Michael Gallup popped up on fantasy football radars in 2019 after racking up 1,107 yards in 14 games during his second season out of Colorado State, but he’s underwhelmed in the three seasons since. Does that change in 2023, his age-27 season, or does the addition of Brandin Cooks signal the end of Gallup’s time as someone we should roster?
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Michael Gallup’s Fantasy Outlook
When this season kicks off, Gallup will be 615 days removed from his torn ACL at the end of the 2021 season. In theory, that puts him in the “fully recovered” bucket and leads to optimism that he can physically be what he was during that strong 2019 season.
As mentioned, Dallas brought in Cooks (30 years old in late September) from Houston this offseason off of a down season (699 yards and three scores in 13 games). He is currently the favorite to land the WR2 role for the Cowboys, but Gallup will have an opportunity to compete for those targets next to CeeDee Lamb.
After those three receivers, the pass-catching options are sparse. Gone is Dalton Schultz, and it appears that Jake Ferguson will take over most of those reps, resulting in a major downgrade in pass-catching potential at the position.
Jalen Tolbert was a third-round pick just a year ago, but until he proves comfortable at this level, he doesn’t need to be feared as an earner of targets in this offense.
More important than any fourth option in this passing game is the switch from Kellen Moore to Mike McCarthy as the play-caller of this offense. Moore is known for his vertical attack when calling passes, and McCarthy … well, his offensive preference trends closer to the pre-internet days.
“We want to run the damn ball.”
That’s a concerning statement in 2023 at face value, but when you consider that the Cowboys ran the rock at the sixth-highest rate last season, we might have a serious volume issue for anyone not named Lamb.
Can He Earn the WR2 Role Over Brandin Cooks?
Gallup will be given the opportunity, but color me pessimistic. His yards after the catch per reception have declined every season of his career, a trend that started prior to the ACL injury.
I’d be able to accept that if his targets were coming further downfield, looks that inherently carry less YAC potential, but the opposite is true, as his aDOT has declined every season as well.
His path to targets would be Cooks being cooked, and while I’m in no hurry to invest in him either, I’d be surprised if his production fell off a cliff this season.
From a narrative standpoint, Cooks’ best season with his past three teams has come in his first season with the franchise. From a more numeric point of view, even with awfully questionable quarterback play in Houston, his deep-ball catch rate was 49%.
The dude can get open downfield, and that’s enough for me to rank him as the WR2 in Big D, given that I don’t think neither he nor Gallup sees a ton of volume.
Should Fantasy Managers Draft Gallup at His ADP?
Nobody picked outside the top 12 rounds is going to sink your fantasy team, but there are at least a dozen players in this range or later that I prefer to Gallup.
I worry about the volume, and with a career drop rate flirting with 8%, I’m not even all that confident that Gallup can make the targets he does manage to earn worth much.
MORE: 2023 Fantasy Player Projections
Here are the yards per route run rates for Dallas last season:
- CeeDee Lamb: 2.38
- Tony Pollard: 1.52
- Dalton Schultz: 1.38
- Noah Brown: 1.23
- Gallup: 1.00
I’d much rather have boom-or-bust options this late in the draft. Give me some Donovan Peoples-Jones, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, or Rashid Shaheed. Every single time. Easily.
