Team news: Dallas Cowboys | Page 6

Cowboys TE Luke Schoonmaker has a hamstring injury that is expected to sideline him throughout OTAs. He underwent shoulder surgery this offseason. Hamstring is now what is keeping him off the field. He missed his 2023 rookie spring with foot injury.

Related Players: Jake Ferguson

It seems likely that Ferguson will have the easy nod as the TE1 once again this season. He is currently ranked as a fringe top-10 option in our rankings.

Running back Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys have agreed to terms, pending a physical that will bring the multi-time former Pro Bowler back, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Monday morning.

Related Players: Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Royce Freeman

While we figure that Elliott will be part of a rotation this season, it's hard to imagine the team went through the NFL Draft without selecting an option just to grab their former RB1 and keep him on the bench. If you're targeting a back on the Cowboys, it should be Elliott, but it may be better to take a wait-and-see approach over the next few months.

The Cowboys have signed running back Royce Freeman to a one-year deal. Freeman had 319 yards on 77 carries with 2 touchdowns last year for the Los Angeles Rams. He was 3rd round pick of Denver in '18.

Related Players: Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn

Freeman hasn't rushed for 500 yards since 2018, his rookie season. This shouldn't have any impact on the team drafting at the position and/or bringing back Ezekiel Elliott.

Cowboys begin their voluntary spring workout program one week from today. Barring a surprise departure from precedent, WR CeeDee Lamb won’t participate, as a potential holdout looms.

Gehlken continues, "Barring a contract extension that, when complete, is expected to make Lamb the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history, Lamb won’t take the field."

This is always a tricky path in fantasy, as we've seen holdouts last into the regular season, and that puts a question mark on his value in drafts. Lamb is the WR2 in current 4for4 Rankings, but missing time will obviously put a damper on that. We'll keep an eye on the situation throughout the offseason.

The Dallas Cowboys and RB Rico Dowdle have agreed to terms on a one-year deal to bring him back in 2024, the team can confirm.

Dowdle will be Dallas’ leading returning rusher after running for 361 yards last season in his first season in a prominent role.

Related Players: Deuce Vaughn, Malik Davis, Snoop Conner

As the depth start stands, Dowdle might be the best value on the board in current best ball drafts. Though the team is likely to add another piece in the NFL Draft, Dowdle is very much on fantasy radars here in March.

Cowboys have released WR Michael Gallup. Move to eventually save $9.5M in 2024 cap space as a post-June 1 cut.

Related Players: Jalen Tolbert, Martavis Bryant, KaVontae Turpin

Gallup has sadly fallen off since tearing his ACL in 2021 and has failed to eclipse 40 receptions in either of the last two years. The once-promising wide receiver will have a chance to find a role with a new team and could contribute as a perimeter option in 2024.

The Steelers are sending WR Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers. A new weapon for Bryce Young. Johnson has a $3 million roster bonus due Friday that the Panthers now will pay.

Related Players: George Pickens, Calvin Austin, Dez Fitzpatrick, Adam Thielen, Terrace Marshall, Jonathan Mingo

This is certainly good news for Bryce Young after the team brought him on board with arguably the worst pass-catching unit in the NFL last year. Johnson should instantly become the focal point of this offense, but the team still desperately needs help at WR, TE, and RB before we get too excited about the Panthers in fantasy.

For the Steelers, this also has them trending in the wrong direction on excitement-level, but it makes George Pickens very intriguing. This puts him in the conversation for a fringe WR2/3, not unlike Courtland Sutton with Russell Wilson the last two seasons.

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy on 1053thefan on rookie RB Deuce Vaughn getting an opportunity Saturday night with No. 2 RB Rico Dowdle (ankle) being out: “Deuce will be up this weekend. We got a plan and looking forward to it.”

Related Players: Tony Pollard

Dowdle had seen some increased usage over the back half of the season, but we probably shouldn't expect the 5'5", 176-pound rookie back to be eating into Pollard's workload too much. Vaughn has carried the ball 21 times for 38 yards (1.8/att.) to this point in the season.

The Patriots are placing starting RB Rhamondre Stevenson on Injured Reserve, ending his season.

Related Players: Ezekiel Elliott, Kevin Harris

This clears the way for Elliott to continue taking the majority workload for the last two games of the regular season, making him an RB2 the rest of the way. As for Stevenson's long-term view, we can only hope for some sort of overhaul to the Patriot's pedestrian offense.

The three players the Patriots are listing as out for Sunday night’s game in Denver:

🏈RB Rhamondre Stevenson, Ankle
🏈WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, Ankle
🏈S Jabrill Peppers, Hamstring

Related Players: Ezekiel Elliott, Kevin Harris

Elliott should once again handle the majority of the workload, though it's on a floundering offense. Consider him an RB2 against the Broncos defense.