One of the big questions hanging over the Dallas Cowboys right now is whether or not Wide Receiver Michael Gallup will be ready to play in September. If the starting wideout does miss regular-season games, who is most likely to see a jump in targets until he gets back?
Gallup's recovery from last year's torn ACL is expected to keep him out of training camp and the preseason at a minimum. Some believe that it's not a question of if Michael will miss games in September, or even October, but just how many before he returns.
As one of Dak Prescott's favorite targets when he plays, Gallup's absence will open up a lot of targets for other receiving options. Naturally, we first look to the WR depth chart for guys who will get a bigger share while he's out. But what about some of the other offensive positions?
Obviously the guy who moves up to WR2 is the first candidate to see a production spike. But even that is uncertain right now as veteran James Washington and rookie Jalen Tolbert appear to be headed into a competition. Both will likely see an uptick in targets while Gallup's out but one in particular will be the temporary starter, giving him greater opportunity.
What about the other pass-catchers at tight end? It wasn't long ago that Jason Witten was often the second-most productive receiver in Dallas' offense. Could Dalton Schultz see an even bigger jump in his stats from the last two years? Especially if defenses are keying on CeeDee Lamb, Schultz could be the biggest beneficiary of all.
The effect on tight ends could even trickle down to Sean McKeon or Jake Ferguson. Whoever emerges as TE2 this year could see a bump in snaps if Gallup misses time. Dallas may employ more two-TE formations depending on who's performing best between the backups at either WR or TE.
What about Tony Pollard? We've talked about the running back's potential as a receiver for three years and now the opportunity to see it is here like never before. Could creative use of Pollard, or even a healthy Ezekiel Elliott for that matter, give the RBs a higher volume of targets in the passing game?
Is there an ideal scenario here? Sure, seeing Jalen Tolbert immediately produce as WR2 would be exciting and beneficial. But so would getting the ball into Tony Pollard's hands more and seeing him explode on opposing defenses.
Of course, our hope is that Michael Gallup doesn't miss a single game. But assuming he has to, it's going to come down to Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore's utilization of various assets to keep the offense flowing. It may not come down to just one guy picking up the slack, but rather he and Dak Prescott keeping everyone involved and keeping defenses guessing.
Love your stuff Jess … legitimately one of the better contributors to these sites.
But I would caution against buying into any of the hype about Pollard’s role increasing. This is an old song at this time of year, and you won’t be seeing him used as a receiver. Just maybe the 1st three weeks of the season you may see him motioned out and catch a flare or two, just for the sake of making it look like a concept, but history suggests Pollard’s role is well-defined and won’t change one iota.
IMO, there is but a single scenario that lands Pollard on the 2023 roster, and that is essentially Zeke being removed from it. Pollard may go down as one of the biggest waste of talents in team history (like a Marcellus Bennett). Why on earth would Pollard re-sign here unless he’s all but given the lead role?
Thanks Ghost. That’s nice to hear!
I agree that hopes for Pollard having an expanded role have generally been crushed the last few years. My thought for 2022 is that Gallup’s projected absence will force the coaches to think about it more as part of their prep for the season and help it become more crystalized in the playbook.
But yeah, you could be totally right.
I can see them getting creative to start the season to cover for the absence of Gallup. Kellen has shown he can do that. His problem is sustaining that creativity throughout the entire season.
My fear is that he’ll show that creativity and make the offense look really good and get our hopes up. Then, revert back to the same lame play calling of 10 yard curl routes and pounding RB’s between the tackles, series after series.
Kellen’s creativity seems to go hand-in-hand with trust in the offensive line. If the OL returns to solvency, I think it will allow Moore to go deeper into his bag.
Agreed, but trust in Dak comes into play there as well.
If Dak can show improvement in hitting crossing routes consistently and in stride, that really opens up the creativity. If Dak is still only comfortable or consistent hitting guys that are stopped or coming back to him, that really limits what Kellen can call, or at least which routes Dak will go to first.
IMHO WR is the least of the worries for the Boys. Very disappointed that Cedric W. left, but next man up.