The Dallas Cowboys will face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 8. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Cowboys skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 8 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Dak Prescott, QB
In today’s NFL, any quarterback who doesn’t offer upside with their legs is walking a thin line between viable and liability. Prescott is typically thought of as a QB who has enough mobility to pick up a few points when the opportunity presents itself, but that simply isn’t the case anymore.
Over his past seven regular-season games, Prescott has averaged 28.9 pass attempts for every rush, and he’s totaled three yards on the ground over his past three contests.
Like it or not, Prescott is essentially a pocket-locked quarterback these days, which has resulted in just one fantasy finish this season better than QB10. His passing TD rate and EPA per dropback are both pacing for the worst marks of his career — numbers that I don’t think will bounce back in a significant way any time soon.
What is it that a quarterback like this needs? We’ve seen Matthew Stafford and Kirk Cousins do it in the past, both with the benefit of a feared running game and receiver depth, two things that Prescott simply doesn’t have.
The 49ers handled him with relative ease last October (153 passing yards with three interceptions). While I’m not forecasting struggles at that level on Sunday, I never had a thought of ranking Prescott as a reasonable starter in one-QB formats.
Dalvin Cook, RB
Fantasy managers understandably want to chase the RB1 in the Cowboys offense. It should be a very good offense and bring touchdown upside. Fantasy managers also tend to gravitate toward brand names. Dalvin Cook is a brand name.
With the Vikings, Cook was one of the best running backs in the NFL. You remember that. You hope can recapture it with the Cowboys. But, it’s 2024.
Last year, with the Jets, Cook was not only one of the worst running backs in the NFL, but he was the worst running back in the NFL. His EPA per rush was -0.42, which ranked dead last among RBs by a very wide margin. For comparison, the second-worst RB was at -0.31. Cooks’s success rate was also just 32.8%.
In previous years, we saw fantasy managers pick up Le’Veon Bell after the Ravens signed him or Adrian Peterson after the Seahawks signed him. It never works.
Perhaps the 29-year-old Cook can buck the trend and be the outlier. If you have a spot on the back of your roster, stick Cook there and see how he looks. But there’s a reason he couldn’t get off the practice squad for two months. Please do not start him in his first live action of the season against the 49ers in Week 8.
Ezekiel Elliot, RB
Ahead of the Cowboys’ Week 6 game against the Lions, Ezekiel Elliott spoke to coaches about his lack of touches. In response, he saw the season’s highest snap share and carry count since Week 1. The Cowboys suffered one of their worst home losses in franchise history.
Now, the loss certainly was not on Zeke. But it prompted some changes behind the scenes. One such move is activating Dalvin Cook.
Much like Elliott, Cook was also once an elite running back. Now 29 years old, he is well past his prime. In 2023, it looked like he had nothing left. But the Cowboys haven’t seen him in a game. They have seen Elliott and know he doesn’t offer anything at this stage of his career. For the Cowboys, Cook is the unknown. It likely won’t be any better, but it can’t hurt to try.
Elliott may be relegated to seldom-used RB3 behind Rico Dowdle and Cook in Week 8. Even worse, he might be a healthy inactive, as he does not play special teams, making it more prudent to go with Deuce Vaughn as the RB3. Regardless, Elliott is as far away from fantasy relevance as he’s been since he was drafted in 2016.
Rico Dowdle, RB
Don’t look now, but the Cowboys have a lead back who you can trust. Yes, I’m well aware that Dowdle doesn’t have a 15-yard carry or a rushing touchdown this season — numbers that I don’t exactly make a habit of targeting.
Thanks to his versatility, however, Dowdle has produced 27.1% more fantasy points over his past three games than expected (eight catches on nine targets for 72 yards and a pair of touchdowns helps).
Defenses are daring the Cowboys to run with one of the lowest loaded box rates against in the league, opting to send as much coverage in CeeDee Lamb’s direction as humanly possible, and who can blame them?
Dallas continues to operate as a top-10 offense in terms of pass rate over expectation, which helps give Dowdle weekly RB2 potential (80% catch rate this season, and his pace from the past month is that of a 51-catch season). With him seemingly having iced Ezekiel Elliott in this RB competition (Elliott had 10 carries in Week 1 and hasn’t cleared eight since), Dowdle doesn’t have a direct line to failure.
This isn’t a great matchup by any means, and that has Dowdle down in my rankings from where he will land most weeks. Nevertheless, his role should have him locked into lineups across the board.
CeeDee Lamb, WR
You’re starting Lamb. There is no question that needs to be asked on that front this week, next week, or potentially for any of the four seasons remaining on his contract.
That said, I wanted you to feel heard. Lamb only has one finish better than WR15 this season (Week 4 at NYG: 7-98-1) and is producing 5.2% below expectations. That’s not what you paid for this season (2023: career-best 22.5% over expectation), and some inconsistencies from Dak Prescott have proven prohibitive in terms of ceiling weeks.
