Most Cowboys fans never saw Ryan Flournoy coming. He’s grown used to it.
The wide receiver, chosen by the Cowboys 216th overall in 2024’s draft, had an unusual path to get to The Star in Frisco. But now that the 24-year-old is finally in the room, he plans to make sure everyone knows who he is.
“Super competitive and super athletic,” Flournoy told The Draft Show when he was asked to describe his play style.
It’s a super apt description for the guy whose college nickname was actually “Super,” thanks to his impressive feats both in the weight room and on the football field. He even made Bruce Feldman’s exclusive “Freaks List.”
Flournoy showed off 4.44 speed at the combine, a top-15 number among all wide receivers. And his Relative Athletic Score- 9.89 out of 10- nearly puts him in the 99th percentile of all receivers since 1987.
Ryan Flournoy was drafted in round 6 pick 216 in the 2024 draft class. He scored a 9.89 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 38 out of 3402 WR from 1987 to 2024. https://t.co/wLWr8qEs74 pic.twitter.com/IUruzTPkO8
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 27, 2024
“I feel like I can do anything when I’m out there between the lines,” he said. “The Dallas Cowboys are going to get a great competitor and a great football player.”
Flournoy’s wasn’t widely recruited out of high school. His six-year college career started at Division II’s Central Missouri, where he redshirted as a freshman, missed the beginning of the next season with a knee injury and then recorded just 17 receptions in ten games playing catch-up with the offense, and then saw the Mules’ 2020 season canceled due to COVID.
He transferred to Iowa Western Community College and racked up 32 catches, 545 yards, five touchdowns before transferring again to Southeast Missouri State. There, he led the Redhawks in receiving, was a team captain, and was awarded first-team all-conference honors in back-to-back seasons.
“God put me through them obstacles to mold me into the man I am today,” he explained. “I feel like I can overcome everything.”
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Along the way, Flournoy had big aspirations driving him. Just look at the wide receivers he said he tries to model his game after.
“The great Jerry Rice. I used to watch his highlights all the time. And I still do today, just because of his work ethic and how he really just was dominant.”
Ironic, then, that Flournoy was drafted over Rice’s son by just nine spots on Saturday, after having bested Brenden Rice’s 40 time by barely a whisker in Indianapolis.
“I take a look at a lot of great receivers,” Flournoy continued. “I like to compare myself sometimes to Dez Bryant sometimes, just because we have the same frame and the same capabilities.”
Coincidentally, he’ll now be working alongside the man wearing Bryant’s former jersey number.
“Big fan of him and can’t wait to get to work with him,” Flournoy said of CeeDee Lamb. “Just to model my game after him and just learn from him, because I feel like he’s one of the greats.”
Southeast Missouri State’s Ryan Flournoy has wicked ball skills. Catches almost everything thrown his way and excels through contact/traffic.
Had a really solid Senior Bowl and tested incredibly at the Combine. One of my fav sleepers in the 2024 NFL Draft. pic.twitter.com/8JFklaNu8o
— Bobby Football (@Rob__Paul) March 10, 2024
Flournoy became just the second player in Southeast Missouri school history to be invited to the Reese’s Senior Bowl, where he stacked up well against the nation’s top competition, logging a first down on one 13-yard catch and even taking a shotgun snap and showing off his speed on a designed run.
The Illinois native turned it up that whole week in Mobile, and he definitely turned heads. But he admits it may not have always been about his play.
“I had a chip on my shoulder that whole time,” he explained, “because I had a logo that nobody recognized on my helmet.”
Well, everybody recognizes the logo that Flournoy is about to put on his next helmet.
He traveled a super windy and super challenging road just to make it here.
Now he just has to keep being Super in order to stay.
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