Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup is coming off a disappointing season, largely due to his late-season 2021 ACL tear. Now relegated to the Cowboys’ WR3 role, can Gallup regain fantasy relevance? What is his fantasy football projection in 2023?
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Michael Gallup’s 2023 Fantasy Projection
In the interest of full disclosure, even I had forgotten how great of a year Gallup had in 2019. That season, he caught 66 of 112 targets for 1,107 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 15.2 PPR fantasy points per game. After his past three seasons, it feels like 15 ppg is an unreachable ceiling for Gallup.
To be fair, that’s true. No one is expecting Gallup to get anywhere near 15 ppg, nor do I think he is capable of that anymore.
Gallup is still just 27 years old. It’s not like he’s about to fall off. But admittedly, 2022 was not a good year for Gallup.
Last season, Gallup caught 39 passes for 424 yards and four touchdowns in 14 games. He averaged 7.5 ppg, completely off the fantasy radar.
Gallup’s season got off to a slow start after he missed the first three weeks still recovering from his torn ACL. It’s not a surprise Gallup struggled last season. He simply wasn’t fully healthy.
However, that doesn’t excuse the woeful inefficiency he displayed. During his first two seasons, Gallup averaged 15.4 and 16.9 yards per reception. Last season, that dropped all the way to 10.9.
Gallup averaged 2.44 yards per route run in 2019, 15th in the league. Last season, it was 1.08, 91st in the league. Go through any metric, and you will see something similar.
The question fantasy managers must answer is whether Gallup can rebound in 2023.
Should You Draft Michael Gallup This Year?
There are positives to discuss. Gallup should be fully healthy this year, which could help restore his efficiency, at least to some degree. He also gets to play with Dak Prescott on an offense that led the NFL in scoring in 2019 and 2021.
Unfortunately, there are just more negatives than positives. The first issue is Gallup being relegated to the WR3 role following the team’s acquisition of Brandin Cooks.
For Gallup to make any meaningful impact, he will need to improve upon his 16.7% target share. That seems unlikely playing behind CeeDee Lamb and Cooks.
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The second issue is the Cowboys’ passing volume. Head coach Mike McCarthy apparently didn’t like the way former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore wanted to score as many points as possible. New OC Brian Schottenheimer could have this team playing at a slower pace and throwing less. None of that is good for a team supporting three fantasy-relevant wide receivers.
Gallup’s ADP is currently WR53, No. 147 overall. I have Gallup at WR68. Gallup’s rising ADP has resulted in the gap between his ADP and my rankings to grow to the point where I guess I’m out on him.
Ultimately, taking a shot on a starting receiver in an elite offense is not the worst use of one of your final picks. If you do draft Gallup, he will likely be the final receiver you select.
Gallup will be easily expandable. If you draft him and you don’t see any real volume or production early in the season, you can easily move on. He’s a fine dart throw but nothing more.
