CeeDee Lamb Out for the Season | Week 17 Fantasy Football Outlook for Cooper Rush, Rico Dowdle, Jake Ferguson, Brandin Cooks and More

The Dallas Cowboys were already eliminated from playoff contention, so there’s no point in playing star players, especially ones dealing with injuries.

Star wideout CeeDee Lamb has been dealing with injuries all season, and instead of maybe making things worse over the final two weeks, the Cowboys decided to shut Lamb down for the season.

Let’s discuss what the move means for the rest of the Cowboys, and maybe some players worth adding and playing in week 17.

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Lamb’s Final Numbers

I’d think most fantasy owners would say that Lamb’s fantasy season was a bit of a letdown. He’s still WR4 in PPR leagues and is averaging 17.6 points per week.

Oddly enough, Lamb has performed better later in the season with Cooper Rush throwing to him and while dealing with a shoulder injury. 

Lamb finished the 2024 season with 1,194 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 101 receptions and 152 targets. He finished the season by scoring 17.5 PPR points or more in three straight.

He should remain a high-end fantasy draft pick going into 2025.

Cowboys Fantasy Outlooks for Week 17

Dallas plays the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. That’s a very tough matchup for most of the offensive fantasy players, but Dallas showed plenty of grit last week after being eliminated from the playoffs, and I’d bet they will play hard again this week.

It’s a tough defensive matchup for Rush. It’s even tougher for the Dallas backfield, which is led by Rico Dowdle.

The wide receivers also have a tough matchup, and now don’t have Lamb to soak up multiple defenders. The matchup is also tough on the Cowboys’ tight ends.

Rush has been solid as a fantasy performer in his stint as the team’s starter. He has scored 11.8 or more points in six straight games, and has at least 14.8 points in three straight.

Rush’s first start this season came against the Eagles back in week 10. To say it didn’t go well would be a massive understatement. He was 13-of-23 passing for 45 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. Rush was sacked once, gained two yards on two rushes and lost two fumbles.

The Eagles still have a slim chance for the No. 1 seed, and possibly down Jalen Hurts (check back to FantasySP for a story on that), the Eagles’ defense should be in top form.

The only way I’m starting Rush in week 17 is if I’m in an extremely deep league or two-QB setup and there’s simply no other available options. Rush is likely to top out as a below-average fantasy QB this week.

Dowdle has been great in the latter portion of the season, although he scored just 8.1 PPR points last week. He had been at at least 14.9 points in the previous three outings.

He had an OK fantasy outing in the team’s last matchup, rushing 12 times for 53 yards and adding three receptions for three yards. Dowdle is not a great fantasy option this week, but I do think he’s the best option the Cowboys have this week. I’d prefer to only play him in deeper leagues, but understand if you want to stick with him after what he’s done of late.

Ezekiel Elliott barely is involved offensively anymore, and his lone fantasy value would be falling into the end zone, like he did last week. I’m not starting Elliott in any league types this week, especially in the brutal matchup.

As far as who could step up with Lamb out, there’s several possible pass catchers.

Wide receiver options include Brandin Cooks, KaVontae Turpin, Ryan Flournoy, Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks and Jonathan Mingo. Jake Ferguson and Luke Schoonmaker are two tight ends who could factor in.

Cooks played the most snaps of those pass catchers last week. He had three targets, going for 48 yards on three grabs. He has at least three targets in four straight games.

Ferguson had nine targets last week, catching six, but for just 40 yards. He has between 4-9 targets the past three contests.

Turpin had a seven-yard catch on his lone target. He also had one target in week 15.

Flournoy caught three passes for 41 yards across three targets. He has just seven catches on the season.

Schoonmaker had a three-yard catch on his lone target last week. He was a better fantasy option when Ferguson was out, but maybe the same thing will happen with Lamb now out.

Tolbert had 20 yards and a score on two catches and three targets last week. He’s dealing with a finger injury. 

Mingo played 15 snaps last week and did not get a target. He has five targets over the past four games, but four of those came four contests ago.

Brooks missed last week and is still on the injury report with a knee injury.

Cooks, Ferguson, Tolbert and Schoonmaker are the only pass catchers I’d consider playing in week 17, and I’d only consider them in deeper leagues. Turpin, Flournoy and Mingo would only become deep-league options if Tolbert and Brooks were both out.

This is just not a defensive matchup to test with many Dallas players. Someone could have a good game, but it’s anybody’s guess who it might end up being.