The Dallas Cowboys wide receiver room breathes through CeeDee Lamb. He's the top dog of the group and a true No. 1 wide receiver. If there were any doubts about that, going off on the Los Angeles Chargers following his demands for more targets surely removed them.

But despite Lamb's success, the Cowboys have a problem at wide receiver. Both Michael Gallup and Brandin Cooks have underwhelming stats seven weeks into the 2023 NFL season. Both of them have caught less than 60% of the targets thrown their way, compared to Lamb's 81%. 

Gallup and Cooks rank 68th and 69th in yards per route run among qualifying NFL receivers. They are also outside the Top 70 at their position in PFF receiving grades. Overall, the Cowboys need to see more out of them.

That being said, it's clear Gallup is perceived as a much bigger issue than Cooks. He's visibly struggled to gain separation and rarely wins one-on-one situations to help out Dak Prescott and the offense. Having the 17th-highest drop rate in the league doesn't help. A closer view of the numbers reveals the biggest red flag about Gallup's play.

Gallup is costing the Cowboys a ton of opportunities

Think about how Gallup is supposed to win in the NFL. He's no speedster. While his routes were good before his knee injury, he was never really seen as a route-running craftsman. Instead, Gallup was always a player who made a few spectacular catches and won playing isolated ball thanks to his skills to win contested catches.

The problem is that the Cowboys continue to target him in such situations even though he's nowhere near as effective as he was in previous years. 

Take a look at his contested catches percentage by year:

• 2018: 7 contested catches, 30.4%
• 2019: 17 contested catches, 53.1% 
• 2020: 9 contested catches, 50%
• 2021: 10 contested catches, 50%
• 2022: 10 contested catches, 47.6%
• 2023: 2 contested catches, 16.7% 

Gallup's contested catch rate is 85th in the NFL per Pro Football Focus, the lowest excluding players with no contested catches yet. 

Here's where it gets concerning: Despite the lack of success, he's been targeted for a total of 12 contested throws! That's the 12th most in the league! Let me name some of the 11 players above Gallup in contested targets: D.J. Moore, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Davante Adams, Mike Evans, Stefon Diggs… Do you see where I'm going with this?

It just feels like the Cowboys are trying to do too much with No. 13 instead of looking elsewhere. Which brings me to the next question. 

Should the Cowboys bench Michael Gallup and start Jalen Tolbert?

Yes and no.

I for one, would vote in favor of giving Tolbert more looks in view of Gallup's struggles. So I lean toward saying, yes, it's time for Tolbert to get the nod over Gallup or at least have the second-year player eat into his snaps. 

However, I believe that isn't the fix. Why? If Tolbert goes in and the Cowboys keep targeting him in those situations, I doubt things the woes will disappear. 

I get it, you've got to spread the football around. But Lamb is tied for 76th in the league with just three contested targets. That number needs to be higher.

Shouldn't Mike McCarthy's scheme be looking his way much more often? Should Dak Prescott be "forcing" the football to No. 88 more times? Heck yes, we see it with so many other teams. It isn't as simple as that, of course. But this circles back to needing to find ways to get Lamb the football, whether that means doing so against single or double coverage, whether it's in contested situations or scheming him open.

It also means trusting Lamb in more one-on-one spots than usual. Although it's an oversimplification, the Cowboys have to feed their best playmaker. That's where it all starts.

Cowboys: CeeDee Lamb could one-up Irvin, Bryant in Week 8

Representing the 88 Club.