Cowboys stock up stock down after Week 5: Tony Pollard climbs

After five weeks, the Dallas Cowboys are making believers of us all. While we won’t act like Corky Romano in a school question-and-answer session the way Michael Irvin does, there’s a growing sense that this team could make some noise.

The main reason for this is the way so many players have stepped up in the absence of quarterback Dak Prescott. And now at 4-1, let’s look at a few of the players in Dallas who have had their stock go up — or down — so far in 2022.

Cowboys roster stock up stock down after Week 5 win against Rams

Stock up: Tony Pollard, RB

Despite still playing second-fiddle to Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard continues to make impressive plays when given the chance. On Sunday, he answered a Cooper Kupp 75-yard touchdown that put Los Angeles on top by taking a handoff 57-yards to the house.

This score gave the Cowboys a 16-10 lead and they never looked back. Pollard finished with 86 yards on just eight carries — including his second touchdown on the year.

So far on the season, he has 248 yards on 44 carries with seven receptions for 71 yards. He’s also picked up where he left off in 2021 as he has 5.6 yards per attempt compared to the 5.5 he had a season ago.

Pollard is in the final year of his contract and if Dallas continues to bank on Elliott as the No. 1 back, they could very well be watching him make highlight-reel plays more frequently somewhere else.

Stock down: WR hands

It hasn’t cost them a loss yet, thanks to their defense, but the wide receivers in Dallas have had issues holding onto the ball. CeeDee Lamb had two drops, including one that would have been a long score, against the Giants.

Then against the Rams, he and Michael Gallup each had another. Both times, they killed drives, but with the defense giving up just 10 points, they still won. Facing a high-powered offense such as the Eagles in Week 6 could be a different story if these issues continue.