Fantasy Football 2017 Team Preview: Dallas Cowboys
This is the 2017 fantasy preview of the Dallas Cowboys. In this preview I will provide the Must-Own players, Sleepers, and Longshot players with upside very deep in drafts.
Must-own players are those who should be owned by someone in any league. Handcuff RBs can qualify, as they are often very important to a fantasy team over the full schedule. Sleepers are secondary players that you may find on the waiver wire at some point in the year, or may go undrafted in shallower auction-style leagues. The Longshots are players with microscopic ADP, who are being drafted at the very end of drafts, or more likely not drafted at all.
All ADP data is courtesy of FantasyPros.com.
**I will list all kickers, but I cannot give analysis on them. Sorry :-/
MUST OWNS
Ezekiel Elliott, RB (ADP: 11): Hoooo boy. Godammit Zeke. In case you didn’t know, Elliott has been suspended for six games. So where should you draft 2016’s leading rusher? Well, he is a truly elite talent behind a massively dominant offensive line, who racked up 1,631 yards 15 touchdowns. Even though you won’t get to use him until Week 8, the bye week will be behind the Cowboys, and he’ll be good to go the rest of the way. He should be able to get back to dominating right off the bat, so if he lasts until the fourth or fifth round, that’s where you should start thinking about stashing this beast.
Dez Bryant, WR (ADP: 18): Dez might be the biggest beneficiary of Elliott’s suspension, as the Cowboys will surely throw a bit more. A quick look at Dallas’ roster leads to one conclusion; if they throw more, those targets are headed Bryant’s way, because there’s not much in the passing game. Dez is a notch below the elite WRs in fantasy because this remains a high-volume running team, but he tends to make the most of his somewhat limited work. Bryant is like the Devonta Freeman of WRs; you may not love his touches, but you will adore the chunks of yardage and high touchdown rate. From 2012 through 2014 Dez never scored fewer than 12 touchdowns, and topped out at 16. He’s been nicked up the last two years, but if he can stay upright Dez is a monster.
Darren McFadden, RB (ADP: 125): McFadden was going to be a must-own handcuff for me, but now he’s a Top 15ish RB for the first six weeks of 2017. When we last saw D-Mac as a starter he was very good, rushing for 1,089 yards – only three touchdowns – and catching 40 passes. That’s obviously very far from what Elliott would have given you, but it’s pretty solid. You can ignore the ADP I have here because he’s going to fly up draft boards in the wake of the Zeke ban.
SLEEPERS
Dak Prescott, QB (ADP: 112): I’m surprised Dak isn’t getting more love from the fantasy public, but they may see what I see – a player who was unfathomably efficient as a rookie who will regress a bit. Prescott threw 23 touchdowns against only four interceptions in 2016, while running for 282 yards and an additional six scores. He also passed for 3,667 yards (229.2 per game). Dallas fans cover your eyes, but in Robert Griffin III’s rookie season with the Redskins he passed for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions, while running for 815 yards and seven scores. Both entered the league with accuracy questions, only to shock the world with their low interception totals. Both also relied on a strong running game to lessen the amount of defenders dropping back into coverage to confuse them. Both ALSO were teammates with Alfred Morris as rookies; do what you will with that tidbit. What I’m trying to say is that Prescott is fine at this ADP, because his freakish rookie year was probably a bit of a mirage.
Jason Witten, TE (ADP: 165): Witten will give you 65-75 catches, around 700 yards, and 3-5 touchdowns. That’s not amazing, but it’s also pretty much fine. If you are going to just sit out TE until the end of the draft you can do worse than Witten. But you should be slapped senseless if any part of you gets excited about drafting Witten.
Cole Beasley, WR (ADP: 179): Beasley is far from exciting, but he’s better than you think. He saw a career-high 98 targets in 2016, and caught an impressive 76.5 percent of them, finishing with 75 catches for 833 yards and five touchdowns. He’s in the same role as he was last season, and surrounded by the same cast of characters. I like Beasley in PPR formats and three-WR leagues.
Alfred Morris, RB (ADP: 180): Morris went from utterly irrelevant, to a high-profile handcuff for the first six weeks. Backing up McFadden is important, because D-Mac spent the first six seasons of his career not making it through 16 games. Morris might not be a good running back anymore, but if he gets the starting gig behind this offensive line, he’s going to score enough touchdowns to be relevant.
LONGSHOTS
Rico Gathers, TE (ADP: N/A): At some point Jason Witten will decline. If it’s this year Gathers, one of four TEs currently on Dallas’ roster, seems like the highest upside option. He’s a former basketball player and he has zero NFL receptions in the regular season. That explains why he has no ADP. But he’s tearing up the 2017 preseason, catching seven passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns in two games. Witten is still here, so don’t get too excited, but don’t be surprised if Dallas begins working Gathers in because he has the potential to be a playmaker.
KICKER
Dan Bailey.