Lamb’s aDOT continues to inch down (9.7 this season, we’ve seen a drop-off of over 3.5% annually for three straight seasons), but what’s more concerning is an on-field target share that is down from 29% last season to 25%.
You don’t have to feel bad about expecting more from your WR1, and while I think Lamb will be fine, this doesn’t look like a matchup for him to give you the dominating stat line that you yearn for.
Through seven weeks, it hasn’t been the WR1s who have given the 49ers the most problems. Allen Lazard (26.9 points) outscored Garrett Wilson (12.0) in Week 1, Michael Wilson (12.8) was better than Marvin Harrison Jr. (5.6) in Week 5, and in Week 6, Tyler Lockett (16.5) more than doubled the production of DK Metcalf.
Hold tight, and don’t do anything rash. Even if your team is struggling, I’d rather bet on Lamb bouncing back than sell him at a discount.
- Week 12 at Commanders
- Week 13 vs. Giants
- Week 14 vs. Bengals
- Week 15 at Panthers
If you can survive the next month and stay in contention, I think it’s likely that you will leave 2024 with positive feelings toward Lamb — even if the start of 2024 hasn’t gone as scripted.
Jalen Tolbert, WR
Maybe I’m crazy, but I’ve scooped up plenty of Tolbert shares over the first seven weeks of the season, and I’m happy to have him stashed. Dallas’ WR2 has played over 89% of the offensive snaps in consecutive games for a team that, under Dak Prescott, routinely ranks in the top 10 in pass rate over expectation. That role alone should be rostered.
Don’t believe me? While Brandin Cooks posted the lowest yards per route rate of his career in 2023, he was a top-24 receiver on six occasions. Tolbert has that role all to himself, and while the 25-year-old still has to refine his game, I don’t think there’s much of a counter to the claim that he could match a success rate at that level moving forward.
I don’t think he’ll be the most consistent of options, but that doesn’t mean you outright neglect him After highlighting how secondary receivers have been the ones producing against San Francisco, he makes for an interesting DFS piece this week. Tolbert has cleared 100 air yards in three of his past five games — this is a profile I want on my bench, understanding that he offers weekly potential whenever I need it with his bye week now behind him.
Jake Ferguson, TE
I thought Ferguson was a legitimate threat to lead the position in scoring; safe to say, I no longer think that. Despite not having a touchdown on his résumé this season (we need him targeted on more than 10% of his red-zone routes!) and a 17-game pace of just 816 yards, Ferguson has been a top-10 tight end in three of his five games this season.
There’s very little to like in the way of per-target upside, but with his slot usage spiking from 32% last season to 47.1% through six weeks, I think there’s a reasonable floor to target here, especially in a matchup against a low-blitz, high-pressure San Francisco defense.
We should see his range of outcomes narrow coming out of the bye (he has the aforementioned three top 10s alongside two finishes as TE25 or worse), making him a weekly option that you can feel good about rolling out there.
Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers Game Insights
Dallas Cowboys
Team: Dallas beat Cleveland by 16 points in Week 1. Since then, they have a 2-3 record with a -58 point differential.
QB: Brock Purdy threw 17 passes on Sunday with Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and Jauan Jennings all off the field. He only had 14 career pass attempts with his top 3 WRs off the field before that, including playoffs.
Offense: Dallas has converted just 37.5% of its red zone trips into touchdowns, putting it on pace to be the worst Cowboys team of the 2000s (current low: 38.5% in 2002).
Defense: The Cowboys have the worst run defense in the league by EPA this season.
Fantasy: Rico Dowdle has taken over this backfield, and with the Cowboys owning the lowest opposed loaded box rate, we should have running lanes moving forward.
Betting: Since the beginning of last season, the Cowboys are 5-0 ATS on extended rest (Week 7: bye), covering three of their last four games by at least 15 points.
San Francisco 49ers
Team: Don’t forget that it took a little time for this team to get into form last season – they opened 5-3 before rattling off six straight wins after their Week 9 bye. After this game, San Francisco takes their bye.
QB: Brock Purdy’s yards per pressured pass attempt are down 18.3% from a season ago, and he faces off against a defense this week that ranks fifth in pressure rate.
Offense: The 49ers have converted just 45.2% of their red zone trips into touchdowns this season, their lowest rate since 2018 (41.2%).
Defense: The 49ers allow a league-high 9.5 yards per pass to the slow this season largely because those slot routes are extending down the field (11.1 aDOT, fourth highest).
Fantasy: Brandon Aiyuk (46.9%) is easily the team leader in target rate on the perimeter. If we view Deebo Samuel and George Kittle as the primary targets with Aiyuk now done for the season, it’ll be the receiver who assumes that usage. This season, Samuel has been targeted on 38.9% of his perimeter routes, while Kittle’s rate sits at a predictably low 2.5%.
Betting: The 49ers have covered six straight games against the NFC East (Week 5, 2023 vs. DAL: 42-10 win as a 3.5-point favorite).