I started looking through the 2025 receivers numbers expecting to see the same names at the top, like Puka Nacua, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Ja’Marr Chase, George Pickens, and CeeDee Lamb.
The Cowboys part of the list wasn’t what I thought I would see.
For this article, I sued wide receivers with at least 50 targets. You have to draw a line somewhere because catch percentage gets stupid pretty fast when some guy catches eight of nine balls and suddenly leads the NFL.
The NFL’s Top 25
Stefon Diggs led the way in 2025, catching 85 of 102 targets for an 83.3% catch percentage. While Puka Nacua’s 77.7% might be the one I like most because he saw 166 targets, which is a large workload.
Here’s the top 25 wide receivers in catch percentage.
Nobody in their right mind is taking this list and ranking Ryan Flournoy ahead of Chase, St. Brown, or Lamb. I wouldn’t either.
But there might be that one crazy fan on social media who would just for clicks, because that’s how it works.
Catch percentage doesn’t tell you the whole story or who has the best hands in football. A bad throw, a ball broken up by a defensive back are still targets. Deep shots are always tougher than a five-yard underneath route.
Fifty-six targets is still enough for me to pay attention to 71.4% from the third receiver who wasn’t supposed to be the third receiver.
Ryan Flournoy Surprised Us All
Who had on their bingo card that Ryan Flournoy would finish the season as the third receiver and have 40 receptions for 475 yards and four touchdowns in 16 games and only four starts.
The stats don’t scream superstar, but it is a sample size of what could come.
Forty catches on 56 targets is what I care about here.
CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens are still the top two and Ryan Flournoy doesn’t have to either one of them. If he is the No.3 receiver, I’ll take 71.4% all day.
Pickens came in at 67.9%, which was good for the 20th wide receiver on the list. He caught 93 passes on 137 targets and averaged 15.4 yards per reception. We all know he is getting chances further down the field, so his number was never going to look like a slot receiver.
Then I got CeeDee Lamb.
He caught 75 of 117 targets, a 64.1% catch rate. That put him tied for 33rd.
So Dallas’ three main wide receivers finished like this:
- Ryan Flournoy: 11th—71.4%
- George Pickens:20th—67.9%
- CeeDee Lamb: T-33rd—64.1%
No one would ever truly rank these receivers in that order. I know I wouldn’t, but on this one number Flournoy beat both of them.
We’ve already talked about Lamb’s drops, and eight of them in one season isn’t something to ignore. At the same time, blaming him for all 42 targets that didn’t turn into catches would be a little irresponsible.
Still, 64.1% was the lowest catch rate of Lamb’s career.
It’s nothing I would panic about, but it is worth noting.
Dallas already knows what they have in CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens gives them something they didn’t have before. Ryan Flournoy is the one I’m still trying to figure out.
Maybe the 71.4% doesn’t carry over with more targets. Maybe it will, but if Dallas can throw him the ball 70 or 80 times, and he keeps catching the ball at that rate, I don’t need anything more complicated than that.
For a No.3 wide receiver, I’ll take that every Sunday.
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