The Dallas Cowboys will face the New York Giants on Thanksgiving in Week 13. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Cowboys skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 13 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Cooper Rush, QB
Cooper Rush is doing all we need him to do and that’s funnel targets to CeeDee Lamb. The backup QB has been forced to throw at rates well above what this team wants as a result of lopsided game scripts, but such a result seems unlikely in this ugly matchup.
The Giants allow the highest deep passer rating in the NFL – if you play in a NFC East only league or are trying to get creative with a Thanksgiving Day DFS lineup, it’s Rush over whoever the Giants go with for me.
Ezekiel Elliott, RB
The Cowboys led for 74.2% of their second-half offensive snaps last week against Washington, yet Ezekiel Elliott was trusted with just three touches. There isn’t going to be a game more geared toward them banking on the veteran back between the tackles, so if three touches are on the high end of expectations, there’s no reason to hold onto Elliott at this point.
This offense projects among the worst in the league moving forward, and that means that even if Rico Dowdle were to get banged up, Elliott wouldn’t walk into fantasy starting lineups. Without a path to mattering, why would you burn a roster spot this way?
Rico Dowdle, RB
Week 15 Status: PLAYING
Rico Dowdle lost the first fumble of his career against the Commanders last weekend, but this team lacks secondary options, and that means his volume, albeit limited in value, is safe (22 touches).
That level of involvement was made possible due to a competitive game script, something that is more likely than not to be the case this week as well. Dowdle has a trio of top-20 finishes this year and, over his past five games, has seen an average of 4.6 passes thrown his way.
The volume has proven to be a saving grace (112 rushes without a touchdown this season, and he doesn’t have a touch gaining more than 10 yards in a Cooper Rush start), and as long as that is the case, Dowdle is going to be someone I’m comfortable starting in most formats.
Brandin Cooks, WR
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
Week 15 Status: PLAYING
There might not be a more predictable offense in the NFL than what Dallas is running these days. Heck, forget the NFL. Outside of the service academies, is this the most predictable offensive football structure in the world? I assume there are some pretty vanilla playbooks out there for the U-12 age range, but with kids that age, anything can happen, and that adds a level of uncertainty.
The Cowboys force-feed CeeDee Lamb to set up force-feeding CeeDee Lamb, but this time with more urgency due to the down and distance. Lamb was targeted on five of Cooper Rush’s first nine passes last weekend, picking up 35 yards in the process. He’s been handed the ball in four straight games and reached double figures in the target department in each of his past six, putting his usage on track with anyone in recent memory.
The impact of those opportunities is the creation of a nice fantasy floor, but the lack of quality in those looks has not allowed for much ceiling potential. Lamb has been held without a touchdown thus far in November and, in three of those four games, he didn’t record a 15-yard catch.
You’re playing Lamb as a safe WR2, and that’s fine, it’s just not what you paid for.
Jalen Tolbert, WR
Presentation, presentation, presentation.
In the world of analysis (also known as “professional number bending”), the presentation of information is just as important as location is in the real estate business. If I wanted to sell you on Jalen Tolbert, I’d make sure to avoid noting that he ranked fifth on this team in receiving yards last week, a game played without their starting tight end.
I certainly wouldn’t mention that Rico Dowdle had more receptions, and I’d probably exclude the fact that he was held without a catch in three of four quarters during their upset win over the Commanders.
Instead, I’d focus on him leading Dallas receivers in snap share (98%) or being the target of Cooper Rush’s lone pass thrown to the end zone.
See what I did there? I presented the anti-argument first, and human nature weighs that information as the most important. It’s all about presentation, and while the field time is nice to see, I’m more than comfortable fading any secondary receiver in this awfully limited offense for the remainder of the season.
Jonathan Mingo, WR
If you thought that the Cowboys paid a premium for an unproven receiver with the intent to load him up with opportunities down the stretch to see if they got a bargain, I don’t blame you.
But you’re wrong.
Jonathan Mingo has eight yards on 27 routes as a Cowboy and it would appear that trading for him isn’t going to bear any fruit in 2024. Some of us are pessimistic about that changing at any point, but this article is for Week 13 of 2024 and in that regard, you’re better off taking a chance on just about any other warm body.
Jake Ferguson, TE
Jake Ferguson suffered a concussion early in Week 11 against the Texans and was forced to sit out last week. We will be tracking his ability to navigate protocol, but anything less than full strength will have me looking for other options at the position.
The Giants matchup isn’t prohibitive, but we are looking at an offense that lacks upside and a player in Ferguson who has cleared 25 receiving yards just four times this season. The vast majority of his reps have come with Dak Prescott under center, and his odds of scoring his first touchdown of the season certainly aren’t higher with Cooper Rush under center.
Even if cleared, Luke Schoonmaker has shown well for himself in his pinch-hitting opportunity, casting doubt that Ferguson approaches the 7.1 targets he averaged pre-injury.
Luke Schoonmaker, TE
I was a little skeptical about what Luke Schoonmaker’s role would look like with him the planned starter as opposed to filling in on the fly for Jake Ferguson, but I saw enough last week in Washington to sell me on him as a fringe top-15 option should Ferguson (concussion) need another week to recover.
Schoonmaker, a 2023 second-round pick, ran a route on all 20 of his snaps in Week 12 and turned that role into a 3-55-1 stat line. The touchdown obviously saved the day, but Dallas viewing him as an asset in the passing game is interesting.
Against a defense that owns the third-lowest opponent average depth of throw this season, I like the odds of another viable PPR performance on 5-7 targets should he assume the starting role for another week.