Fantasy
8/14/22
6 min read
2022 Fantasy Football: Dallas Cowboys Top 5 Players
The Dallas Cowboys head into the 2022 season looking to repeat as division champions. However, no NFC East team has won back-to-back division titles since 2004.
The Cowboys are hoping to change this trend but have lost some key offensive players this offseason like wide receivers Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson and guard Connor Williams. Even with these losses, I fully expect this team to have a top-tier offense. The Cowboys had the most all-purpose yards and the most total points scored by a team last season. The players should still be extremely productive with Dak Prescott at the helm. We should expect plenty of fantasy production from this team in 2022.
(Projections assume that the players will play all 17 games, unless other information is available)
Quarterback
| Player | Passing ATT | Pass CMP | Pass YDS | Passing TDS | INT | Rushing ATT | Rush YDS | Rush TDS |
| Dak Prescott | 630 | 436 | 4588 | 32 | 11 | 54 | 228 | 2 |
Dak Prescott (Josh’s Fantasy Football QB10)Â
Dak Prescott just continues to be one of the safest quarterbacks in fantasy football.
Prescott had a horrific leg injury during the 2020 season, but he was able to come back strong, finishing as a top-10 QB in fantasy last year. While Prescott had a good season, the leg injury obviously affected his rushing efficiency as he only averaged three yards per carry. Before 2021, Prescott’s career average was over five yards per carry. However, Dak’s passing efficiency improved, setting career-highs in completions and touchdowns. Now that Prescott is about two years removed from his leg injury, I believe the rushing efficiency will improve. He will not run around like Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts, but his rushing ability should give him a safer floor week-to-week.
The biggest concern for Dak Prescott is that he will be without Amari Cooper, who has been a safety blanket for Dak since 2018. Thankfully, the combination of CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, Jalen Tolbert, Dalton Schultz, Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott should be able to compensate for this loss. This is a unit that many other NFL teams would love to have. The Cowboys had the second-most passing yards in the league in both 2021 and 2019 (Dak was injured in 2020). If Dak Prescott can maintain the passing productivity he had last year and be more efficient in the run game, he can absolutely be a top-5 QB this season.
Running Back
| Player | Rushing ATT | Rush YDS | Rush TDS | TGTS | RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | REC TDS |
| Ezekiel Elliott | 259 | 1089 | 9 | 64 | 44 | 307 | 2 |
| Tony Pollard | 148 | 682 | 4 | 60 | 43 | 355 | 2 |
Ezekiel Elliott (Josh’s Fantasy Football RB13)
Ezekiel Elliott has been incredibly consistent since he entered the league in 2016. Elliot has been a top-10 PPR fantasy running back every season of his career, except in 2017, when he missed six games due to suspension and was the RB13. In fact, outside of the suspension, Elliott has only missed three games in his career: one game in 2020 with a calf strain, and the season finales in 2016 and 2018 when he was resting for the playoffs.
Elliott is simply one of the most durable running backs we have seen in recent memory. However, Elliott’s toughness may have hurt him last season, as the Cowboys revealed he had suffered a partially torn PCL. Elliott played through the injury, but it obviously affected his play. He was less explosive, averaging a career low in rushing yards per game (58.9) and receiving yards per game (16.9). Elliott is now healthy and should yet again prove that he is one of the most dominant running backs in the NFL. Tony Pollard is a very talented player, but Elliott is THE guy for this team. These projections have him as RB13, but the projections do not account for injury. If Elliott plays all 17 games, he should be a top-10 RB once again. Â
Tony Pollard (Josh’s Fantasy Football RB29)
Tony Pollard was drafted by the Cowboys in 2019 and immediately showed he was an explosive player.
He has been a bit overshadowed by Ezekiel Elliott, but Pollard has excelled whenever he receives opportunities. Since entering the league Tony Pollard has the fourth-most yards per carry out of all running backs with at least 300 attempts. The only names in front of him are Nick Chubb, Jonathan Taylor and Miles Sanders. However, Pollard has never received more than 14 carries in a game. As mentioned before, Ezekiel Elliott is just so durable. If Pollard was the top running back on the Cowboys, he could easily finish as a top-10 RB. As things stand, his touches will simply be limited. However, Pollard’s pass catching ability, burst and the Cowboys' stout offense will make him a startable running back every week.
Wide Receiver
| Player | TGTS | REC | REC TDS | REC TDS |
| CeeDee Lamb | 147 | 94 | 1225 | 8 |
CeeDee Lamb (Josh’s Fantasy Football WR6)
CeeDee Lamb is now entering his third year in the NFL and is primed for a breakout season.Â
Lamb’s talent has been obvious, but he has never received ample target volume. Lamb had the 22nd-most targets out of all wide receivers in each of the last two seasons. Both Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson are no longer on the Cowboys. Cooper and Wilson combined for 164 targets, 113 receptions and 14 touchdowns last season. This should finally be the year that CeeDee Lamb receives an elite target volume. If the targets are there, then the fantasy points will follow in the Cowboys' high-powered offense. I fully expect Lamb to be a top-10 fantasy football wide receiver in 2022.
Tight End
| Player | TGTS | RECEPTIONS | REC YDS | REC TDS |
| Dalton Schultz | 114 | 81 | 848 | 7 |
Dalton Schultz (Josh’s Fantasy Football TE6)
Dalton Schultz surprised everyone last season, finishing as the No. 3 overall tight end in fantasy football.
This may appear to be an outlier year, but I believe Schultz can be a top tight end yet again. Schultz thrived because he scored touchdowns, received decent targets and played 17 games. The Cowboys have 205 vacated targets from last season. If anything, it appears Schultz will be needed even more in 2022. I expect the target numbers to increase for Schultz this year, which should also lead to more touchdown opportunities. The only question then, is health. If Schultz plays 17 games, I am very confident he will finish as a top-5 TE in fantasy football.
