Sunday, August 1, 2021

Fantasy Football Projections 2021: Dallas Cowboys

Our 2021 Fantasy Football Projections will be viewable by both position and team. All of our initial 2021 projections will be posted by the end of May, if not sooner.

Below you will find our 2021 fantasy football projections for the Dallas Cowboys.

Note: These projections are based on a 17-game NFL schedule, which is expected in 2021.

MORE: Fantasy football projections for more NFL teams

QUARTERBACKS

PlayerAtt.Comp.YardsTDINTRushYardsTDPoints
Dak Prescott617.5412.24970.928.4111.1257.1279.84.71346.48
Garrett Gilbert35.921.7229.81.260.832.78.80.0113.51

Dak Prescott: Playing on the franchise tag in 2020, Prescott was dominant before his season was cut short by a compound ankle fracture. From Weeks 2 to 4, Prescott threw for a minimum (yes, minimum) of 450 yards in three consecutive games with a total of 11 touchdowns (eight passing and three rushing). As noted in our Dak Prescott 2021 Fantasy Football Profile, Prescott (three) had more 450-yard passing games than the rest of the league combined (two) in 2020. During that three-game stretch before getting injured, Prescott performed as the weekly QB1, QB4 and QB1, respectively. With a talented trio of wide receivers, Prescott has tremendous upside if he can stay healthy.

MORE: Dak Prescott 2021 Fantasy Football Outlook

RUNNING BACKS

PlayerAtt.YardsTDRec.YardsTDPoints
Ezekiel Elliott288.91256.79.6849.9387.52.1260.05
Tony Pollard85.8386.12.7530.4228.81.3100.99
Rico Dowdle5.620.20.012.218.20.15.6

Ezekiel Elliott: The offense went off the tracks when Dak Prescott sustained his season-ending injury and the offensive line injuries further impacted Elliott's production. From Weeks 6 to 17, Zeke finished as a top-12 fantasy running only twice in 10 games after doing so three times in the team's first five games. Even if Tony Pollard earns a few more touches in 2021, Elliott should rank near the top of the league in workload. In fact, only three backs had more than six games last season with at least 20 touches -- Derrick Henry (14), Dalvin Cook (11) and Elliott (11).

Tony Pollard: Despite playing fewer than 50% of the team's offensive snaps every week except for the game Ezekiel Elliott missed (Week 15, 90%), Pollard had at least eight touches in 10 of the team's final 12 games. Excluding his one start, Pollard averaged nine touches over his final 11 games in which he appeared in less than half of the team's offensive snaps. Assuming good health for Dak Prescott and the offensive line, 8-10 weekly touches in this offense could lead to stand-alone flex value for Pollard on a weekly basis.

WIDE RECEIVERS

PlayerRec.YardsTDRushYardsTDPoints
Amari Cooper91.11224.86.23.49.40.01206.23
CeeDee Lamb88.91162.46.55.636.40.01203.39
Michael Gallup62.9946.56000162.1
Cedrick Wilson9.8137.81.12.34.6025.74
Noah Brown8.2109.20.800019.82
Simi Fehoko4.8650.700013.1

Amari Cooper: Cooper finished 2020 with a career-high 92 receptions for 1,114 yards and five touchdowns. It was his third consecutive 1,000-yard season and fifth of his career. In 41 games as a member of the Cowboys, Cooper has averaged 73.9 yards per game. Recovering from ankle surgery, Cooper is expected to return to practice after the Aug. 13th preseason game and play a few snaps before the regular season begins.

CeeDee Lamb: With a healthy Dak Prescott, Lamb began his NFL career with two 100-yard games and a minimum of 59 yards in each of his first five games. During that five-game span, Lamb scored the 11th-most fantasy points (Amari Cooper was 12th) and only five other receivers had more receiving yards (433). Based on his skill set, Lamb should eventually emerge as the 1(a) for the Cowboys to Cooper's 1(b) ... potentially as early as 2021. Prescott recently said of that his "expectations are super-high" for Lamb, whom he described as "a special playmaker that we're privileged to have and he'll be big-time and definitely have a breakout season."

MORE: CeeDee Lamb 2021 Fantasy Football Outlook

Michael Gallup: It was a down year (59/843/5) for Gallup, who averaged 26.4 fewer yards per game than he did in 2019. Of course, the offense as a whole struggled without Dak Prescott and Gallup had 50-plus yards in four of five games with Prescott and in only three-of-11 games without him.

TIGHT ENDS

PlayerRec.YardsTDRushYardsTDPoints
Blake Jarwin48.8546.12.700095.21
Dalton Schultz35.8361.41.900065.44
Sean McKeon1.1130.10002.45

Blake Jarwin: With the Cowboys moving on from Jason Witten before the start of the 2020 season, Jarwin was expected to see a big jump in target share and production, but he unfortunately tore his ACL in Week 1. As a part-time player in 2018 and 2019, Jarwin had a total of 77 catches for 672 yards and six touchdowns.

Dalton Schultz: Taking on a much larger-than-expected role given Jarwin's ACL tear, Schultz had 63 catches for 615 yards and four touchdowns. The former Stanford Cardinal finished the year as fantasy's TE12 (half-PPR) and was a little better in full PPR formats (TE10) and a little worse in non-PPR formats (TE15). If Jarwin can stay healthy, however, Schultz will return to a secondary role.

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