Fantasy News: Cooper Rush Will Be Cowboys' QB1 Over Trey Lance vs. Jayden, Commanders

There are six teams on bye in Week 12 of the NFL season, so fantasy football players looking for some last-minute quarterback help may find recent developments in Dallas of interest.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters Tuesday that Cooper Rush will start the team's upcoming game against Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders. That put a quick end to any speculation the Cowboys might turn to Trey Lance with the season slipping away.

While Dallas is 0-2 in Rush's two starts with Dak Prescott sidelined by a hamstring injury, he did show some progress in Monday's loss against the Houston Texans.

He was an ugly 13-of-23 for 45 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions in his first loss against the Philadelphia Eagles but aired it out much more against Houston while going 32-of-55 for 354 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Fantasy players with their normal quarterbacks on bye could use a replacement who is capable of throwing for more than 350 yards, and Washington is a solid but unspectacular 14th in the league in points allowed per game.

But sticking with Rush instead of going to Lance may be of more interest for fantasy players with CeeDee Lamb in their lineup.

After all, Rush targeted the go-to option 12 times in Monday's loss. Lamb finished with eight catches for 93 yards, and it seems like the current signal-caller is comfortable looking his way early and often in the offense.

Had the Cowboys turned to Lance, they may have mixed in more running plays and read options that allow him to use his legs which would have, in turn, given Lamb fewer opportunities.

From an actual football perspective, there is an argument to be made that the 3-7 Cowboys should see what they have in Lance since this is largely a lost season. He was the No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft but has not had much opportunity to prove himself thanks to injuries and depth-chart situations.

McCarthy did tell reporters Lance will have a package of plays against the Commanders, so that could be a start of more playing time. But it seems like Rush will remain the starter as Dallas plays out the string on the 2024 campaign.