Why the Dallas Cowboys are 2021's most stackable offense
Matt Harmon & Dalton Del Don break down what to expect out of the 2021 Dallas Cowboys offense. With three electric receivers, a top 15 running back and Dak Prescott returning from injury, all signs point to this being one of the highest scoring offenses in the league this coming season.
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Video Transcript
MATT HARMON: The easiest stackable offense, I think, in fantasy, right now, is the Dallas Cowboys. I know we were all excited about them last year. Dak is apparently healthy. He's apparently ready to go. What's stopping us from being ultra excited about them again this year? Like, obviously, Dak is not going to put up the numbers that he was putting up to start last season.
The guy was on pace for 800 pass attempts, 800 past attempts. Like, he was going to shatter every passing record in the book. That's not going to happen, because the defense might be better than the stone worst thing the NFL has ever seen. Like, they might get some improvement off of that.
But basically, if you look at the-- we should be excited about this offense, and the pass catchers are so easy to stack, because you've got two expensive guys at the top of the draft in Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb. Those guys are kind of going around the same range, right now, in best ball drafts. Michael Gallup is very underrated still. Again, he didn't have quite the season some were hoping, but there were some flashes there.
You can get him later. You can get some of the tight ends, and, obviously, you can stack Zeke with Dak, as well, if you just want access to all of Dallas's touchdowns. Where are you at with this? Let's talk receiver core before we talk Zeke. And again, I'm assuming, maybe you're not, but I'm assuming that Dak is 100% back and ready to roll.
DALTON DEL DON: I'm all in on CeeDee Lamb. I have him ranked, actually, above Amari Cooper. I mean, they put up similar numbers last year, and CeeDee Lamb is younger and without the injury history. So I really don't think it's that crazy of a-- I mean, I think he'll be, for sure, ranked ahead of him unanimously next year. So why not just get ahead of it, there.
And then Gallup might be my favorite because he's much, much cheaper, and he's really good in his own right. So love the setup, here. Even if Zeke is-- either way, I could see Zeke having a big season, or I could see him getting kind of faded out. It just doesn't matter. There's going to be a lot of points scored by the Cowboys this year either way.
MATT HARMON: Yeah, so on the pass catchers, during that five game stretch where Dak was playing, 55 targets, 424 yards, 1 touchdown for Amari Cooper. CeeDee Lamb was number two on the team, 40 targets, 433 yards, 2 touchdowns for CeeDee Lamb. Michael Gallup, way down in targets, 28, 348, and 1 touchdown.
But was the clear cut vertical threat, 16.7 air yards per target, Michael Gallup, in those five games. I wonder how much of that usage is directly going to roll over into next year. I mean, I think Amari Cooper is still the favorite to lead the team in targets. I'm not sitting here saying, like, one of these guys is going to supplant him, but if one of them did, how are they going to do it?
Is Gallup going to be that clear cut vertical guy again? Is that all he's going to do, because I don't. I think his trump card is being a vertical receiver that wins in contested areas, but CeeDee Lamb, last year, this guy was basically-- you know, I talked about-- he was basically used as a-- like, that role that I was talking about with Laviska Shenault, that's what they kind of used CeeDee Lamb as last year.
He was the slot receiver that barely ran against press coverage, that was mostly making big plays from the inside. During that stretch, he was the guy that was running most of his routes from the slot, like I said. So is that going to be the way they use him again, this year, or was that just, kind of, a quick way to onboard him last year and get him rolling, because I think Lamb could be a number-- I think he could be a number one receiver.
I think he is that good. So I think the receivers-- I think it's fair to have Lamb valued with Cooper. I think it's fair, and I would probably take either one of them as a stacking option, here.
