Fantasy Insider Report: Cowboys Expect Tony Pollard to Get More Carries

Plus, who will be the team’s No. 2 receiver?

The Athlon Sports 2023 Fantasy Football Annual magazine reached out to team insiders at all 32 NFL clubs to ask them three key fantasy questions heading into the season. As we count down to training camp, Sports Illustrated will publish their answers here. Today’s team: Dallas Cowboys 

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Will Tony Pollard be the Cowboys’ workhorse RB?
With only Ronald Jones II, Malik Davis and rookie Deuce Vaughn behind him, Pollard will get a chance for a big role with the Cowboys. Pollard earned Pro Bowl honors last season with 631 touches for 1,378 yards and 12 touchdowns. He should have more touches, more total yards and, the Cowboys hope, more touchdowns in 2023.

Which tight end will emerge as the starter?
Jake Ferguson showed promise his rookie season, but in playing 40 percent of the snaps, he made only 19 receptions for 174 yards and two touchdowns. The Cowboys drafted Michigan tight end Luke Schoonmaker in the second round for a reason, but Brandin Cooks is going to get more of the targets than Dalton Schultz got last season. Jason Witten’s 35 catches for 347 yards and a touchdown as a rookie in 2003 are probably a good guess as to what Schoonmaker will do as a rookie.

Brandin Cooks or Michael Gallup: Who produces more as the WR2?
Gallup returned from an ACL tear in 2022, coming back in less than a year. He will play better this season — 20 months after his injury at the start of the season — than he did last season. Gallup should return to his form from 2019-20 when he averaged 63 catches, 975 yards and almost six touchdowns. If he doesn’t, the Cowboys will release him in the offseason. Cooks has had seven 1,000-yard seasons and is playing with a better quarterback than he had the past two seasons with the Texans, but he is not the No. 1 receiver in Dallas — and maybe not the No. 2.

—Charean Williams, Pro Football Talk

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