Fantasy Football Player Notes

There was some concern after the Thanksgiving game that Zeke was going to have to miss some time with his knee injury that's been bothering him as of late, but he was a full participant in practice on Monday and seems to be a full-go for this matchup against the Saints defense. While Zeke certainly has not been what fantasy managers were hoping for as of late, he is still providing an incredibly high floor for a player who's battling through injury. Over the past four games, Zeke has not finished outside of the top-20 RBs on the week and he's actually seen his receiving workload tick up. That might drop a little bit with Lamb coming back into the lineup - potentially Cooper as well - but we still know he's going to receive plenty of work and not hurt our lineups. The matchup isn't great though against the Saints defense that is allowing the fewest fantasy points per game to opposing RBs this season with 12.6, but with Zeke's involvement around the goal-line, th

Lamb appears set to return to the lineup this week against the Saints after dealing with a concussion and he needs to be immediately dropped back into your starting lineup. Lamb has been incredibly consistent this season when he's been in the lineup and he's averaging a solid 7.4 targets, 5 receptions, 74 receiving yards, and .6 touchdowns per game. He has to worry about sharing the ball with multiple other talented receiving threats in this offense, but Lamb has proven that he can get the job done regardless. In a matchup this week against the Saints secondary that's allowing 182.3 receiving yards per game to opposing WRs, which is the 5th highest mark in the league this year, Lamb deserves to be viewed as a low-end WR1.

In Cooper's absence over the past two games, Gallup has seen 18 targets and he's turned that into 10 receptions for 146 receiving yards. While he hasn't found the end zone, he's been a solid option for fantasy lineups that had to turn to him with Cooper and Lamb out of the lineup. Now, things get a little bit muddier with Lamb and Cooper coming back. The Saints are a great matchup for opposing WRs as they're allowing the 8th-most fantasy points to the position this season, but there's concern about where the targets go in this offense with all three WRs on the field and healthy. If all three Dallas WRs are active, Gallup should be viewed as a low-end WR3/high-end FLEX option that still comes with upside due to the matchup.

Pollard has seen a bit of an increase in work over the past few games with Zeke hampered by his knee injury and he's proving to be a solid plug-and-play option for fantasy managers as a RB2. He's now finished as a top-24 RB each of the past three weeks and he's averaging 13.66 total opportunities (targets + carries) over that time frame. With Pollard's talent, that's enough work to come through for fantasy lineups and he deserves to be considered yet again here in Week 13. The matchup against the Saints isn't great, but Pollard should see enough work to be viewed as a high-end RB3 this week.

Fantasy managers were starting to panic a little bit on Schultz from Weeks 8-10 where he had two fantasy finishes outside the top-35 at the position. However, he's turned things around in the past two weeks and has come through in the advantageous situation with Cooper and Lamb both missing time. Schultz has seen a 16.9% target share over the past two weeks combined, but we have to assume that that will drop down if Cooper and Lamb both return to the active lineup this week. It's a tougher matchup for opposing TEs regardless with the Saints allowing just 5.2 fantasy points per game to the position too, so we need to at least exercise caution with Schultz in Week 13. He's still worth playing if all three WRs are active, but we need to downgrade him to more of a low-end TE1. If Cooper misses this week, we can at least feel comfortable starting Schultz as a mid-range/low-end TE1. We'll continue to update with more information as it becomes available.

Cooper is expected to play against the Saints on Thursday night after missing two games while on the COVID-19 list. However, ESPN's Ed Werder tweeted that the Cowboys were likely to limit Cooper's snaps. It's probably best to consider Cooper a low-end WR2 for this week with a lower floor than usual.