Back in the 2023 draft, the Dallas Cowboys had a few receivers on their draft board to target in the later rounds.
One of them was Jonathan Mingo out of Mississippi. Unfortunately for Dallas, other teams also had Mingo in their sights.
The Carolina Panthers nabbed Mingo with the eighth pick of the second round, the 39th overall.
The Cowboys would wait until the seventh round, with the 244th pick, to take a receiver, Jalen Brooks, instead.
Last year, Dallas selected receiver Ryan Flournoy out of SE Missouri State in the sixth round. But they never forgot about Mingo.
Back in November, the Cowboys sent their fourth-round pick of this April’s draft to Carolina in return for Mingo and a seventh-round pick in April.
The last time the Cowboys traded away a fourth-round pick was for quarterback Trey Lance. Dallas is clearly hoping this trade works out better than the Lance trade did.
Mingo suited up for eight games in Dallas last year, his lone start coming against the Bengals.
He finished with five catches for 46 yards over those eight contests. Mingo had 12 catches for 121 yards for Carolina before the trade.
In his rookie year, Mingo had 43 catches for 418 yards.
Clearly, 2024 was a down year. Mingo has two years left on his contract with a total of $3.5 million due over those two seasons.
For Flournoy, his rookie season began with low expectations anyway. Still, he managed to haul in 10 of the 14 passes thrown his way for 102 yards.
Five of them went for first down.
He has three years left on his contract, for a combined total of just over $3.2 million to be paid out over the three seasons.
Roster Review 2025: Ryan Flournoy/Jonathan Mingo. This is Part 12 of a series. Click here for a list of all related articles.
Outlook For 2025
Both Mingo and Flournoy will enter the 2025 season still looking for their first NFL touchdown.
Both are likely going to be fighting for the WR4 slot on the depth chart. Unless the Cowboys spend a high pick on a rookie receiver in April’s draft.
Of the two, Mingo may have the best chance to move past Jalen Brooks.
But it seems unlikely he could supplant Jalen Tolbert as the second starting receiver across from CeeDee Lamb.
The battle for slots on the depth chart at the receiver position will be one of the most competitive from three to six.
Mingo did have a solid rookie year in Carolina. Getting traded midway through the season derails most players.
His senior year at Ole Miss saw him haul in 51 catches for 861 yards and five touchdowns.
Couple that with his rookie year in Carolina and Mingo definitely has a lot of upside.
It will really come down to how the Cowboys new offensive brain trust uses him.
Flournoy is going to have to really work to get off the bottom of the totem pole in 2025. He’ll have to make the most of every play he gets involved in to move up.
Long-Term Outlook
Dallas’ front office coveted Mingo two years ago. They clearly still see a lot in him to throw a fourth-round pick at Carolina to get him.
But that was with Mike McCarthy at head coach.
It will be interesting to see what the new staff, Brian Schottenheimer and offensive coordinator Klayton Adams, thinks of Mingo.
The one good thing is, this trade of a fourth-round pick can’t possibly work out any worse that the trade that brought Lance to Dallas to be a clipboard holder for all but one game in two seasons.
If Mingo can live up to his pre-Draft expectations he should have a nice career in Dallas.
Flournoy is probably another two years form finding out if he will play beyond his rookie contract or not.
