2024 Team Previews: Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys 2024 Preview

All ADP data is courtesy of Fantasy Pros.

** = target in drafts at this ADP

Top 120

CeeDee Lamb, WR (ADP: 2, WR1): Lamb is the current WR1 off the board, and deservedly so. Is he better than Justin Jefferson or Tyreek Hill? That’s up for debate, but there’s no debate that no WR currently has a better combination of skill, quality QB play and target share than CeeDee.

He led the NFL in targets last season (181), was 50 yards away from Hill for most receiving yards (1,749) and he was tied for the most receiving touchdowns (13) with Mike Evans and Hill. He enters 2024 with no discernible reason why his target share would drop either, as Dallas failed to address the WR position in any meaningful way. And while the usage of Lamb is super exciting and valuable, it’s his skill and talent that make him worthy of this ADP. This is a player who was in the 94th percentile in the NFL vs. man coverage (77.9% success) and vs. press coverage (81.2%), despite being pressed on 23.2% of his routes and being the clear and obvious first read almost all the time. He was wildly successful on every type of route in 2024, wreaking havoc at every level. He’s just one of the best receivers in football, and worthy of being drafted as high as No. 1 overall, because if that’s your guy, and you have that pick, he ain’t coming back to you.

**Dak Prescott, QB (ADP: 75, QB10): Prescott is an underappreciated player, because he routinely hits the benchmarks that a pocket passer must hit – 4,000 yards, 35+TDs – to be an every week starter, but he rarely gets the hype and ADP push that players like Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert have gotten, and players like C.J. Stroud and Jordan Love are getting this year. When Prescott plays the whole year, he’s getting you well over 4,000 yards, and he’s gone over 35 TDs in two of the past three years. Now, those numbers still don’t get you into the Josh Allen/Jalen Hurts zone, and I’d still prefer to take chances on guys like Kyler Murray, Anthony Richardson and Jayden Daniels due to their rushing floors, but Dak is a very nice pick where he’s going.

Jake Ferguson, TE (ADP: 91, TE10): Ferguson was a nice player in 2023, finishing with 71 receptions, 761 yards and five touchdowns. He is a quality TE who is indistinguishable from a lot of other guys with similar styles, roles and production. You could give Ferguson a bump to the top of that tier of TE because the pass catching situation behind Lamb is very murky, and he could wind up second on this team in targets, but it’ll be a very distant second. I don’t hate this ADP, and I don’t love it either. It’s fine, just like Ferguson is.

**Ezekiel Elliott, RB (ADP: 106, RB37): I am weirdly bullish on Elliott this year, despite Zeke looking real washed from a speed standpoint these days. I made the case here that he’s being really overlooked because of the narrative that he’s cooked, when the reality is that he’s just not a superstar anymore. And that’s fine, because at his current ADP what he does bring to the table is going to be valuable for fantasy managers.

Zeke can still smash through the line and score touchdowns, something Tony Pollard was comically ineffective at last season and which led to the Cowboys letting him leave. Zeke can also still catch the ball, reeling in 51 receptions for 313 yards and two scores last season despite being a clear second fiddle to Rhamondre Stevenson. He will need a lot of volume to put up yardage, and we don’t know how much of the work he’ll have to share with Rico Dowdle, but I do expect Jerry Jones to give his guy a ton of goal line work. For all of Prescott’s brilliance last year, Dallas ran the ball 30 times from the five-yard line or closer, 7th-most in the NFL. This receiving corps didn’t improve, so that should hold in 2024, and Elliott will be a lot better at scoring on those attempts. A double-digit TD season could definitely happen, which would be major value at this ADP.

Fantasy Relevant (120-150 ADP)

Brandin Cooks, WR (ADP: 144, WR57): Once upon a time, Cooks was as reliable as the sun coming up for 1,000+ yards and six to eight touchdowns. Those days are gone, because Cooks had the chance to be that in 2023, and while he salvaged his fantasy value by scoring eight touchdowns, he caught only 54 passes for 657 yards while playing 16 games.

He’ll be on the field a ton, but last season he had one game in which he recorded more than 72 yards, largely stringing together games with middling production that included a TD. He spread out those eight scores across eight different games, but was under 50 yards in all but three tilts, while also getting to 5+ receptions only three times. There’s a reason Lamb led the NFL in targets.

Rico Dowdle, RB (ADP: 142, RB44): Dowdle might be a popular name at an ADP like this because people will say that Elliott is washed, and Dowdle will secure himself a three-down role in no time. I don’t agree. Dowdle runs hard, but he is not an exceptional talent, and brings a lot of the same things to the table as Zeke, just with less proof of concept. Dowdle may prove to be a valuable handcuff, but beyond that, I’m not excited.

Favorite Deep Sleeper

Jalen Tolbert, WR (ADP: 269, WR90): It’s time for Tolbert to put up or shut up, because the path to playing time and production is as clear as it’ll ever be for him in Dallas. Lamb is the alpha and omega of this offense, and Cooks, as we noted, is on the downswing. He graded outside the Top 100 WRs last year per PFF, so I wouldn’t say I’m eager to take a chance on him, but in this bare receive cupboard the opportunity is right there. Because I think Cooks’ ceiling is permanently lowered, I’d prefer to take a chance on Tolbert and his unknown potential.  

Deep Cuts (150 & later)

Trey Lance, QB (ADP: N/A): Lance’s NFL career is a complete disaster thus far, and training camp stories haven’t been kind. He is miles away from relevance in just about any format, but there is a chance he wrests the backup role from Cooper Rush in camp and becomes a player who is one injury away from a starting gig as a run-first option. In two-QB leagues or dynasty formats, there could be a sliver of value even though you have to squint to see it.