The Dallas Cowboys should look much different in 2025 under a new coaching staff.

While Brian Schottenheimer was hired partially due to his familiarity with Dak Prescott and the rest of the offense, he also has a different approach than Mike McCarthy. His run-focused philosophies led to an overhaul of the coaching staff and will surely lead to changes on the roster.

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That being said, here are five players who should see a reduced role this season if Schottenheimer hopes to find success.

There was a point in the 2024 season where Mazi Smith started to show signs that the light bulb was coming on. As encouraging as that was, he still ended his second season far short of the expectations Dallas had when they made him a Round 1 pick in 2023.

Smith finished with 41 tackles and one sack. His numbers were far superior to what he recorded as a rookie but he was still ranked 117th out of 118 defensive tackles by Pro Football Focus.

Dallas needs to find a nose tackle who can give them more snaps because Smith isn’t ready to be the full-time starter.

Jerry Jones was thrilled to land Jonathan Mingo at the trade deadline. The rest of the world wondered what he was thinking.

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Mingo did nothing to help his case as he recorded five receptions on 16 targerts for 46 yards. That 31.3 catch percentage is tough to look at.

In 2025, Dallas would be better served giving Mingo’s snaps to someone such as Ryan Flournoy who had twice as many receptions as Mingo with fewer targets. The sixth-round pick caught 10 of 14 passes (71.4 percent catch rate) for 102 yards. He deserves the snaps but Jones will probably push Mingo on Schottenheimer.

During the 2024 season, a case could have been made for Deuce Vaughn to see an expanded role. That’s not because he proved himself a capable back but because Ezekiel Elliott wasn’t getting the job done.

Vaughn had a strong showing in the finale, going for 37 yards on six rushing attempts. That inflated his total, giving him 70 yards on 17 rushes for an average of 4.1 per attempt. However, the Washington game was the only one where he touched the ball more than once and finished with an average higher than 3.3 yards per attempt.

He was a fun story when drafted but the Cowboys need to revamp their entire ground game.

This isn’t meant to be a knock on Jalen Tolbert, who had the best season of his career. The third-year wideout caught 49 passes for 610 yards with seven touchdowns.

The only issue is that he’s not dynamic enough to be a full-time No. 2 wideout, which was the case this past season. Dallas would be best served finding a legitimate starter opposite CeeDee Lamb, which would allow Tolbert to move to No. 3 where he would be more effective.

The Dallas secondary could look vastly different under Matt Eberflus, who operates with more split safety looks than Dan Quinn or Mike Zimmer did. That could be bad for Malik Hooker who is known for his single-high coverage. It could also be an issue for Donovan Wilson, who is better served in the box.

Even playing in that role, Wilson had a disappointing season in 2025. He also carries the seventh-highest cap hit on the team heading into the new year.

His role won’t be the same this season and that cap hit could mean he’s not even on the roster when Week 1 rolls around.

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