Think about it. Only one team’s set of fans in each league or sport is truly happy at the end of a season. There’s only one championship trophy. Everyone else who follows every other team eventually utters something close to “there’s always next year” at some point as yet another unsuccessful campaign comes to an end.
If you’re reading this and all you could see was the star on the Dallas Cowboys helmet, we don’t blame you. Thanks to the painful title drought team owner and GM Jerry Jones has overseen, there have been three decades' worth of “next years.” We don’t blame you if you might already be uttering the phrase before the 2025 season begins.
Especially following Thursday's trade of defensive star pass rusher Micah Parsons, it’s really hard to find hope that the ‘Boys will be that much better now than they were in 2024, when they limped to a wimpy 7-10 record while franchise quarterback Dak Prescott missed the entire second half of the season due to injury.
Not only did the team fail to make many notable additions to its roster in the offseason while losing some key components, but Dallas shares a division with the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and arguably the most promising non-Philly team in the entire league, the Washington Commanders. Both rival squads are stacked with talent and led by young QBs who have quickly surpassed Prescott’s playoff success early on in their careers.
But until next year, there is this year. Here’s what to look out for:
What Are the Experts Saying?
There isn’t a lot of hopeful optimism for the Cowboys’ 2025 prospects to be found as you scroll through assorted NFL preview pieces. As mentioned earlier, being in a division with a pair of the top teams in the league isn’t a thrilling idea, since that means Dallas will play the Eagles and Commanders twice each. But hey, folks out there seem to agree the Cowboys will at least be better than the lowly New York Giants, who have been a nightmare on the field for the past couple of seasons. “There are so many unknowns with this year’s team,” notes The Athletic in its 2025 season preview. “There are new pieces all over the coaching staff, coupled with a vanilla preseason plan and uncertainty with Micah Parsons’ contract situation. Their win total could be 10 or it could be five. Can franchise quarterback Dak Prescott stay healthy? Dallas has never had a losing season when he’s played the entire year, but the injuries have started to add up for the 32-year-old over the last few seasons.”
The experts and insiders polled by the Dallas Morning News, including the paper’s own Cowboys beat writers and columnists, along with some local sports broadcasters, aren’t exactly bullish on the team this year. No one in the 10-person panel predicts that Dallas will win more than nine games, which, in a 17-game regular season, almost certainly means the team will miss the playoffs.
Dak Prescott makes a bold NFC Championship prediction and @ChrisCanty99 thinks it's delusional with knowing what we know about the Dallas Cowboys.
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) August 11, 2025
🎙️📺 @UnSportsESPN pic.twitter.com/P6wJSvYuFa
What Do Las Vegas Sportsbooks Think About the Cowboys?
According to the primary sportsbooks out there, there is some big money to be made for gamblers who might want to take a chance on the Cowboys having a successful season. The main sportsbooks have Dallas in the middle of the league in terms of odds to win the Super Bowl, with MGM, ESPN Bet and FanDuel each giving the Cowboys +5000 odds. A $100 bet would put a cool $5,000 more in your pocket if the unthinkable were to happen after you took a chance with a Ben Franklin. But on that Super Bowl note, the defending champ that you will face twice in the regular season is among the top three betting favorites, with Philly getting around +700 in most prominent sportsbooks.
What is There to Look Forward To?
A new NFL season is always a good thing, period. And QB Dak Prescott is not only healthy and looking good in practice, but he has a new weapon at the wide receiver position, thanks to the offseason trade for Pittsburgh’s mercurial talent George Pickens. Dallas is no stranger to eccentric receivers and with All-Pro CeeDee Lamb taking up attention on one side of the field, Prescott will be all too happy to look Pickens' way while also looking past some of the controversies and headlines Pickens has been in the middle of in his past. And Brandon Aubrey could absolutely be the first kicker in NFL history to nail a 70-yard field goal. The former pro soccer player has given us some thrilling near misses over the past two seasons, and maybe the new head coach will be up for letting Aubrey give it a go.
What Are The Key 2025 Games?
- Sept. 4, Dallas at Philadelphia (Opening night)
- Sept. 28, Green Bay at Dallas (Micah Parsons returns as a Packer)
- Oct. 19, Washington at Dallas (First game against division rival)
- Nov. 27, Kansas City at Dallas (Thanksgiving game against recent champions)
- Dec. 4, Dallas at Detroit (Late-season game against a top NFC favorite)
- Jan. 4, Dallas at New York Giants (Final game of regular season)
How Can I Watch the Cowboys on TV
As is the case every year, the Cowboys will be featured on many of the marquee time slots. That not only means very few noon Sunday games, but it also means you’ll likely need more than one cable or streaming subscription to ensure you catch them all.Dallas’s games are mainly seen on Fox, with some to be shown on CBS, which are both available in almost all cable packages and multi-channel streamers. The Cowboys will also have one game on Amazon Prime’s Thursday night exclusive package and will be featured on both NBC Sunday Night Football and ESPN’s Monday Night Football at various points of the season.
