It may seem counterintuitive to bring in a new quarterback this late in the season for teams that are already in position to win their fantasy football championship. However, Dallas Cowboys signal caller Dak Prescott has a great slate of games to finish the year and will be giving it his all to ensure his team finishes strong for their own postseason push. A slow start has skewed his numbers to make them look worse than they actually are. However, Prescott is a quarterback that, if started, could end up being what team owners need to give them that final push towards a championship.
Adding Dak Prescott in Fantasy Football Will Win Your League
Has Heated Up Since the Season Started
Prescott started the season looking pretty dismal. After watching the first game, it looked like the Cowboys were going to be in for a long season. The team lost to the Carolina Panthers 16-8. Prescott had under 200 yards passing and no touchdowns, good for a measly 8.7 fantasy points. This continued for the first five weeks, as Prescott managed a total of five touchdowns to four interceptions. He didn’t go over 20 fantasy points even once.
He started to heat up week six against the Jacksonville Jaguars, putting out his best fantasy line to date (29.52 points). Since then, he hasn’t slowed down. On the season, Prescott is ranked as the QB14, which is probably a big reason why he is only about 64% owned. Early in the season, Prescott struggled to get the ball downfield with a receiving corps that struggled to gain separation.
Owner Jerry Jones knew he had to do something to keep the team’s season alive, so he sent a first-round pick to the Oakland Raiders to acquire Amari Cooper. He made his debut week nine after the team’s bye. Cooper has made the offense much more dynamic, helping Prescott skyrocket all the way up to QB5 since he made the move to Dallas. Now, in prime position to win the NFC East once again, Prescott has returned to fantasy relevance.
Good Matchups
This week’s matchup isn’t anything special but is exploitable. The Indianapolis Colts are a middle-of-the-road pass defense, but the team is fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive. Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has been on fire all year and finally looks healthy. Luck has thrown multiple touchdowns in all but two games this season. Expect them to come out throwing, and Prescott will have to keep up.
Team owners who have better options next week, or still aren’t sold on Prescott, should at least pick him up now while he is still available. This is because he gets a dream matchup week 16 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay currently ranks 27th in the league in passing defense, allowing 269 yards per game.
It helps that the Buccaneers can chuck the ball downfield themselves. They rank first in the league in passing yards with 4,308, good for 331 yards per game. They usually do not even attempt to have a run game, meaning this game could easily turn into a good-old-fashioned shootout. Prescott should have no trouble airing it out and putting up great fantasy numbers to help his owners take home the title.
Safe Floor
Even before Cooper got into the offense, Prescott had gone into the bye with two-straight 20+ point games. In the past eight weeks, he has five games over 20 points. He has a few ten-point games this season, but they were all the way back in the first few weeks of the season. With Cooper in the lineup, a 14-point floor is something fantasy players shouldn’t feel too shaky about.
Of course, his rushing prowess helps matters. His attempts and yardage have been rather sporadic this season, but he is still averaging about five attempts and 25 yards a game. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is more than most quarterbacks. Not to mention he has five rushing touchdowns on the season. He hasn’t scored one in the last two games. The law of averages says he has one coming up soon.
In the second half of the season, Prescott has outscored players with much higher ownership than him, including Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, and Aaron Rodgers. Newton is ailing, and Rodgers and Ryan are in the midst of lost seasons. These are a few players who could end up bottoming out to finish the season and costing their owners a championship title. Prescott is not only a safer option but has as much upside as any of them right now.
Adding and starting Prescott this late in the season is a bold move, but fortune always favors the bold. Some teams probably picked him up this week on waivers, but if he is still there, grab him now!
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