Dallas Cowboys: Michael Gallup’s rookie season was worse than you think

Below is a breakdown of all the wide receivers selected in the first four rounds of the 2018 draft and how they performed during their rookie seasons. Let’s find out where Gallup ranked among his peers in 2018 …

First Round Wide Receivers

D.J. Moore – 55 recs, 82 targets, 788 yards, 2 tds – 67.1 catch percentage
Calvin Ridley – 64 recs, 92 targets, 821 yards, 10 tds – 69.6 catch percentage

Second Round Wide Receivers

Courtland Sutton – 42 recs, 84 targets, 704 yards, 4 tds – 50.0 catch percentage
Dante Pettis – 27 recs, 45 targets, 467 yards, 5 tds – 60.0 catch percentage
Christian Kirk – 43 recs, 68 targets, 590 yards, 3 tds – 63.2 catch percentage
Anthony Miller – 33 recs, 54 targets, 423 yards, 7 tds – 61.1 catch percentage
James Washington – 16 recs, 38 targets, 217 yards, 1 td – 42.1 catch percentage
DJ Chark – 14 recs, 32 targets, 174 yards – 43.8 catch percentage

Third Round Wide Receivers

Michael Gallup – 33 recs, 68 targets, 507 yards, 2 tds – 48.5 catch percentage
Tre’Quan Smith – 28 recs, 44 targets, 427 yards, 5tds – 63.6 catch percentage

Fourth Round Wide Receivers

Keke Coutee – 28 recs, 41 targets, 287 yards, 1 td – 68.3 catch percentage
Antonio Callaway – 43 recs, 79 targets, 586 yards, 5 tds – 54.4 catch percentage
DaeSean Hamilton – 30 recs, 45 targets, 243 yards, 2 tds – 66.7 catch percentage
J’Mon Moore –  2 recs, 3 targets, 15 yards – 66.7 catch percentage
Jaleel Scott – Injured prior to season

Based on the above information, only three wide receivers selected in the first four rounds of the 2018 NFL Draft caught less than 50 percent of their targets in 2018. And Gallup was one of them, getting nearly double the targets of the other two.

Would the Cowboys have been better off selecting another wide receiver over Gallup? No one knows. But the numbers tell us no other rookie in this group had a worse catch percentage that was targeted more than 38 times.

Now, let’s compare Gallup’s rookie performance against some of the Cowboys’ other rookie wide receivers in recent years …