NFL Draft: Fantasy football impact of CeeDee Lamb to the Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys made CeeDee Lamb the 17th selection in Thursday's NFL Draft. What does landing in Dallas mean for Lamb's Fantasy outlook?
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With the 17th pick in the NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys selected wide receiver CeeDee Lamb out of Oklahoma. Find Lamb's 2020 Fantasy outlook below:
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 191
Age: 21.0
Dynasty Ranking: 1.04 (WR2)
Redraft Ranking: WR51
Receiving: 41 catches for 655 yards and 5 touchdowns
Lamb feels like a can't-miss talent. He was absolutely dominant at the collegiate level last year, scoring 15 touchdowns and recording an absurd 21.4 yards per reception. He's the highest-graded wide receiver prospect NFL.com has ranked since Amari Cooper in 2015, and PFF referenced Lamb as "the most advanced wide receiver prospect since we started grading college players six years ago." Popular NFL comparisons range from DeAndre Hopkins to Chad Johnson to Jerry Rice.
Despite running just a 4.5 at the combine, Lamb was deadly as a deep ball weapon in 2019. He ranked 12th among wide receives in deep ball yardage last year, despite only seeing 22 deep targets. Lamb averaged a ludicrous 43.9 yards per catch on the 12 deep passes he hauled in, and he scored a touchdown on half of them.
Dallas already has two capable receivers in Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup, so don't expect a massive contribution from Lamb in his rookie season. Adding him to that group gives Dak Prescott one of the most talented receiving corps in the NFL. Amari Cooper has thrived when running routes from the slot in recent years, and this pick signifies that he will likely be used in that capacity even more often in 2020.
Cooper's slot rate fell from 24 percent with Dallas in 2018 to just 14 percent last year. With Randall Cobb gone and Lamb added, expect more slot work for Amari in 2020. Since becoming a Cowboy, Cooper has averaged 2.74 yards per route run from the slot. Not only is the significantly higher than his 2.14 yards per route run from the perimeter, but it is the second-best mark in the entire NFL.
Given their respective landing spots, I'm comfortable moving Jeudy above Lamb for dynasty purposes. I've been more bullish on Lamb during the evaluation process, but there is clearly more opportunity for Jeudy in 2020 and moving forward than Lamb. Lamb's talent should earn him a regular role, so I'm still comfortable drafting him over Henry Ruggs. If a few of the rookie running backs end up being drafted into advantageous situations, though, Lamb could easily fall out of my top-five rookies for Dynasty purposes.
So which players are poised for breakouts, which sleepers do you need to jump on, and which busts should you avoid at all costs in your Fantasy football league? Join SportsLine now to get early 2020 Fantasy football rankings, plus see which WR is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that out-performed experts big time last season.