At long last, the Cowboys have a deal done with one of their contract-year cogs. The team has reached an agreement with CeeDee Lamb, ending his holdout.
Dallas is giving Lamb a four-year, $136MM deal, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports. This gives Lamb a $34MM AAV, which puts him between Justin Jefferson and A.J. Brown. The fifth-year Dallas standout is now the NFL’s second-highest-paid wide receiver. Lamb secured $100MM guaranteed on this deal, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets. This gives him considerable separation from Brown in terms of wideout guarantees.
[RELATED: Dak Prescott Not Setting Extension Deadline]
This comes after a Monday report indicated the Cowboys had again upped their offer. Making a few proposals over the past several weeks, Dallas had previously come in with a deal worth just less than $33MM per year. Lamb’s camp moved the team to this $34MM-AAV point, where NFL.com’s Jane Slater notes they have been for a while. Team Lamb did well to capitalize on the 2020 first-rounder’s monster season and the salary cap’s recent spike. The NFL now has five $30MM-per-year receivers, with the market moving many times after the ceiling did not budge in 2023.
The Cowboys were at $32.5MM for a while, per Slater, and then moved to $33MM per year. After an off-an-on stretch for a few weeks, this process gained steam beginning Saturday. Lamb is still finalizing language, per Slater. Barring a Randy Gregory redux, this contract should be done Tuesday. The Cowboys can waive the fines Lamb incurred during his holdout due to the receiver being previously tied to a rookie contract.
Lamb emerged on the Cowboys’ extension radar last year, but the team followed the Vikings in waiting. Jefferson created a gap between himself and the field with his four-year, $140MM pact, and he set the Lamb market in the process. The Eagles had given Brown a three-year, $96MM deal in April, with Lamb’s 2020 draft classmate topping that by a notable margin. The Cowboys were understandably hesitant to give Lamb a deal that make him the NFL’s highest-paid non-QB, and a report soon indicated the Oklahoma alum was not mandating that. Though, he came awfully close on this deal — one that puts Dallas in a new guarantee sector regarding a non-QB payment.
The Cowboys came into camp with one of the more complex contract quandaries in recent NFL history. Dak Prescott remains unsigned, and Micah Parsons fully expects to become the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback when his payday arrives. The Cowboys may well table that to 2025, a prospect Parsons sounded fine with when he addressed the matter earlier this summer. This offseason represented Lamb’s window to cash in, and the Cowboys have their top weapon signed through the 2028 season.
The Cowboys’ previous WR guarantee high-water mark came in at $60MM — Amari Cooper‘s 2020 deal. The Eagles guaranteed Brown $84MM, and the Cowboys have signed off on Lamb bridging the gap to Jefferson’s record-smashing $110MM number.
It will be interesting to see how this contract is structured, as the Cowboys have escaped making good on a guarantee for a receiver in the recent past. But the team bent on its usual term-length preference by agreeing to a four-year Lamb re-up. The Cowboys generally prefer five- or six-year extensions, but the receiver market is flooded with high-end deals for three or four years. This undoubtedly factored into Lamb’s talks.
The Cowboys fully guaranteed Cooper $40MM and escaped needing to pay him the additional $20MM by trading him to the Browns in 2022. Lamb’s future contract factored into that decision, and while the Cowboys have seen the Cooper trade hurt their receiver situation as a whole, their 2020 first-rounder has dominated with Cooper in Cleveland. Lamb, 25, posted 1,359 yards and nine touchdowns in 2022 and then dropped a record-setting Cowboys showing. He led the NFL with 135 receptions last season, totaling 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns in that banner campaign. It is difficult for a receiver to make a better case for a long-term payment, and Lamb’s camp took care of him months later.
Lamb broke Michael Irvin‘s single-season franchise reception record by 24 and eclipsed the Hall of Famer’s yardage record by 146. These new standards, of course, came in a 17-game season during an era that features higher pass-game usage and friendlier rules for offenses. But Lamb still submitted a statement season to prove worthy of a top-market extension. This now shines a brighter light on Prescott.
