Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys Fantasy Weapons are Sinking Fast in Dak-less World

Ezekiel Elliott's 2020 fantasy outlook is falling like an anvil, along with the rest of the Cowboys' fantasy weapons without Dak Prescott.

It’s a long-standing fantasy strategy of holding running backs in bell-cow roles in the highest regard. Bellows are the pinnacle of every-week starters and consistent producers.

Well, normally they are. But for the Cowboys, Ezekiel Elliott’s continually diminishing supporting cast is putting him in jeopardy of losing every-week-starter consideration in fantasy lineups. After a measly 12-45-0 rushing line, and a 1-6-0 receiving line on only two targets, Zeke is week 7’s RB36 with Monday night’s Bears-Rams game yet to play.

QB, O-Line Situation in Shambles

Seventh-round rookie Ben DiNucci (who?) entered the game at QB after Andy Dalton got knocked out of the game after a brutal helmet-to-helmet hit. DiNucci completed two of only three passes in a quarter and a half, but did manage to get sacked three times and fumble twice.

Dallas’ offensive line has faced as much trouble as their QB situation, with Zach Martin, Tyron Smith, Joe Looney, and La’el Collins out. All four entered the season as starters, and only Martin isn’t currently on injured reserve.

This kind of surrounding talent downgrade makes it pretty unreasonable to ask Zeke to keep up his production even close to his usual level. And moving forward, six out of the next eight games Dallas plays are top-10 in fantasy points allowed to running backs.

Every now and then, the “running backs are a dime a dozen” narrative pops up. Being tied for the second-highest salary-per-year at RB, people might expect Zeke to overcome the Cowboys’ current deficiencies with such a high price tag. But, I wouldn’t go that far.

I also wouldn’t go as far as suggesting that Zeke be benched. But what I would suggest, is that you’d be in much better shape if you can only rely on him as a RB3/FLEX right now, and can let more ideal candidates fill in your RB1/2 slots.

Impact On Cowboys’ Receivers

Dallas’ trio of highly-touted receivers only saw 14 combined targets against Washington. And of them, only Amari Cooper was fantasy relevant, hauling all seven of his targets for 80 yards.

Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb were prime fantasy week-ruining candidates, as they didn’t catch any of their seven combined looks.

Dalton Schultz joined the party with a 2-22-0 line on four targets. Washington came into the game allowing the ninth-most fantasy points to tight ends.

Desperation is apparent among the calls for what quarterbacks the Cowboys could sign at this point. With the current state of their O-line, though, any QB is going to have a hard enough time getting their sea legs in this offense.

Amari’s continued alpha-WR role probably makes him the only fantasy relevant WR/TE currently. It’s a depressing fall for an offense who saturated fantasy lineups just a few weeks ago.

How will The Wolf handle these scenarios and more? Find out when our Rest Of Season Big Board And Rankings get adjusted this and every Monday night this season.

Author

  • Driven by profit, has the lobes for business. Prioritizes anchors as part of a diversified portfolio. Seeks to be the first hue-mon to become the Grand Nagus. On Twitter @ChaseM_G

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