After learning earlier today that the Cowboys had yet to engage in “substantial” extension talks with CeeDee Lamb, the inactive negotiations have led to a holdout. “A person with knowledge” of Lamb’s thinking told Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News that the player will not be reporting to training camp tomorrow. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has since confirmed the news. ESPN’s Todd Archer was first to report that the organization was “bracing” for a Lamb no-show when practices start on Thursday.
[RELATED: Cowboys Yet To Conduct ‘Substantial’ Negotiations With WR CeeDee Lamb]
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport clarifies that the two sides have indeed worked on a new deal, although it’s uncertain if that runs contrary to the aforementioned report of minimal “substantial” talks. The wideout will continue to face daily fines of $50K until he attends camp.
While Justin Jefferson, A.J. Brown, and Amon-Ra St. Brown all earned offseason extensions that will pay at least $30MM per year, Lamb is still attached to his $17.99MM fifth-year option. The Oklahoma alum did initially state an interest in becoming the NFL’s highest-paid wideout. It’s uncertain if he’s now pushing for Jefferson’s record-breaking $35MM AAV, but at the very least, he can point to the Vikings WR’s $110MM in guaranteed money.
Both sides always intended to see how the market played out, and recent reports indicated that the Cowboys were prioritizing a Lamb extension over deals for Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons. Perhaps that report was a signal of things to come and the Cowboys read the tea leafs regarding Lamb’s impending holdout. Of course, this news also doesn’t come as a huge shock. Lamb had been a candidate to engage in a holdout for quite some time, considering he skipped voluntary OTAs as well as mandatory minicamp.
Now, the Cowboys will be engaged in a holdout for the second-straight training camp. Last year, Zack Martin held out as he pursued a new contract. The Cowboys ended up being the side to blink, as the organization turned the final two years of Martin’s contract into a fully guaranteed agreement. Lamb will obviously be seeking both guarantees and term on his next pact, and with Dallas having not guaranteed a receiver more than $40MM at signing (while also holding the line on contracts spanning at least five years), it’s uncertain which side will relent. For what it’s worth, Ezekiel Elliott won his staring contest with the Cowboys back in 2019, with the running back earning a new contract that made him the highest-paid player at his position.
Lamb has been the centerpiece of the Cowboys’ passing attack since the team moved on from Amari Cooper in 2022. The 25-year-old is coming off a first-team All-Pro season (the first by a Dallas wideout since Dez Bryant), setting franchise records in receptions (135) and yards (1,749) along the way.
There is no way you give this much cap space to one WR.
Trade him.
Jerry will.
There’s no way Dak looks as good as he does without Lamb either
It’s ridiculous that they’ve even gotten to this point. They were lucky he even fell to them in the draft. He’s been highly productive his whole career, hasn’t missed a game the last two years, and he’s even been great with Cooper Rush. What more did they need to see from him at any point to know they wanted to keep him with the organization? Why weren’t they trying to lock him up long term as soon as they could? This team has done a mostly great job of drafting and developing talent over the last few years, but the way they handle contracts is so self-defeating.
Based on some of the comments on the Jordan Love/Packers situation, they should just force him to play out his deal, then make him accept a “prove it” contract for at least 3 more seasons, because “defenses have been studying film on him and now know how to stop him.”
And before they start crying and explaining how the 2 are completely different, I know. I was kidding.
Mostly.
They do want to keep him. They also want to keep Parsons and Prescott. Lamb, for his part, wants to be the league’s highest paid wideout. It seems pretty easy to figure to me.
I agree that perhaps Dallas waited too long, though.
The price of highest paid receiver has already gone up by $5 million a year this offseason. I’m assuming they could have locked him up for less last offseason. Waiting until they can extend Parsons isn’t going to make this easier, but I also suspect they’ll drag out the Parsons talks a year longer than necessary because they’re trying to delay huge cash outlays.
I left a long comment (novel) on my thoughts on the tradeability of all three of these guys in the other Lamb article (which was of course usurped by this one, and I don’t to very tackily tack it on here), but I actually see him as being the best option to trade between he, Prescott, and Parsons.
Most of that boils down to positional value, Dallas’ usual expected draft slot, relative talent, and the number of players at each position. But I had the thought that, by attempting Lamb’s contract first, Dallas can also get an earlier start on whether they can determine if they’ll need to trade him. If the negotiations will end at an impasse and Lamb is traded, they can reach that point early and move him this year. Just another possibility that I think could be plausible, in addition to some others. I went more into detail in the other article.
Ordinarily I’ve always thought you have to get your QB set before anyone else. But having been impressed with Cooper Rush’s performance last season I wonder if they should just let Dak go and take care of Lamb and Parsons.
Rush has been a perfectly good backup, but I don’t think you want to plan around him. That said, they’re going to have to make some sort of difficult decision because of all the choices leading up to this point. They’ve been behind the 8 ball ever since they franchised Dak twice before extending him.
Cowboys are a mess. Loving it.
Waiting for the market to develop when there are players like Chase, Jefferson, etc out there was one of the dumbest business decisions in NFL history.
Should’ve locked him up when you decided to trade Amari.
Lamb didn’t screw Jerry
Jerry screwed Jerry