In this series of articles, our resident tape wizard Greg Cosell will take an in-depth look at some of the more interesting fantasy players for the 2020 NFL season. It’s a peek behind the curtain of the film room, as these are Greg’s raw, unfiltered notes he takes as he watches a player.
The Cowboys have been one of the most talked-about teams this offseason, in large part because of the big money they paid WR Amari Cooper, the big money they eventually need to pay QB Dak Prescott, and the big draft capital they spent on WR CeeDee Lamb. But the forgotten man in the whole ordeal might be third-year WR Michael Gallup, whose breakout 2019 campaign made some wonder if Dallas even should have drafted Lamb. Does the film show an emerging star? How do the Cowboys deploy Gallup?
General Observations
Gallup was predominantly the X receiver in the Cowboys’ offense (Cooper was the Z). He almost exclusively lined up on the ball.
Gallup’s two predominant alignments: boundary X on the back side of trips in 11 personnel 3x1 sets and the field X in 11 personnel 2x2 sets. Gallup ran the large percentage of his routes from these two alignments.
Gallup worked the middle of the field effectively. He was featured on slants and digs and used his big body and strong hands to make tough catches.
Gallup was the predominant receiver in the Cowboys RPO game, primarily running slants from the boundary X alignment.
Week 1: Giants
- Gallup stats: 7/158 (7 targets)
- Gallup is not a burner, but showed a second gear with the ball in the air on vertical routes: 36 yards on fade
- Gallup runs the slant route off RPO power run action — 23 yards with run-after-catch. He also ran the slant route off C/G pull run action — 6 yards.
- Gallup lined up on the ball, He was the Cowboys X receiver – He was the boundary X on the back side of trips in 11 personnel 3x1 sets. The Cowboys featured slant-flat concepts with the back offset to the boundary.
Week 5: Packers
- Gallup stats: 7/113/1 (14 targets)
- Slant routes are a Gallup staple from boundary X on the back side of trips in 11 personnel 3x1 sets, often featured off RPO concepts
- Gallup predominantly ran in-breaking routes when aligned at boundary X on the back side of trips: slants, digs.
- Gallup at boundary X was consistently featured on slants off RPO concepts, with RB Ezekiel Elliott offset to the boundary.
- Gallup almost exclusively lined up on the ball, both as the boundary X and #1 in 2x2 sets – when the Cowboys were in 11 personnel 2x2 sets, Gallup was almost always the #1 to the field.
- Gallup consistently showed the ability to make tough contested catches both on in-breaking routes and sideline routes – he showed strong hands.
Week 11: Lions
- Gallup stats: 9/148 (13 targets)
- Cowboys again featured RPO concepts out of 11 personnel 3x1 sets with Gallup on the quick slant from boundary X – Power was the predominant run action on these RPOs.
- Gallup 23-yard gain on deep sideline out of 12 personnel with twins to the field/closed to the boundary. Gallup lined up as the field X with plus split – this personnel and formation was the Cowboys staple for cross-country dagger concept. The Cowboys showed a nice wrinkle with Gallup running an excellent out route off the initial in-cut versus CB Darius Slay.
- Gallup’s 41-yard gain came out of 11 personnel 3x1 with Gallup running the deep sail route versus Lions’ Cover-1 robber coverage. Gallup made a contested catch – that’s a strength of Gallup’s game.
- Gallup is one of the best slant route runners in the NFL. He has the short-area quickness to beat press and a big body to shield the corner.
Week 14: Bears
- Gallup stats: 6/109 (10 targets)
- Gallup again aligned at the reduced-split field Z in 11 personnel 2x2, a formation the Cowboys showed throughout the season.
- Gallup continued to be effective on slants and digs when aligned at boundary X on the backside of trips in 11 personnel 3x1 sets
- When his split was reduced at boundary X in 11 3x1 sets, Gallup’s tendency was to run sideline out routes.
Week 17: Redskins
- Gallup stats: 5/98/3 (7 targets)
- Gallup continued to be featured on in-breaking routes (slants, digs) from the plus-split boundary X alignment on the backside of trips.
- A wide catching radius is a strength of Gallup’s game. He made tough catches.
- Two of Gallup’s TDs: 32 yards on a shallow cross from the field Z reduced split stack out of an 11 personnel 2x2 set, on which he displayed run-after-catch. He also had one of 45 yards on a dig from the boundary X on the backside of trips.
