It has been a long time since the Super Bowl, and remembering exactly how things left off last year can be a challenge. So, I’ll be writing up a fantasy preview for each NFL team to give us a quick refresher on what happened last year, and what changes took place in the offseason. All fantasy stats will be in ESPN scoring format unless otherwise noted.
If I missed any change or left out any big notes, throw them down in the comments for me!
What Did They Do Last Year
The Dallas Cowboys lost their quarterback Dak Prescott in Week 5, and suffered injuries to other key players on both sides of the football. Folks from Dallas (Dallas…onians?) hope the injuries were the main cause of the embarrassing 6-10 season.
Quarterback
| OVR Rank | Player | G | COMP | ATT | YDS | TD | INT | ATT | YDS | TD | FFP | FFP/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | Dak Prescott | 5 | 151 | 222 | 1,856 | 9 | 4 | 18 | 93 | 3 | 123.5 | 24.7 |
| 54 | Garrett Gilbert | 1 | 21 | 38 | 243 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 0 | 14.5 | 14.5 |
| 29 | Andy Dalton | 11 | 216 | 333 | 2,169 | 14 | 8 | 28 | 114 | 0 | 136.2 | 12.4 |
| 65 | Ben DiNucci | 2 | 23 | 43 | 219 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 22 | 0 | 7 | 3.5 |
Dak Prescott broke his ankle in Week 5 and thus missed most of the 2020 season. There is good news from Dallas, though, where recently Dak told reporters he was “close, but I can go play in a game right now” when speaking about his recovery.
Dak was on pace for a career year before the injury, and so his QB5-ish ADP feels like a bargain. He’s currently ranked our QB3 for 2021.
Wide Receivers
| PPR Rank | STD Rank | Player | G | TGT | REC | YDS | TD | STD PTS | STD PTS/G | PPR PTS | PPR PTS/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 19 | Amari Cooper | 16 | 130 | 92 | 1,114 | 5 | 142.8 | 8.9 | 234.8 | 14.68 |
| 24 | 20 | CeeDee Lamb | 16 | 109 | 74 | 935 | 5 | 137.7 | 8.6 | 211.7 | 13.23 |
| 38 | 35 | Michael Gallup | 16 | 106 | 59 | 843 | 5 | 114.3 | 7.1 | 173.3 | 10.83 |
| 120 | 117 | Cedrick Wilson | 10 | 28 | 17 | 189 | 2 | 29.7 | 3 | 46.7 | 4.67 |
| 142 | 149 | Noah Brown | 8 | 23 | 14 | 154 | 0 | 15.8 | 2 | 29.8 | 3.73 |
The Cowboys have one of the best young wide receiver groups in the NFL. Despite Prescott missing 11 games, Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, and Michael Gallup all saw over 100 targets. All things considered, it was a feat that this wide receiver group scored the 9th most fantasy points as a team given the amount of fluctuation the Cowboys had at the QB position this year.
Per RotoWire’s .5PPR ADP, Amari Cooper is 33, CeDee Lamb 37, and the best bargain of all, Michael Gallup 88! Draft Cowboys receivers.
Note: CeeDee Lamb had 10 rushes, 82 yards, and a touchdown on the ground.
Running Backs
| PPR Rank | STD Rank | Player | G | ATT | YDS | TD | TGT | REC | YDS | TD | STD PTS | STD PTS/G | PPR PTS | PPR PTS/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 11 | Ezekiel Elliott | 15 | 244 | 979 | 6 | 73 | 52 | 338 | 2 | 169.7 | 11.3 | 221.7 | 14.78 |
| 41 | 40 | Tony Pollard | 16 | 101 | 435 | 4 | 40 | 28 | 192 | 1 | 92.7 | 5.8 | 120.7 | 7.54 |
| 150 | 143 | Rico Dowdle | 2 | 7 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 1.2 |
Ezekiel Elliot finished 18th in points per game, but his top-3 ADP left many disappointed in 2020. With Dak back under center, I’m betting on Elliot returning to a form more like what we saw through 5 games with Dak (about 18 standard scoring points per game) as opposed to what we saw after Dak (9 points per game).
Zeke is my RB4 this year in redraft. Pollard is a little insurance with little stand alone value.
Tight End
| PPR Rank | STD Rank | Player | G | TGT | REC | YDS | TD | STD PTS | STD PTS/G | PPR PTS | PPR PTS/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 16 | Dalton Schultz | 16 | 89 | 63 | 615 | 4 | 83.5 | 5.2 | 146.5 | 9.16 |
| 72 | 73 | Blake Bell | 11 | 15 | 11 | 110 | 0 | 11.2 | 1 | 22.2 | 2.02 |
| 106 | 105 | Blake Jarwin | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
There is so much potential offense to go around if Dak is anything close to the pace he showed in the first five games of 2020. Blake Jarwin, Dalton Schultz, some other guy they roll out there who is an eligible receiver, one of them is worth taking a shot.
2021 Draft
Dallas was a bit stunned when two corners went off the board moments before they were on the clock at the No. 10 pick. They end up “settling” for dynamic linebacker Micah Parsons out of Penn State. They went cornerback in the second round with Kelvin Joseph (Kentucky), and then in Round 3 took Osa Odighizuwa (defensive line, UCLA), Chauncey Golston (edge, Iowa), and Nahshon Wright (corber, Oregon State).
Defense is clearly the focus with the offense well set.
The Schedule
The amazing Warren Sharp of sharpfootballanalysis.com has the Cowboys with the seventh easiest schedule based on forecasted win totals. Games against the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and Las Vegas Raiders in addition to their soft divisional games make it easy to bet on the Boys to win a lot of games in 2021.
Additional Notes
Former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn will be the Cowboys new defensive coordinator (David Dorey wrote a nice article covering Quinn’s background here) and he’ll have his hands full looking to turn around Pro Football Focus’s 28th ranked defense.
The sky’s the limit for this offense though (and that’s what we care about for fantasy).
What Does It All Mean?!?! (AKA – Bold predictions)
Arrow up everywhere in Dallas. Get Cowboys on your team!
_____
Thanks to FFToday.com for hosting such great stats info!
Thanks to TheHuddle.com for their great Coaching Change Tracker