Dak Prescott Out with Hamstring Injury | Fantasy Impact for Cooper Rush, Rico Dowdle, CeeDee Lamb, Jake Feguson and More
Analyzing the fantasy football impact of Dak Prescott missing multiple weeks with an injury.
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a hamstring injury that forced him out of the team’s week 9 loss to Atlanta, and that injury is now expected to keep him off the field for a couple weeks.
Let’s discuss what the injury means for the Cowboys’ top offensive fantasy players.
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Prescott’s Numbers/The New Starter
It’s been a bit of a rough season for Prescott, and the Cowboys overall. In eight starts, the Cowboys were just 3-5 with Prescott starting.
He has completed 64.7% of his passes for 1,978 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Prescott has taken 21 sacks and added 54 yards and a touchdown on 13 rushing attempts. He’s also fumbled four times.
Prescott has failed to reach 200 passing yards in three starts, and has two other games below 250 passing yards. He has thrown multiple touchdowns in four games, but also been picked off twice in four contests.
Cooper Rush has served as the top backup in Dallas this season, and has appeared in four games. Trey Lance is also an option on the roster, but hasn’t appeared in a game yet, so Rush is the anticipated starter.
Rush has completed just 56.4% of his passes for 167 yards, a touchdown and an interception so far this season. He’s taken no sacks and rushed for five yards on three attempts.
Over his career, Rush has completed 60% of his passes and thrown nine touchdowns to six interceptions.
Other Dallas Fantasy Outlooks
While Prescott wasn’t having a big season, it’s also going to be a downgrade for the team’s other offensive weapons with Rush or Lance getting the start instead.
The Cowboys have struggled to get their running game going.
Rico Dowdle leads the team with just 321 rushing yards. He hasn’t scored across 71 attempts. Dowdle has 163 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 21 receptions and 26 targets.
Ezekiel Elliott has rushed for 149 yards and two scores on 48 attempts. He has just 40 receiving yards on seven grabs and 10 targets.
Dalvin Cook has played the past couple weeks, rushing for 20 yards on eight carries and catching a 10-yard pass on his lone reception and target.
The running backs should be emphasized a bit more with Prescott out of the lineup. Dowdle is the guy you want, especially after Elliott was inactive in week 9 because of disciplinary reasons. Cook is no more than a handcuff at this point of his career, but could carve out a little role if Elliott doesn’t return to the team.
CeeDee Lamb is still the team’s top wideout, but he’s been mostly held in check this season. He’s got 660 yards and four touchdowns on 53 receptions and 84 targets.
TIght end Jake Ferguson has 334 yards, but no scores, on 38 catches and 52 targets this season.
Jalen Tolbert has posted 353 yards and three touchdowns on 30 catches and 43 targets.
KaVontae Turpin has 181 yards and a score on 17 catches and 28 targets. He also has rushed for 14 yards on five attempts.
Jalen Brooks is the only other receiver over 100 yards, and he’s got just 103 on seven catches and 20 targets - he also hasn’t scored.
Brandin Cooks hasn’t played in several weeks, but had 91 yards and a score on nine receptions and 19 targets in four games.
Having Rush or Lance now at quarterback isn’t going to help any of the pass catchers out, and is actually likely going to diminish all of their fantasy outlooks.
Lamb goes from being a must-start fantasy player to one who will probably be in start/sit decisions before week 10 kicks off. Ferguson was a solid fantasy TE option, but his outlook is a bit lower now.
Lamb is still going to be started in most leagues because of his fantasy potential, while Ferguson gets started more often than not because of the weak fantasy position he’s at.
Tolbert, Turpin, Brooks and Cooks went from being possible standard league streamers in the right matchups to players you probably want to avoid even in deeper leagues. Favorable matchups might mean some starts for a couple of these guys, but no fantasy owner is going to feel too good about anyone aside from Lamb and Ferguson.
There’s likely going to be some Cowboys in start decision stories we produce later in the week, so be sure to check back for those!
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