Dallas could have franchise-tagged Lamb in 2025, cutting into his leverage a bit. But the team’s hands are tied with Dak, who cannot be tagged or traded. Prescott has continued to say the right things regarding a long-term future in Dallas, but he holds leverage — which also includes a whopping cap number ($55.13MM) and 2025 dead money penalty ($40.13MM) if not extended — comparable to what Kirk Cousins possessed back in 2018. The Cowboys will have a difficult time extending Prescott, but less than two weeks before the regular season, they do have one of their pillars signed.
Lamb’s $17.99MM cap number, as Schefter reports a receiver-record $38MM signing bonus (which will spread out the All-Pro’s cap hits) is present in this accord, figures to drop on this deal. Though, the Cowboys now face the prospect of needing to give Prescott an NFL-record contract to pair with Lamb’s big-ticket deal — and Parsons’ future market-setting pact — or face an uncertain future at the game’s premier position.
Jones has encountered criticism for letting the Cowboys’ contract quagmire reach this stage. Lamb would have come cheaper had the Cowboys made an aggressive push to finalize a deal last year, though it is not exactly certain he would have checked in too much cheaper. Tyreek Hill was tied to a $30MM-per-year deal, leading the way entering this offseason. With Jefferson always poised to take the market toward or into the mid-$30MM-AAV range, Lamb — who, like Jefferson, is five years younger than Hill — would have always commanded a contract north of $30MM per year. That said, the Cowboys probably would not have needed to go to this guarantee place had they done a deal in 2023.
Questions also remain about the Cowboys’ auxiliary receivers beyond 2024, but they have their WR1 locked in. This follows the accords for Cooper, Dez Bryant and Miles Austin, keeping the Cowboys’ run of extending cornerstone receivers intact. Prescott, however, continues to test the organization here.
Aiyuk gonna want that # or better now come on niners quit waiting
Dallas had to pay Lamb, he’s the entirety of their offense. Without him they won’t win a single game. That is not the case for Aiyuk, who plays for a competent team surrounded by weapons.
Lamb is 85% of the offense for sure. Bringing back Zeke was a mistake. Not trying to get a high ticket WR in the draft to complement lamb was also a mistake
Zeke was all they could afford, and he knew the system.
They could have gone younger and cheaper and less miles but nooooo they brought back Dak’s buddy lmao what a joke
No he’s not. Aiyuk never asked to be the top paid guy in the league, and he most likely understands it’s unreasonable for him to ask to be. He’s going to still want 28-32M though – which is also unreasonable depending on who you ask.
@MyCommentIsBetter
It doesn’t even matter if the 49ers think it’s reasonable or not since they have the Steelers trade offer on the table. They need to decide either to sign him or trade him.
Chances are the Steelers offer just went down about 4-5M. Which Aiyuk won’t sign off on. He should’ve taken the $$ from NE and been okay as a bottom dweller.
Beat me to it! Chase is also smiling.
Then he should have gone to New England or Cleveland where he would be the first option and put up numbers comparable to Lamb and Jefferson.
So I’ve harped a lot on Dallas dragging their feet on paying players and costing themselves huge amounts of money by doing so, but it feels extra stupid with Lamb. He was eligible for an extension after the 2022 season. What more could he have done in his first three years in the league to prove he was a guy worth extending?
Yeah Jerry isn’t the best when it comes to this. He’s also surrounded by yes men more than likely
A contract offer is also out to Aaa Bee Sheep.
Lamb isn’t worth that amount in my opinion. You can’t pay receivers that amount unless they’re outside deep threats. Jefferson, hill, brown and chase all can win with regularity one on one on the outside. I don’t mean to diminish his accomplishments by any means, but most of his production comes from the slot, and when facing a good defense those kind of plays are more susceptible to have lesser production due to the LB safety and CB all having that player within range. Also, his production is inflated due the cowboys not having a functioning running game and leading to constant 3rd and medium/long. And his production also gets a lot of notoriety due his fantasy friendly style which is not synonymous with winning games, high target share and low Adot can lead to heavy fantasy production ur not real world wins against a true competitive defense.
he is an outside threat. he wins many battles outside. just because the cowboys are smart and look for mismatches don’t mean he isn’t worth that deal
Lamb just entering his prime with astonishing production. For the most profitable team in all of pro sports, his contract is appropriate given his contribution to their overall entertainment & competitive product.
I’m glad PFR was able to answer the age old question…What came first, the Shepard or the Lamb?
Teams are setting themselves for failure!
