The impact of Dak Prescott's injury on CeeDee Lamb in fantasy football isn't as bad as you think

As if the news wasn't bad enough for the Dallas Cowboys and their fans (like me) due to their 3-5 record, the team has now been without quarterback Dak Prescott for “several weeks” due to a hamstring injury, according to multiple NFL insiders. He suffered the injury in Sunday's loss to Atlanta.

For fantasy managers in one-quarterback leagues, consider keeping Prescott off rosters.

His absence now pushes Cooper Rush into a familiar role…he will be the Cowboys' No. 1 quarterback for the foreseeable future. In 2022, he was given a similar role and started five games. His fantasy stats weren't great, as he didn't score more than 13.6 points in all but one game. He has started just six games in his career and averaged 11.7 points.

Obviously that's not good, so Rush isn't worth giving up in traditional leagues.

However, the Cowboys and fantasy managers have received good news about CeeDee Lamb as he struggles week-to-week with a shoulder injury. He also suffered the injury against the Falcons. There is reportedly “optimism” that he can play in Week 10.

Even if that is true, what can we expect?

Well, Lamb played six games where Rush was the starter and his numbers weren't all that bad. In those starts, he averaged 9.5 scores, 6.2 catches, 82 yards and 16.7 fantasy points. That's a downgrade from the 23.7 points he averaged with Prescott last season and the 18.5 points he averaged in his first eight games this year, but at least he didn't completely fall off the map, like it Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle did without Tua Tagovailoa.

Assuming Lamb plays this week, he is one of three players with fantasy value on the roster. Jake Ferguson should still be a TE1, and Rico Dowdle has matchup-based value and can be a starter in the bye week.

If Lamb is unable to return to the field to face the Eagles this weekend, Jalen Tolbert would be worth a look, barring the fantasy waiver.