Don't Forget About Me! Michael Gallup Has Fallen Down The Rankings But Not Much Has Changed

If you drafted Michael Gallup last season, you weren’t a happy camper. Coming off a breakout 2019, Gallup was being excitedly drafted as a big play threat for what promised to be one of the NFL’s most exciting offenses, and one that would be forced to throw a bunch because of their porous defense. Then, Dak Prescott went down, as did multiple offensive linemen, and you were left holding the bag; in this case, the bag was 59 catches, 843 yards and five touchdowns.

Gallup regressed in multiple areas, falling back below the 1,000-yard mark, and posting a career-low (but still impressive) 14.3 yards per reception. Obviously, we have to factor in that for most of the season, Gallup was catching passes from subpar or worse QBs, but it wasn’t encouraging that he wasn’t really able to elevate any of these QBs in the least. On the flip side, in this offense Gallup is mostly deployed as a field stretcher, and that usage increased with CeeDee Lamb entering the mix. Gallup averaged two more yards per catch than both Lamb and Amari Cooper, and wound up with the fewest receptions (59) of the three as a result. Even with Prescott back under center, that utilization should continue, so the disparity in reception totals is going to likely keep Gallup buried behind those two in ADP all season long.

With Prescott back, however, there truly is room for everyone to thrive. Unlike on other teams, where too many mouths to feed becomes an issue, Prescott is capable of keeping a lot of people fed. In 2019, five Cowboys finished the season with more than 50 receptions, and the offense produced two 1,100-yard receivers, Cooper and Gallup. He was able to do that with Ezekiel Elliott performing as a dominant rusher as well, which he wasn’t in 2020. That can partially be attributed to the drop-off at QB and Dallas’ offensive line woes, but he is also a high-usage back nearing the age 30 cliff. It’s fair to wonder if he will be leaned on quite so heavily moving forward, and if he isn’t, those are extra Prescott pass attempts. And even though Prescott can support fantasy relevance for a bevy of options, none are likely to have elite fantasy volume. In that regard, Gallup becomes even more attractive, since he is the least reliant on volume based on his role.

The biggest hurdle to fantasy success for Gallup would be losing his QB. Prescott went out in Week 5; in those first five weeks, Gallup averaged 3.4 receptions and 69.6 yards per game, and had a touchdown. His 16-game pace was 54 receptions, more than 1,100 yards and three touchdowns, which is on the low side considering he finished 2020 with five. With Cooper and Lamb in the mix, as well as Elliott still expected to have a big workload, an A.J. Brown-ish leap forward is probably not happening. But Gallup did see 105 targets last season, only six fewer than Lamb. Gallup averaged two more yards per reception, and scored the same number of touchdowns, five, as Lamb, who is going 87 picks earlier in half-PPR formats. I like Lamb quite a bit, and I do think he’ll be the safer fantasy option, but I’m not sure he’s 87 picks better. Gallup is a bit more preferable in standard formats, but absolutely don’t forget about him in the mid-to-late rounds. It’s not easy to scoop up players with 1,100-yard potential that deep in the draft, and there’s really no reason he can’t get back to his 2019 form. The only thing missing last season was a good quarterback.