Fantasy Football Impact of Dak Prescott's Injury on CeeDee Lamb Isn't As Bad As You Think

Michael Fabiano | Nov 4, 2024

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is out for a few weeks with a hamstring injury, impacting his teammates greatly in fantasy football. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

As if the news wasn’t already bad enough for the Dallas Cowboys and their fans (like me) based on their 3-5 record, the team has now lost quarterback Dak Prescott for “multiple weeks” due to an injured hamstring, according to multiple NFL insiders. He suffered the injury in Sunday’s loss to Atlanta.

For fantasy managers in one-quarterback leagues, you can cut Prescott from rosters.

His absence now pushes Cooper Rush into a familiar role … he will be the Cowboys' No. 1 quarterback for the foreseeable future. He was thrust into a similar role in 2022, starting five games. His fantasy stats weren’t great, as he failed to score more than 13.6 points in all but one game. He’s only started six games in his career, averaging 11.7 points.

Obviously, that’s not good, so Rush isn’t worth a waiver add in traditional leagues.

The Cowboys and fantasy managers did get some good news about CeeDee Lamb though, as he’s considered week-to-week with an injured shoulder. He too suffered the injury vs. the Falcons. According to reports, there’s “optimism” he’ll be able to play in Week 10.

Even if that’s true, what can we expect?

Well, Lamb has played six games where Rush was the starter, and his numbers weren’t all that bad. He averaged 9.5 targets, 6.2 catches, 82 yards, and 16.7 fantasy points in those starts. That’s a downgrade from the 23.7 points he averaged last season with Prescott, and the 18.5 points he was averaging in his first eight games of this year, but at least he didn’t fall completely off the map like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle did without Tua Tagovailoa.

Assuming Lamb plays this week, he’s one of three players with fantasy value on the roster. Jake Ferguson should continue to be a TE1, and Rico Dowdle has matchup-based value and can be a bye-week starter.

If Lamb can’t get back on the field to face the Eagles this weekend, then Jalen Tolbert would be worth a look off the fantasy waiver wire.