CeeDee Lamb Seeking To Become NFL’s Highest-Paid WR

Given an expected invite to the Pro Bowl event, CeeDee Lamb is also on course for his initial first-team All-Pro honor. The Cowboys wide receiver has timed his career-best season well, seeing as he will be an extension candidate this coming offseason.

Rumors about the Cowboys extending Lamb early surfaced in 2023, but after neither they nor the Vikings extended their top wideouts, the streak of first-round receivers never being extended with two years of rookie-deal control remaining has reached 10 offseasons in the fifth-year option era. Lamb and Justin Jefferson may soon be linked, however, as their teams reopen negotiations.

Jefferson should be expected to enter the 2024 season as the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver, but Lamb said Thursday (via the Dallas Morning News’ Michael Gehlken) he would ideally secure the NFL’s top WR salary on his second contract. Stating that would be a goal of his “for sure,” Lamb is prepared to discuss an extension with the Cowboys after the season ends. Dallas picked up the 2020 draftee’s fifth-year option, slotting him in at $17.99MM guaranteed for the ’24 season.

While Jefferson stands on his own tier in terms of receiving yards through three seasons, shattering Randy Moss‘ record in that timeframe, Lamb has put together his best season in Year 4. The Oklahoma product, chosen after Henry Ruggs and Jerry Jeudy (but ahead of Jefferson) four years ago, leads the NFL with 122 receptions and has posted a career-high 1,651 yards. Both numbers smash Lamb’s previous career-best figures. Lamb has totaled 12 touchdowns this season, adding two on the ground while amassing 106 rushing yards. He has done just about everything possible to secure a lucrative second contract from the Cowboys.

Of course, Dallas’ payroll looms as a question. For the time being, Dak Prescott is on a $40MM-per-year deal and Micah Parsons his rookie contract. But Prescott is armed with leverage that gives him an excellent opportunity to become the NFL’s highest-paid player. A $60MM-AAV deal, which would top Joe Burrow‘s current league-high salary by a notable margin, is believed to be in play. That will make matters more difficult on the Lamb front, with Parsons also on track for an extension that makes him the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player. At 24, Lamb is six years younger than Prescott. But the former likely resides as the Cowboys’ No. 3 priority — in the grand scheme — regarding a new contract.

Dallas caved on player-friendly terms for Prescott, eschewing its usual approach for five- or six-year extensions to sign its quarterback just before the 2021 deadline to apply franchise tags. Preventing a $37MM cap hold from going on their 2021 payroll, the Cowboys procedurally tagged Prescott — for the purpose of the QB avoiding a 2025 tag. While Prescott joins Lamb in being signed through 2024, he is effectively finishing out a contract year. Prescott’s 2024 cap number spikes to $59MM. No team has ever gone into a season with a player attached to even a $45MM cap number, giving Prescott tremendous leverage as he closes out a quality bounce-back season.

The Cowboys’ decision to bail on Amari Cooper‘s five-year, $100MM contract has been costly at points, but the team made that move with an eye on Lamb’s future. It would surprise if the Cowboys were suddenly uninterested in extending Lamb, though he did not enter the 2023 season with a realistic chance of becoming the NFL’s highest-paid receiver. His success this season raises the stakes a bit. Although Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase will both be extension-eligible in 2024, Lamb has put together a monster season that could conceivably vault him past Tyreek Hill‘s $30MM-per-year number before Week 1 of next season.

The Prescott and Parsons matters provide complications. Parsons can be kept on his rookie contract through 2025, via the fifth-year option. Big picture-wise, having a Prescott-Parsons-Lamb trio each signed to position-record contracts would make it challenging to build a roster around them. This doubles as a good problem for the Cowboys, given the talent at these positions, but it will present an interesting dilemma.