With the 17th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys selected CeeDee Lamb, Wide Receiver, Oklahoma.
This talented collegiate deep threat posted at least 62 receptions, 11 touchdowns, and 1,100 yards receiving, at minimum, in each of his final two years in Norman, Oklahoma. During his rookie season in the NFL, Lamb performed admirably finishing as the fantasy WR3 for rookie wideouts in 0.5PPR scoring. It was clear from last season Lamb had that “it” factor when it came to NFL receiving talent. However, for the purposes of this article let’s take a look at how Lamb’s future outlook is shaping up from a dynasty perspective. In order to do that, however, we must first take a look back at what set the stage for his impressive rookie year and what makes him a fantastic dynasty target!
With the Cowboys losing Cole Beasley to free agency a few years ago, the Cowboys were looking for a suitable replacement at the slot position in their wide receiver corps. Then out of nowhere on that fateful Thursday night in 2020, at pick 17, Lamb was served to them on a silver platter. Lamb was their new slot guy and the newest complement to incumbents Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup. Now while Cooper is under contract through 2024, Gallup is entering into the last year of his contract, so there is a chance that Lamb slides into the WR2 role and becomes that much more involved in the coming seasons should Gallup no longer be a part of the team.
That being said, in 2020 Lamb’s role was pretty well carved out despite the changes at QB. Keep in mind that in Weeks 1-5, Lamb played with Dak Prescott (who was on a record level pace), and then went on to play with backups Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci, and Garrett Gilbert for the remainder of the season after Prescott suffered a season-ending injury. Despite all those changes Lamb was still able to bring in (rookie rankings included) 74 receptions (2nd), 935 yards (2nd), and five touchdowns (5th).
Looking deeper into his stats, Lamb’s production came out of the slot and on deep receptions. In the slot, (according to PFF), Lamb saw 101 out of his 109 season targets, 69 of his receptions, 877 yards, and all of his touchdowns out of the slot. When looking at all wide receivers that played at least 50% of team snaps, Lamb ranked second in the NFL in targets, third in receptions, and had the third-most touchdowns out of the slot. Lamb’s average depth of target was 10.3 yards so he was a reliable option to gain first downs and help move the ball down the field. Starting to see what makes him such a great dynasty target in fantasy?!
Speaking of down the field, Lamb had continued his collegiate role of being a deep threat in the NFL. On balls that traveled at least 20 yards downfield in the air, Lamb ranked second on the season in receiving percentage. If we look at the variance between the two main Cowboys quarterback at play (Prescott and Dalton) it showed that it didn’t matter who was under center, Lamb was still able to be that deep threat. In Weeks 1-5, Dak Prescott was seventh in the NFL in QBR with a rating of 123.5 completing 15 out of 28 deep pass attempts, and Lamb was on the receiving end of seven of those. For Andy Dalton’s numbers for Weeks 5-17, he had a QBR of 61.2 and completed 10 out of 34 deep passes, of which Lamb brought in eight of those for the second-best receiving percentage for a wide receiver over that 13-week span. Overall on the season, Lamb was able to catch 12 of 13 balls that were deemed catchable by PFF so while fantasy managers may be concerned by drops, when it comes to catchable balls, Lamb is still very reliable.
Looking at Lamb’s fantasy season, it really is split into two parts with Prescott and then with Dalton. Lamb had 180.7 fantasy points on the season in 0.5PPR scoring. In Weeks 1-5 with Prescott as the starter, Lamb was the WR12 with 71.1 fantasy points. In Weeks 6-17, Lamb was the WR32 with 109.6 points. Overall, he finished as the WR20 giving him WR2 status even with the play of Dalton. With a better QB under center more consistently, his 11.3 fantasy points per game average should surely increase as he was averaging 14.2 with Prescott under center. With his role in the slot secured and with the Cowboys bringing back Prescott, Lamb’s outlook in the near future and beyond is bright in dynasty. Go acquire this dynasty target ASAP.
