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.
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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.
