Roster cutdowns loom, we are deep in Draft Season, and Belly Up Fantasy Sports is previewing each NFL team’s fantasy prospects. We’re giving you all the intel you need to dominate your draft and win your league. It’s time to preview “America’s Team”, as we check in on the 2022 Dallas Cowboys. Here’s hoping your fantasy team has won more playoff games than the ‘Boys in the last quarter century.

Note: All 2021 fantasy point totals and rankings are PPR unless otherwise noted.

2022 Dallas Cowboys Preview: Quarterback

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has been remarkably consistent since Day One in Dallas. Prescott has finished as a top-12 fantasy option in every season in which he’s been healthy. (Unfortunately, your humble fantasy expert was burned in his home league by Prescott’s 2020 injury.) Prescott has been every bit the heir to the Cowboys’ quarterback crown Jerry Jones hoped for when the Tony Romo era ended. 2021 was no different, with Prescott finishing as overall QB7. Much to the chagrin of his managers, Prescott disappeared for the first few weeks of the fantasy playoffs. If you survived the early rounds, he rewarded you with some big games Week 16-18.

Quarterback Bottom Line

Prescott covers perhaps the most important variable in all of team sports for Dallas: stability at quarterback. Given the volatile nature of everything else on the team (thanks, Jerrah…) that’s nothing short of amazing. The loss of Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson, and losses along the offensive line due to injuries and free agency, will not make life any easier for Prescott. But he appears to be hitting his stride as he enters his age-29 season. In a case where I think fantasy managers have it right over the experts, Prescott is currently ranked as QB10 on average. He’s currently going off the board as QB8, however. That’s more in-line with his recent run of quality play. Remember, he was QB2 just three seasons ago and was lighting up the world before his 2020 injury. He’s a great play in every format at a draft price you can afford.

2022 Dallas Cowboys Preview: Running Back

Fantasy managers are always looking for the next big thing. Hitting on a player before everyone else is a great feeling and can give you a huge advantage. What that means, however, is that sometimes the fantasy hype train goes completely off the rails trying to elevate someone before his time. This happens especially often at the running back position. We know running backs tend to have shorter careers. It’s also a position where rookies and young players can become impact players right away. Look around the league. New England. Denver. Seattle. Buffalo. Jacksonville. Chicago. Green Bay. All situations where fans are ready to crown a young player as the undisputed king of carries over their leading backs from a year ago.

Ezekiel Elliott has not been immune to this in Dallas. Elliott had by all accounts a down year in 2020. Injury troubles, the lowest yards per carry average of his career, and the lowest touchdown total of his career had everyone clamoring to make Tony Pollard the new starter. Zeke was washed up. No burst. Too much wear and tear after too many seasons of 300+ touches. The “evidence” was plentiful in the eyes of breakout-hungry fantasy managers.

Running Back Bottom Line

Meanwhile, Zeke continues to eat. While Pollard has risen to a useable fantasy FLEX piece, Elliott continues to finish as a fantasy starter each season. Pollard has finished as RB53, RB41, and RB28 in his three seasons in the league. Elliott was RB3, RB9, and RB7 in that same span. Hmm. I’m not Elliott’s biggest fan, but the fantasy world wanted to write him off during a season in which he finished as RB9. That’s a hell of a down year, dude. I still have Elliott as a top-10 running back for this season. He gets plenty of touches in both the run and pass game and is effective in both. He gets redzone touches. Dallas still loves him, even if fantasy managers don’t. He’s going in the third or fourth round as RB16 currently. Don’t shy away from him in your drafts. He’s an RB1 at RB2 prices.

Pollard, meanwhile, is currently no more than a FLEX play. Accept that as his stand-alone value. Embrace it. Obviously, he rises to RB2 territory or better if Zeke were to miss time, but Pollard isn’t that much younger than Elliott. Let’s stop waiting for him to be the “next big thing” and just take him as the “current useable thing” he is. There have been some rumblings that Pollard may get some run as more of a wide-back hybrid. He does have experience playing wide receiver in college. If that were to become his role, his value would necessarily increase. He could be a fun, cheaper option in DFS in that case. For now, Elliott is the safer pick of the two for my money.

2022 Dallas Cowboys Preview: Wide Receiver

There’s a proud wide receiver tradition in Dallas connected to jersey number 88. From Drew Pearson, to Michael Irvin, to Antonio Bryant, to Dez Bryant, expectations come with the number. CeeDee Lamb is the latest to don the fabled 88, and he’ll have a lot on his shoulders in 2022. Lamb took the top receiver spot from Amari Cooper last season. Cooper has since moved on in a trade. Combined with injuries to new signee James Washington and 2021 third wideout Michael Gallup and the loss of Cedrick Wilson in free agency, there are plenty of questions surrounding the Dallas wide receiver room. One thing all seem to agree on is that Lamb is the unquestioned top dog.

