The Dallas Cowboys will face the Washington Commanders in Week 12. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Cowboys and Commanders skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 12 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Dallas Cowboys Start-Sit Advice
Cooper Rush, QB
Are we sure that he is going to continue to start? Trey Lance looms, and the sheer risk of an in-game benching is enough to talk me out of getting creative in two-QB leagues.
Cooper Rush threw 55 passes on Monday night, this coming the same day when his coach didn’t hesitate to tell the ESPN broadcast that the goal is to not have him throw 40 times. Dallas is fully aware that its path to competing is not to go to a pass-heavy script, and when the organization is actively trying to limit the fantasy production of its QB, we are wise to listen.
Lance’s skill set carries more fantasy potential — we can address that situation should it come to light.
Ezekiel Elliott, RB
Ezekiel Elliott had more catches (three) than carries (one) against the Texans on Monday night as he was on the field for just 31.6% of Dallas’ offensive snaps. As if those numbers aren’t underwhelming enough, the veteran back has been on the field for 4% of their first-quarter offensive snaps over the past two weeks, a clear indicator of where he sits on this depth chart.
Touchdown vultures hold enough value to remain rostered in most situations, and while that is the role we hoped would be the floor for Zeke, he’s not even that. There’s no need to be holding Elliott in any format.
Rico Dowdle, RB
Heading into Week 11, we got confirmation that Rico Dowdle would be the lead back in this offense. That’s glorious. All we ask for is straight-shooting from these organizations, and we got just that from the Cowboys last week.
There is no more running back by committee in Dallas. Mike McCarthy said Rico Dowdle is the Cowboys lead back: “Definitely, you have to get him the ball. That's my focus to continue to get him opportunities. He's the lead back.”
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) November 14, 2024
Of course, Houston went on to beat the breaks off of Dallas, completely neutralizing the run game in the process. That could well be the case this weekend as well, though I’m skeptical about the potency of this Washington offense with a compromised version of Jayden Daniels.
That concern is fueling my ranking of Dowdle as a top-20 running back this week. I believe this franchise when they say that a 55-pass Cooper Rush game isn’t the plan; if they can keep this thing even remotely close, the fact that the Commanders allow the second-most yards per carry to running backs this season (5.1) is all it takes to sell me on Dowdle.
With multiple receptions in five straight games, there are a few paths to production. I’m not expecting this to be a work of art, but this is very much like golf in that there are no pictures on the scorecard. I think we are looking at 65-75 total yards with 3-5 targets and a red-zone role — that’s enough for me to rank you as a starter in Week 12.
Brandin Cooks, WR
Updated at 3:10 PM ET on Thursday, November 28
Cooks is active for today's game.
Brandin Cooks (knee) hasn’t played since September, and while news out of Dallas seems to be cautiously optimistic on the status of the veteran receiver, fantasy managers need not worry.
In 2023, Cooks posted the worst yards per route run rate of his career, and nothing in the early going this season — in a Dak Prescott-led offense — suggested that a rebound was imminent. With the Cowboys’ season a lost one and Cooks’ contract done at the end of the season, neither party has enough motivation to pique the interest of fantasy managers in the slightest.
CeeDee Lamb, WR
Updated at 3:10 PM ET on Thursday, November 28
Lamb is active for today's game.
That’s five straight double-digit target games for CeeDee Lamb. While the embarrassing loss to the Texans in a prime-time spot would be labeled as a negative by most, we are open-minded fantasy managers who just want points. For us, I liked what I saw.
Why?
Dallas threw the ball 56 times. They weren’t content to lose by 13 and shorten the game, they opened up their offense and tried. Is that many passes for Cooper Rush a good thing? Of course not, but if we take for granted that one-quarter of them are going to go to WR1, the more bites at the apple, the better!
The game script might look similar this week, and if Dallas wasn’t going to give Trey Lance the keys at any point this week, why would we assume that they do this week? The Commanders are the fourth-best defense at creating pressure without blitzing (37.5%), calling into question each individual Rush dropback. But if we can get close to the volume we got last week, it won’t matter.
You can ding Lamb’s projection and grade a touch. Heck, you could move him down an entire standard deviation on the expectation scale — he’s still going to grade as a starter in all formats.
Jalen Tolbert, WR
Jonathan Mingo made his debut in Week 11, resulting in a season-low 66.7% snap share for Jalen Tolbert. That more than doubled the field time of his primary WR2 competition, but in an offense that is as limited as Dallas’, any dip in his role is going to be difficult to overcome.
For the season, Tolbert has more routes run than receiving yards and has posted under 8.5 expected PPR points in all but three games. I was high on Tolbert entering this season as a fade on Brandin Cooks — the right idea but no real fruit to show from it.
I’m not breaking news here, but Dallas is an offense I want no piece of. I’m happy to move on from Tolbert in all formats. Give me a Mike Williams or JuJu Smith-Schuster in terms of secondary receivers that have yet to show out as rest-of-season fliers over any non-CeeDee Lamb WR the rest of the way.
Jonathan Mingo, WR
Jonathan Mingo made his Cowboys debut on Monday night against the Texans (30.4% snap share) and air-balled on four targets. Cooper Rush has completed just 57.3% of his passes this season with two of his 117 attempts resulting in scores. Safe to say, I’m not in a hurry to use roster space to add a fringe piece.
I still think that Jalen Tolbert is ahead of Mingo in the WR pecking order in Dallas and the team made it clear that they have a few tight ends they want to get involved should Jake Ferguson miss time.
