Fantasy Football Player Notes

Despite not scoring a touchdown yet, Cooper sits as the WR16 on the year. He's looked solid and not hampered by the injury we talked about during the preseason. While Gallup and Lamb fight to be the No. 2 option, it appears Cooper's role is safe. The Seahawks are the definition of a funnel defense, as they've allowed running backs just 16.0 PPR points per game but have allowed wide receivers 67.5 fantasy points per game. You read that right. Seriously, I double checked just to be sure. Through two games, they've allowed 135.1 fantasy points to wide receivers. The combination of Shaquill Griffin and Quinton Dunbar was supposed to be a positive, but it hasn't to this point, as they've combined to allow 22-of-33 passing for 333 yards and a touchdown in their coverage. Cooper will see the most of Griffin, who is the cornerback fellow Alabama route runner Calvin Ridley tagged for most of his 9/130/2 against. In a game with a 54.5-point total, there's going to be some passing and some points scored, and you're not going to want to miss them. Cooper should be played as a WR1 until further notice.

It's odd to think that none of the Cowboys receivers have scored a touchdown this season, especially considering they've combined for 50 targets through two games. Oddly enough, the Seahawks have allowed a league-leading 731 yards to wide receivers (no other team has allowed more than 524 yards) but have only allowed two touchdowns to them. Lamb has been running 91.4 percent of his routes from the slot, which means he'll match up with last year's fourth-round pick Ugo Amadi, who hasn't been what you'd describe as great on his limited playing time. He's only seen 22 targets in coverage throughout his 123 snaps in coverage, allowing 19 of them to be completed for 164 yards, though none of them have gone for touchdowns yet. He's only playing because safety/cornerback Marquise Blair is out for the year with a torn ACL. This is a matchup that Lamb should be able to take advantage of, making him a decent WR3 play this week.

The kneejerk reaction to the Cowboys drafting Lamb was that Gallup would take a big hit. We all got past that and said it was realistic to see Lamb in the Randall Cobb role, with maybe a slight portion of the tight end targets that had vacated. Unfortunately, the initial reaction may have been correct. Gallup has 10 targets through two games while Lamb has 15 of them. There was just one stretch of two games where Gallup had 10 targets last year, so we're officially worried. He's typically at LWR, which means he'll see the most of Quinton Dunbar, the Seahawks big acquisition at cornerback. The Seahawks as a whole have struggled to stop wide receivers, but Dunbar has been at least competent. If the last two years are a sign of anything, he's the most talented cornerback on the team. Again, this team has allowed 67.5 PPR points per game to wide receivers, so there's production to be had, but Gallup is at the stage where he almost needs to prove it before he can be trusted as a top-30 wide receiver. He's just a borderline WR3/4 option despite the plus matchup, though the bright side is that the Seahawks have allowed six top-36 wide receivers through two games.