Dak Prescott Fantasy Outlook & Injury Update 2022 (Is He Still Viable Without Amari Cooper?)

Football fans didn't know if Dak Prescott would be the same following his gruesome season-ending injury in 2020. Fortunately, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback bounced back in spades last year, finishing the NFL fantasy season as the QB7 in PPR formats.

Prescott's collection of weapons looks a bit different this season now that Amari Cooper has moved on to the Cleveland Browns. The veteran gunslinger still has a talented offense to work with, but can he still be a top-10 quarterback this season?

Dak Prescott Fantasy Football Outlook

Prescott raised a lot of eyes in 2020 when he averaged 371.2 passing yards per game before his injury. Although he didn't come close to that unsustainable pace last year, he did finish with 4,449 passing yards, 37 touchdowns (a new career-high) and 10 interceptions through 16 games.

A total of 15.3% of Prescott's passing attempts last season went to Cooper, meaning someone must step up to fill his void. Rookie Jalen Tolbert is a candidate to slot in as the No. 3 WR behind CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup. The former South Alabama Jaguar recorded 82 catches for 1,474 yards and eight TDs in 12 games last college football season.

Life without Cooper will be tough, but Tolbert stepping up can make the transition smoother. If the rookie and Prescott have an immediate connection, it could be another top-10 season for the former Mississippi State gunslinger.

The Cowboys also expect Prescott to be more mobile now that he's further separated from his major injury. He averaged 60.3 carries, 305.3 rushing yards and 5.3 touchdowns in his first four seasons before hurting his ankle.

Dak Prescott Injury Update

Prescott was much healthier in 2021 compared to the previous year as his only missed game occurred in Week 8. Having said that, head coach Mike McCarthy kept Prescott out of preseason games last year to avoid re-aggravating his ankle injury, leaving fans wondering if he'll do the same against this year.

While Prescott is feeling healthy, McCarthy told reporters last week that he's unsure of what the quarterback's preseason workload will look like in 2022. The Cowboys coach said that he's going to think about things after Dallas' first two exhibition contests before deciding if Prescott will play.

Aside from that, there hasn't been any news surrounding Prescott's ankle, which is always a good thing. Unless anything changes, expect him to be a full-go for the start of the 2022 NFL season.

Dak Prescott Projections

Projections from the NFL odds on FanDuel Sportsbook are fairly high on Prescott. That's highlighted by the fact that he's available at +1100 odds (T-No. 6) to be next season's passing yards leader. He's also available at +1100 (No. 7) to throw the most passing TDs.

FanDuel is also listing his projected passing yards total at 4,350.5 with -112 odds on both the over and under. Prescott averaged 10.9 yards per completion last year, meaning he'd need to connect on about 399 passes this fall to hit the over — something he only did for the first time last year.

Prescott's projected passing touchdowns total sits at 30.5 with -112 odds on both sides. The 2021 NFL season was his first time hitting the over on that prop as well, meaning it remains to be seen if that was a fluke or if he's capable of doing it in back-to-back years.

Is Dak Prescott a Good Fantasy Football Pick?

Only eight QBs averaged more fantasy points than Prescott in 2021 (20.66), highlighting his value as one of the better signal-callers that you can roster. Even with Cooper gone, there's enough talent on the Cowboys that makes Prescott a viable option if you don't end up with a name like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen or Tom Brady.

As it stands, The Duel is listing Prescott as the QB6 in PPR formats. He also carries an average draft position of 75.5 on Fantasy Pros, making him a player that likely won't be on the board beyond the middle of Round 7 in 12-team leagues.

Oh, and if you drafted Prescott as your QB1 then you might want to check out the best Dak Prescott fantasy football team names for your squad too.

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Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.