The Dallas Cowboys are suffering through one of their most disappointing seasons in recent memory. They've now dropped four straight games after getting blown out by the rival Philadelphia Eagles in Week 10 and have little hope of clawing their way out of their 3-6 hole.

Things looked bleak even before news broke that quarterback Dak Prescott will likely be out for the rest of the year because of a hamstring injury. The Cowboys were the NFL's only team to rank in the top five in both total and scoring offense and defense last season, but they have since regressed in nearly every major category this year.

With the Cowboys already guaranteed to finish with their worst record since 2020, it's clear things need to change. They were stagnant this past offseason despite suffering yet another Wild Card Round collapse, and they're now paying the price for resting on their laurels.

To return to relevance, the Cowboys need to make sweeping changes when the calendar flips to 2025. With that in mind, we've created a blueprint that Dallas can follow this offseason to turn things around and become a contender again.

Replace Mike McCarthy

The Cowboys raised plenty of eyebrows when they declined to fire head coach Mike McCarthy in January. While he did help orchestrate three consecutive 12-5 regular seasons, he guided the Cowboys to only one postseason win over an injury-ravaged Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that snuck into the 2022 playoffs with a losing record.

Dallas' decision to stick with McCarthy has proven to be regrettable. The wheels have finally fallen off with him at the reins, and there is almost no hope for a turnaround. The team just set an NFL record by trailing by 20 or more in each of its last five home games, and it has lost all four of its 2024 home contests by an average of 23.5 points.

The Cowboys hit a new low on Sunday when they committed almost as many turnovers (five) as points they put on the board. The product was sloppy on both sides of the ball, and star defender Micah Parsons even took a thinly veiled jab at McCarthy during a postgame interview.

Despite the Cowboys' latest dismal showing and the chance that he's lost the locker room, McCarthy is still likely to stick around until Black Monday.

Following Sunday's loss, owner Jerry Jones told reporters that "Mike is a heck of a coach, a great coach in my mind. He added that he's reticent to fire any coach midway through the season and said he regretted doing so in the past with both Wade Phillips and Chan Gailey.

Jones did at least telegraph that the Cowboys plan to move on from McCarthy during the 2025 offseason. Barring a stunning change of fortune this year, the Cowboys will have a new head coach by the spring.

It's unclear whether they'll target a grizzled old hand with a wealth of Super Bowl experience like Bill Belichick or a young coach on the rise such as Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Either option would be far more appealing than sticking with McCarthy for another disappointing season.

Make a Blockbuster Trade

The Cowboys will be at a financial crossroads this offseason when it comes to finding a way to fit star edge-rusher Micah Parsons into their long-term plans. The superstar defender is in line for a massive extension after a stellar start to his NFL career, but his impact has been vastly diminished in 2024 while dealing with injuries.

Rather than make Parsons perhaps the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, the Cowboys could instead look to trade the three-time Pro Bowler.

While Parsons is having a down year—he has only three sacks in five games—there is no denying his impact when healthy. The 2021 first-round pick recorded at least 13 sacks in each of his first three NFL campaigns while earning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and a pair of All-Pro nods.

Plenty of teams would have strong interest in acquiring a game-changing edge-rusher like Parsons, even with his eventual extension cost in mind. The Cowboys realistically could acquire a slew of picks in exchange for him, including premium Day 1 and 2 selections.

There's no guarantee those picks would turn into a player anywhere near as talented as Parsons. However, the prospects whom the Cowboys select could help patch several holes on cost-effective rookie contracts for the next four to five years.

With two first-round picks and several Day 2 selections at their disposal after a Parsons trade, the Cowboys could have a transformative draft that sets them up to compete for the next half-decade or more.

Reload the Running Back Platoon

Besides keeping McCarthy, Dallas' other most head-scratching offseason decision was not taking a promising running back prospect in the 2024 NFL draft. After letting incumbent starter Tony Pollard walk in free agency with no proven depth behind him, the Cowboys instead re-signed the aging and ineffective Ezekiel Elliott to lead their backfield.

The results have been predictably poor.

Dallas is now averaging fewer rushing yards (83.7 per game) than any team besides the Las Vegas Raiders this year. The Cowboys have scored just three touchdowns on the ground across nine games, tying them with the Cleveland Browns for fewest in the league.

Elliott has been particularly horrendous, averaging only 3.2 yards per carry and generating just eight first downs across 54 totes. Rico Dowdle has become Dallas' top option since he's the only effective ball-carrier on the roster, but even he leaves something to be desired. He has 374 yards and zero touchdowns on 83 carries.

Dalvin Cook (2.5 YPC), Hunter Luepke (3.2 YPC) and Deuce Vaughn (2.9 YPC) are clearly not viable solutions, either. The Cowboys need to expend some capital on the position during the 2025 NFL draft.

Boise State's Ashton Jeanty and Ohio State's Quinshon Judkins—both of whom rank in the top 20 of the B/R Scouting Department's initial big board—could immediately change the fortunes of this flailing backfield and provide a much-needed spark as rookies.

The Cowboys haven't used a Day 1 or 2 pick on a running back since selecting Elliott at No. 4 overall in 2016. They're long overdue to take one early to finally patch this glaring hole.

Find Dak Prescott's Heir

Dak Prescott has been the Cowboys' starting quarterback since 2016. Since then, he has won 76 of his 122 starts and helped guide the team to five playoff berths. However, Dallas is only 2-5 during those postseason trips and has yet to advance past the divisional round.

Prescott is now on the wrong side of 30 and is running out of time to prove he can guide Dallas to its first Super Bowl since he was a toddler. He may not stick around for the full four-year, $240 million extension that he signed right before the 2024 season began.

While the hamstring injury has likely ended Prescott's 2024 campaign, he wasn't playing like one of the league's top quarterbacks before he went down. After completing a career-high 69.5 percent of his throws for 4,516 yards, 36 touchdowns and only nine interceptions last year, he was down to a completion rate of 64.7 percent for 1,978 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions this year.

Prescott turns 32 in July and will be coming off an injury that could hinder his mobility. Rather than bank on his return to form in 2025, the Cowboys should be mulling their options and aim to find an heir who can shepherd this organization into a new era.

With passers like Miami's Cameron Ward, Colorado's Shedeur Sanders and Georgia's Carson Beck all draft-eligible in 2025, the Cowboys could use their first-round pick on one of them as their future face of the franchise. Even if that player rides the pine behind Prescott for several years—a strategy the Green Bay Packers have used with both Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers—the team would be well-positioned for the future by taking this path.