Given what the Cowboys gave up to acquire Mingo at the deadline has me interested in his role — for next season.
Jake Ferguson, TE
Updated at 3:10 PM ET on Thursday, November 28
Ferguson is inactive for today's game.
Jake Ferguson left Week 11’s loss early with a concussion. The 25-year-old entered this season with extreme promise after catching 71 balls last season and recording a touchdown hat trick in the playoffs. But the per-catch production has fallen off a cliff this season, and that doesn’t seem likely to improve with Cooper Rush under center.
Keep an eye on this situation, but I’d make secondary plans. Ferguson is, at best, a streaming-level option in this offense. Options like Ja’Tavion Sanders, Will Dissly, and Jonnu Smith are available depending on the depth of your league, all of whom are healthy and trending better.
Washington Commanders Start-Sit Advice
Jayden Daniels, QB
A rookie wall? I’m not going that far, but there’s no denying that Jayden Daniels hasn’t been the same since suffering his rib injury in Week 7.
- Weeks 1-7: 75.6% completion percentage, 107.0 passer rating
- Week 8-11: 59.5% completion percentage, 89.6 passer rating
Daniels has failed to reach 210 passing yards in three straight. More concerning for our purposes is that he’s rushed for a total of 23 yards over the past two weeks. I’m reading this as a reason to watch him with a close eye, but I’m holding off full-blown panic for another week.
Lamar Jackson completed 80% of his passes and picked up 14.7 rushing points against these Cowboys, while Jalen Hurts had a 70% completion rate with 17.6 points on the ground against them.
I have Daniels ranked as a must-start in all formats this weekend and am optimistic about his ability to get your fantasy team to the finish line coming out of the Week 14 bye for the fantasy postseason.
Austin Ekeler, RB
Brian Robinson Jr. returned last week, and yet, it was Austin Ekeler with the first touch of the game (a five-yard reception). Of course, Ekeler’s carry count was underwhelming (two, his fourth game this season with under five), but with nine targets, it didn’t matter at all.
Relying on a pass-catching back who is counted on in a singular way is dangerous, but given the direction of Washington’s offense, Ekeler is trending toward a Flex-worthy role. In Weeks 9-11, Jayden Daniels’ average distance of throw is just 5.3 yards, down from 8.1 through Week 8. If that continues, the veteran back is going to be a PPR asset for the remainder of the season.
There isn’t enough scoring equity in this profile for me to commit to Ekeler weekly. His one touchdown in a game with Robinson active came from 24 yards out, it wasn’t on a designed high-valued touch. However, with a 20-yard touch in eight of 10 games, there’s a level of explosion that we feared was a thing of the past
Brian Robinson Jr., RB
Brian Robinson Jr. has run for seven touchdowns on 117 carries this season (career prior: seven rushing scores on 383 attempts), capitalizing on the improved offensive environment despite a snap share that has reached 65% just once this season.
With multiple red-zone touches in every one of his games this season, the opportunity to sustain this scoring rate is there. Robinson’s ypc after contact is up 21.8% this season from last, something that I credit to Daniels’ presence and defenses unable to swarm.
Robinson’s regression in the passing game isn’t ideal (nor unexpected with the acquisition of Ekeler in the offseason), but with north of 15 carries in five of his past six healthy games to complement his scoring equity, there’s no reason to run away from this profile.
The ceiling may be capped, but so is the floor. So long as his hamstring holds up, Robinson is someone fantasy managers can count on.
Noah Brown, WR
Noah Brown remains my second favorite Commanders receiver, but that role holds zero value in most fantasy leagues, especially with roster spots at a premium this time of year. His size profile and role (12.1-yard aDOT) give him upside for DFS managers, but the inability to rack up volume (no more than three receptions in seven of nine games this season) is more damning than his physical tools are promising.
This is a strong offense, and I like filling out my roster with players on teams like that, but this is a concentrated unit and Brown simply isn’t a part of the fun. Feel free to throw your end-of-roster darts elsewhere.
Terry McLaurin, WR
The Week 11 loss to the Eagles was a mess, but if you’re panicking about Terry McLaurin after one dud, you don’t deserve him. Washington’s alpha had cleared 15 PPR points in five straight games before Thursday’s dud, and that’s closer to what you can expect the rest of the way.
Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. You trust this offense, right? You trust McLaurin’s role, right?
For the season, McLaurin has 6.7 more PPR points than the Commanders’ next three receivers, a role that is rivaled by few. He had no trouble earning targets against these Cowboys last season (19 in two games last year), a defense that was much more productive than the current version.
The only thing that worries me from the ugly performance last week is the fact that Philadelphia comes to town in Week 16. We can cross that bridge when we get to it — I’m starting McLaurin without a second thought in Week 12.
Zach Ertz, TE
Updated at 11:30 AM on Sunday, December 1
Ertz is active today.
Zach Ertz is coming off his best game of the season (6-47-1), though much of that production came on a late drive where the Eagles were content to let Washington move the ball if it meant time coming off the clock.
That said, all points count the same, and the veteran tight end has now caught at least four passes in five of his past six games. Ertz has seen his work rate from the slot vary on a week-to-week basis — if the Commanders commit to that role, we are looking at a weekly fantasy starter (80.6% catch rate when in the slot this season, 60% otherwise).
Ertz is a top-12 option for me in this spot, as I’m projecting the slot role to be there for the taking against a Dallas team allowing touchdowns to that spot on the field at the third-highest rate in the league.