16f117d51cf4d4926f7b8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anh-dang-bai-1-10.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anh-dang-bai-1-10.png\",\"width\":944,\"height\":1146},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking News\",\"description\":\"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9dc0774b09b16f117d51cf4d4926f7b8\",\"name\":\"MrTuan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5bb209608e9e77c92cd1bbdbeb68ac5de1a8a63439d217f4611332753a76a497?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5bb209608e9e77c92cd1bbdbeb68ac5de1a8a63439d217f4611332753a76a497?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrTuan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47 - Breaking News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47 - Breaking News","og_description":"For the Dallas Cowboys to make the playoffs in 2026, the team is going to need its defense to improve greatly after it was the\u00a0biggest cause of...","og_url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895","og_site_name":"Breaking News","article_published_time":"2026-05-10T23:42:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":944,"height":1146,"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anh-dang-bai-1-10.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MrTuan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrTuan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895","name":"\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47 - Breaking News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anh-dang-bai-1-10.png","datePublished":"2026-05-10T23:42:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-10T23:42:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9dc0774b09b16f117d51cf4d4926f7b8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anh-dang-bai-1-10.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Anh-dang-bai-1-10.png","width":944,"height":1146},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=46895#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: With the Dallas Cowboys desperate to snap their playoff drought, all eyes are on 2026 breakout candidates Donovan Ezeiruaku, Shavon Revel Jr., and Ryan Flournoy to elevate a revamped roster and provide the support Dak Prescott needs to lead a deep postseason run. \ud83d\udc47"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/","name":"Breaking News","description":"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9dc0774b09b16f117d51cf4d4926f7b8","name":"MrTuan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5bb209608e9e77c92cd1bbdbeb68ac5de1a8a63439d217f4611332753a76a497?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5bb209608e9e77c92cd1bbdbeb68ac5de1a8a63439d217f4611332753a76a497?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrTuan"},"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46897,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46895\/revisions\/46897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_1136,y_0,w_3586,h_3586\/c_fill,w_360,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Fcowboys_country%2F01kr953bxj6bjym3v162.jpg "\\"Dallas")
<\/picture><\/div>\n![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_464,y_0,w_1958,h_1958\/c_fill,w_720,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/cowboys_country\/01kr954pyndv94d6nmpc.jpg\" "\\"Dallas")
<\/picture><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_1819,y_0,w_5196,h_5196\/c_fill,w_720,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/cowboys_country\/01kr959q9jrrqwype998.jpg\" "\\"Dallas")
<\/picture><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_464,y_0,w_1958,h_1958\/c_fill,w_360,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Fcowboys_country%2F01kr954pyndv94d6nmpc.jpg "\\"Dallas")
<\/picture><\/div>\n![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_1819,y_0,w_5196,h_5196\/c_fill,w_360,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Fcowboys_country%2F01kr959q9jrrqwype998.jpg "\\"Dallas")
<\/picture><\/div>\n