The Touchback is launching a preview series for fantasy football this season. Today, we’re providing you with the Dallas Cowboys 2020 Fantasy Football Overview. Click here to read our other previews. Follow @dadbodff1 for more fantasy football insights!
The Dallas Cowboys come into this season as the favorites in the NFC East. Their offense continues to trend upwards and they keep putting more weapons around Dak Prescott. With the 17th overall pick in this year’s draft they took stud wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, a player who can add value to an already outstanding wide receiving corps. The offensive line may not be what it used to be, but it’s still considered above average.
Another addition they made this offseason was hiring Mike McCarthy, the former Green Bay Packers head coach. He brings with him his version of the west coast offense hoping to merge these concepts with what offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had success with in 2019. Last year, the Cowboys led the league in yards while ranking 18th in time of possession.
So, who’s hot and who’s not in this offense? While everyone should have their fair share of targets and opportunities, some might fizzle during the upcoming fantasy football season.
Related: What Seahawks players do you need to know for fantasy football in 2020
Dallas Cowboys 2020 Fantasy Football Overview: Players to watch
Stud – Michael Gallup
Michael Gallup had 1,100 yards and 66 receptions last season while lining up across the field from Amari Cooper. Most teams would like to have their WR1 put up that kind of production, but the Cowboys featured two pass catchers with that level of output. Despite his impressive 2019 campaign, Gallup has gone under the radar this offseason.
Last year, he became more familiar with the Cowboys offense, honed his route running skills and saw his production increase significantly compared to his rookie season. In PPR leagues Gallup is currently going as the WR32 off the board despite finishing last season 17th in points per game. Even with the addition of CeeDee Lamb, Gallup’s numbers should not be affected as Dallas looks to become more pass dependent under McCarthy.
Dud – Ezekiel Elliott
Before I continue, I must clarify this. In no way am I saying Ezekiel Elliott will suck in 2020. Ever since he came into the league, Zeke has been a force. He’s finished at the top of every major category for running backs. He was 2nd in rushing attempts last year and 5th in touchdowns. But, he outside influences could limit his upside.
Enter Mike McCarthy and the west coast offense. The Dallas Cowboys have finished top-10 in rushing attempts since drafting Elliot in 2016. Meanwhile, McCarthy on the other hand has focused on the pass throughout his career. In his last season in Green Bay, McCarthy ran the ball on less than 35 percent of plays and had three or more wide receivers on the field 77 percent of the time. That means Elliott could even be asked to line up in the slot on occasion, something not considered one of his strengths. Tony Pollard may also be featured more catching passes out of the backfield as well.
With the trio of Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and rookie CeeDee Lamb all vying for targets, the Cowboys may have trouble getting Zeke his traditional workload. Elliot has been dependent on volume throughout his career. When looking at fantasy points per opportunity, he ranked 60th last year. Although he topped 300 carries in 2019, I see him more in the 240-260 range this year. With all of those vacated carries, I don’t necessarily expect him to fall too far, but I do see a few guys that could potentially catch him. Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara, Joe Mixon, Leonard Fournette and Aaron Jones could all match his point total this season considering the roles they have on their respective teams.
Sleeper – CeeDee Lamb
Even with obvious needs on the defensive side of the ball, the Cowboys still took CeeDee Lamb with the 17th pick. It’s clear that the team are high on Lamb and his potential. With Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup getting all the attention from opposing defenses, Lamb could sneak into a productive WR3 role. He already has the talent and is in the best position of all the rookie wide receivers drafted in the first round. If he and Dak can get on the same page, there’s no reason why Lamb couldn’t succeed in this offense.
Teammate Amari Cooper was recently quoted saying that it’s not out of the realm of possibilities for the Cowboys to have three 1,000-yard receivers this year. Although that hasn’t been done since 2008, it is a possibility for a team that threw the ball almost 600 times and led the NFL in yards last year.
Wildcard – Blake Jarwin
The 6’5 undrafted tight end out of Oklahoma State enters his fourth season and is finally out from behind Jason Witten’s shadow. Jarwin is in line to possibly swoop in and steal some of those red zone targets that Witten occupied.
What makes Jarwin’s position really interesting is not just the vacated red zone targets from Witten, but also Randall Cobb who saw plenty of action in the slot last year. Jarwin ranked 6th in yards per target in the minimal work he saw last season. He is not a heavy volume guy and will be relied on in the red zone. With his size, speed and strength, Jarwin is being looked at by some as the next breakout tight end in the NFL.
At his current ADP (13th round), why not take a shot to see if he can create some fireworks for your team in his first year as the Cowboys TE1?