Wide Receiver Bottom Line

Lamb could be in line for a monster target share this season. Dak Prescott attempted (and completed) more passes in 2021 than ever before in his career. After being the target on 20 percent of those passes last season, Lamb is now set to absorb some of the 164 targets left behind by Cooper and Wilson. He won’t take them all, but a full 25 percent target share and 150+ raw targets are a distinct probability. Numbers north of 100 receptions, 1400 yards and 10 touchdowns are within sight. I like Lamb as a top-10, possibly top-5 receiver. He’ll be a foundational player on Dynasty rosters.

Gallup, nominally the WR2, is coming off a Week 17 ACL injury. Dallas is trying to avoid putting him on the PUP list in the event he could play before Week 5. When he comes back, he has fantasy WR2 upside, but has suffered lower body injuries in each of his four seasons. He’s a risk-reward type currently going at WR56. That’s not a crazy price to pay, but you’d be forgiven if you looked elsewhere for a dart throw in that range. 2022 third round pick Jalen Tolbert could function as the WR2 in Gallup’s place early on. He’s an intriguing prospect in a high-powered offense, and Tolbert’s current price of WR72 makes him an essentially free piece of it. Lost in the shuffle of this year’s strong receiver class, he could make for a nice consolation prize if you miss out on the top guys in rookie drafts.

2022 Dallas Cowboys Preview: Tight End

Excluding the temporary Blake Jarwin hiccup in 2018, Cowboy fans have become used to watching good, solid tight end play. And fantasy managers have become accustomed to finding solid production at good value from those tight ends. The end of Jason Witten‘s Dallas tenure may have worried some, but Dalton Schultz has stepped up admirably. After 19 total targets in his first two seasons, Schultz came out of seemingly nowhere in 2020. After finishing that season as overall TE12, he improved on that in 2021. Now, last season’s overall TE3 will look to prove he’s no flash-in-the-pan.

Tight End Bottom Line

Schultz saw over 100 targets for the first time in 2021 with a stellar 75 percent catch rate. A nice redzone weapon at 6′-5″, Schultz definitely will not be a surprise to opposing defenses anymore. His 10.4 Yards Per Reception in 2021 was a career high, but puts him at a fantasy disadvantage when looking at the other top tight ends. If he could improve on that number, it would help mitigate any touchdown regression that likely could come his way. He’s a solid starting option who may have even more value early in the season while Gallup is out and Tolbert adjusts to the NFL game. I like him at TE5 on the year. 2022 fourth round pick Jake Ferguson, the grandson of former University of Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez, could benefit in Dynasty if Schultz moves on after playing this season on the franchise tag.

2022 Dallas Cowboys Preview: Peripherals

Dallas finished last season as the overall DST1 based largely on the strength of a league-leading 34 turnovers and three return touchdowns. The underlying numbers have them as a fairly pedestrian defense, ranking in the middle of many team defensive statistical categories. If those turnover and return scores revert to the norm, Dallas would hold streaming value, but probably wouldn’t be a locked-in, every week play. Remember, history shows that rarely does the top fantasy defense perform to that level the following season. Preseason sensation KaVontae Turpin could add some spark to special teams returns, but don’t let his hype and last year’s ranking convince you to draft this defense anywhere but your last two rounds.

The Cowboys moved on from placekicker Greg Zuerlein after two seasons. Former Cowboys kicker Brett Maher replaces him. Maher was 16/18 in field goal attempts last year in a half-season’s worth of games for the Saints. His long conversion was only 42 yards, however he does have an NFL-record three career kicks of 60+ yards. The kicker for an offense with this much potential can be enticing, but until we see more from him than he showed last year, you’re safe to skip him.

Smack your league DOWN!

Time’s running out to cram for your Draft Day test. Remember to check Belly Up Fantasy Sports for more fantasy analysis and entertaining insight. Rankings, team previews, strategies, and even betting advice will help you cash in this fantasy season! As always, more great NFL coverage is available on the main Belly Up site, as well as fun, informative content on the Belly Up Podcast Network, Belly Up TV, and B.U.R.N.S. Radio. Got something to say? Leave a comment below, follow me on Twitter @SttChaseFFB, and catch me on the Belly Up Fantasy Live podcast each week.