Dak, Zeke and CeeDee stand out at Cowboys’ Camp
Yahoo Sports’ Senior NFL Writer Charles Robinson and Fantasy Analyst Matt Harmon come together for our NFL Camp Tour Postcard. Charles recently paid a visit to Cowboys’ Camp in Oxnard, California, and he was excited with what saw from Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, and CeeDee Lamb. Which only added to fuel to the flames of Harmon’s excitement for the fantasy potential of that 3-headed monster, and the entire Cowboys offense.
Video Transcript
CHARLES ROBINSON: Welcome to the Yahoo Sports NFL Camp Tour Postcard, brought to you by "You Pod to Win the Game," Yahoo Sports NFL podcast. I am here with fantasy analyst Matt Harmon, and we are here to talk about the Dallas Cowboys. I spent a day in camp with the Dallas Cowboys. It's never long enough, but had a chance to look at the offense, watched practice, came away with definitely some thoughts. Now, it's early. But I'm curious. I want to talk to Matt, particularly from a fantasy perspective. What do people have to know about the Cowboys at this point, coming out of camp?
MATT HARMON: There's a lot to talk about with the Dallas Cowboys, and especially their fantasy prospects this year. Number one, obviously, you've got to pay attention to Dak Prescott. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how he looked, like, what they're saying, what the vibe is with him.
And I mean Charles, you put out the tweet, you put out the picture. Zeke in the best shape of his life. You know, I feel like it's an every-other thing with Zeke at this point. Like, he's either coming in off some Cabo trip or whatever, or he's coming in rocked up, ready to roll, have a big season. There's a lot to talk about with the Cowboys, obviously, because we all expect them to have a top five offense, which is just going to be the rising tide that lifts all boats here in terms of fantasy.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, there's no doubt. And I think, look, there are really three tiers that I think, fantasy-wise, we should talk about with the Cowboys. That's Dak Prescott, obviously the quarterback. That's going to be Zeke Elliott, and then the wide receivers.
But you talked about Dak Prescott first. I think the biggest thing for the Cowboys, and really what I checked off watching them in practice. Was Dak as accurate as I've ever seen him in practice? No, he wasn't. But on day one, with a guy who's shaking off rust, don't get too caught up in his accuracy early in training camp practices.
The box you wanted to check was, is he injured? Is he healthy? What does he look like running around? And thankfully, the Dallas Cowboys did us a favor, and they rolled him out a lot in that first practice that I watched. The movement looked great. He looked to me like he had never had an injury.
You talked about Ezekiel Elliott. As you said, 218 pounds, the lightest he's been since Ohio State, his freshman year! That is crazy.
MATT HARMON: It's wild.
CHARLES ROBINSON: And look, he had been putting out all these Instagram videos of himself working out, all these different things. And he looked great. But you don't really know until you get there. And I can tell you, I walked on the field and immediately I was like, oh, wow, he looks different. Like, I've never seen him look like that.
And the reason why I think this is important and people should maybe really lean into Zeke a little bit this year, there's really two reasons. Number one, offensive line was all out there. They're all working, they look great. I think the offensive line's going to be fantastic for Zeke.
And then that second thing that I think is important for Zeke is, people forget, this is a guy who really didn't have training camp the last two years. He had COVID last year, and then the year before, he had the holdout. So this is going to be the first year that he comes in in unbelievable shape.
MATT HARMON: There are plenty of questions about Zeke coming into the offseason, because lower yards per carry, looked a little sluggish last year, injuries, whatever. But the whole, like, Tony Pollard hysteria is mostly like a creation on fantasy Twitter. But like, Charles, you know this. It's the Cowboys. Like, Zeke's getting that ball as long as he's out there. Like, he's going to be the guy there. You really don't want to overthink it. This is a workhorse for a top five offense.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Like McCarthy, I can tell you this unequivocally. He has said, flat out, one of the first things he said when he came out talking about the team this year was, "we're going to run the football. We want to run the football. We think that is vitally important to support Dak. It's vitally important to support the rest of the functionality of the offense." I absolutely believe it.
MATT HARMON: That's a top five fantasy pick. Lock it in. Set it and forget it. I think if you have the third overall pick, I think Zeke is locked into that spot at this point.
CHARLES ROBINSON: And then the third thing that I really wanted to bring up with you, the wide receivers. This is going to be interesting, because Amari Cooper wasn't on the field. Availability with Amari Cooper, the injuries, historically, with Amari Cooper, continues to sort of be a little bit of a concern for him.
And I'll just tell you, watching CeeDee Lamb, he's the number one wideout. Straight up.
MATT HARMON: Nice.
CHARLES ROBINSON: It doesn't mean Amari Cooper's not a number one wideout. But I'm telling you, CeeDee Lamb is the number one wideout in the NFL. If you had any question about that last year, dispel it. The guy drops nothing. He looks great.
MATT HARMON: And I love that you bring up the wide receivers, because number one, I think CeeDee Lamb is going to be the guy. I think he is going to surpass Amari Cooper in terms of, like, the status as the number one receiver, basically exactly what you said. I think he's a full-field player. I also really like Michael Gallup. I think Gallup is still an underrated player.
My biggest question to you, and the thing I think all of us need to monitor: are the Cowboys going to move these guys around a little bit more last year-- this year? Because last year, kind of stuck CeeDee Lamb in the slot. I think he can work as a perimeter receiver against press coverage. I think moving these guys around would really maximize all of their fantasy value, and even, like, steady out some of the production from guys like Gallup and Cooper when he's on the field.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Well, it's a great question about Lamb, because I can tell you this. Amari Cooper wasn't in practice, and guess who took some snaps on the outside? Quite a few snaps. It was CeeDee Lamb.
Once again, we are ramping up the season, and you will follow along with our training camp postcards, brought to you, again, by "You Pod to Win the Game", Yahoo Sports relaunched NFL podcast. Thank you, Matt Harmon, for joining us for this Dallas Cowboys look-in, and we look forward to all of your fantasy advice during the course of the season.