Screw these players who negotiated the best contract at the time they signed them.
If they can holdout bc they had a good yr or they outplayed their contract then let’s start having teams be able to nullify contracts athletes don’t play up to or when they milk an injury or down right suck.
Why have a contract at all if it is meaningless
The guaranteed money is a joke, look at players like Von Miller who is getting substantial money while producing nothing or Deshaun Watson these contracts suck
Players cannot ask to renegotiate a contract but an owner or GM can terminate a contract anytime, paying only the guarantee? Injuries make some big deals seem unwise, but that’s the NFL and decisions are controlled by owners and GMs, not players. Let the owners keep the kings ransom & more of the cap total? You do realize all NFL teams are making yearly profits $200-500m above total costs, plus growing 5-10% in franchise value every year.
The players are the actual product, taking the risks and paying the price medically, over a limited number of years.
Sorry, I and most others here side with the players.
Sorry, but these contracts are squeezing out average working class from affording ticket prices.
Ticket prices are determined by supply and demand.
Contract prices are determined by how revenue the NFL can squeeze out of its customers.
This is fairly straight-forward.
How can one comment get so many things wrong? Lol.
First -and you’re really going to need to help me with this- you’re saying a player shouldn’t negotiate the best contract at the time they sign it? Isn’t that the entire point of negotiating? I’m sure, whatever you do, you don’t go into your employer and routinely ask for less money.
Secondly, teams can “nullify” contracts at any point. NFL teams routinely do it. Players are released all the time, often without getting the majority of the money they were promised.
It infuriates me beyond belief when I read nonsense like this comment from you; basically saying players shouldn’t be able to hold out, but teams should be able to cut a guy if he gets hurt. Your literal very next question reads: “Why have a contract at all if it is meaningless?” Let that sink in.
You want binding contracts, the street needs to go two ways. If you’re not in favor of holdouts and renegotiations, you also shouldn’t be in favor of non-guaranteed contracts and voiding deals… unless you enjoy sounding like a hypocrite?
Calm down, Francis
You almost got there. It’s “Lighten up, Francis”.
Appalachian_Outlaw gets it.
How much in fines will he have to pay for missing camp?
He’s on a rookie contract, so the team can still waive those fines. Those on a veteran contract cannot be forgiven.
add another to the highest paid ringless receivers list .. top 20 have three rings total
This kind of cash in a WR knocks the whole Cowboys offense budget off-kilter. Great for the other teams in the division! Keep on spending, Jerry. You won’t be able to hire any yeoman mid-tier offensive linemen, keep tight ends. The rest of your receiver room will all be on rookie contracts or worn out vets.
our o-line is set for years to come. and TE is one of the cheaper contracts in the league
The real question is How long will it be until they regret it?
Dallas was going to pay Lamb whatever he wanted, so why drag out the process so long. Just delaying the inevitable
Perhaps, but Lamb was easily their most tradeable piece of Dallas’ power three. Prescott cannot be traded and Parsons is generational. I’m not sure that trading Lamb wouldn’t have been the wrong decision.
Agreed, however considering that Prescott isn’t tradable the tram is basically in a win now holding pattern. Given the state of the their WR depth and utter lack of a competitive running game, I can understand the necessity for Lamb. Overall I still think it was an overpay regardless of the circumstances.
I agree. I’m not mad at it (if I were a Dallas fan), but in my very unprofessional opinion, I think that they had a better option.
Funniest thing that could happen now is the cowboys don’t rescind the fines, and Lamb immediately requests a trade.
Never gonna happen
Dumb Cowgirls!
Why didn’t Pittsburgh show interest in Lamb? Lamb probably is the better player
??? Because only a moron would shell out the draft capital to acquire him, AND drop this kind of extension on him. First year watching the NFL, bud?
Uh…that’s exactly what Pittsburgh was going to do with Aiyuk. You do know that they were going to shell out draft capital to acquire Aiyuk and give him the huge extension – – right?
They make such a big deal about analytics, but they always seem to ignore the analytics around injuries. The average NFL team will have several hundred injuries in a season and about 40% of the team will miss games at some point due to injury – thus putting all your eggs in just a couple of baskets seems pretty foolish.
For example, seven of 11 Cowboy starters on offense missed at least one game, while six of 11 starters missed time on defense.