Category: CeeDee Lamb

CeeDee Lamb sets Cowboys record for fastest player to this milestone

The Cowboys wideout has been a reception machine ever since coming into the league and set a furious pace over the last few seasons. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles hasn’t gotten off to the best start for the Dallas Cowboys. An early fumble on a pistol-formation snap to Cooper Rush gave the bad guys the ball deep in Cowboys’ territory and the Eagles took advantage. Jalen Hurts scored on a Tush Push to put Philadelphia up 7-0.

That didn’t dissaude the Cowboys from making some history on their next drive however. After a strong return by Kavontae Turpin, Dallas found themselves in 3rd-and-2 from their own 48. That’s when Rush found WR CeeDee Lamb for a six-yard gain and a new set of downs. The reception was Lamb’s second of the game, giving him 450 for his career. He’s the fastest player in Cowboys history to reach that mark, and by a pretty wide margin.

Lamb was able to make his 450th career catch in his fifth season and just his 75th career game. The next fastest in Dallas history was Jason Witten, who made the mark in his 100th career game during his seventh season.

Below is a list of every Cowboys player with at least 450 regular season receptions.

Player Total Receptions Season Reached 450 Games to 450
Emmitt Smith 486 11 167
Jaosn Witten 1215 7 100
Michael Irvin 750 8 102
Dez Bryant 531 7 109
Drew Pearson 489 11 144
Tony Hill 479 10 130
CeeDee Lamb 450+ 5 75

Lamb entered the contest with 53 receptions for 660 receiving yards, putting him on pace for his third consecutive season with at least 100 receptions for 1,000 yards.

Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb gets encouraging news on shoulder injury

From @ToddBrock24f7: An MRI has confirmed that Lamb has a sprained AC joint, but he may not miss any time. History shows he’ll be just fine with Cooper Rush.

While the hamstring injury suffered by quarterback Dak Prescott in Sunday’s loss will cost the Cowboys multiple games without their leader, the team’s top offensive weapon appears to have dodged a bullet.

Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb played through a shoulder injury for most of the game and even caught a two-point conversion late in the contest despite being in obvious pain.

Lamb has a sprained AC joint, according to multiple reports, news that would confirm the team’s early suspicions. Last season’s receptions leader will have a sore shoulder, but the injury is not considered serious. He is being called “week-to-week” and may not even miss any time.

“I’ll be out there,” Lamb told reporters. “I’ll be playing.”

The initial injury came in the second quarter after a hard fall to the turf while making a catch. A fourth-quarter dive on a deep ball aggravated the injury further, causing him to stay down momentarily and even miss several plays.

He was able to return.

Lamb totaled eight catches on 12 targets Sunday, gaining 47 yards and that two-point conversion from backup passer Cooper Rush in the waning moments of the 27-21 loss in Week 9.

Now it appears that Rush will take over in Dallas, barring a surprise roster change by the team to go with third-stringer Trey Lance.

But assuming Rush gets the gig, there may not be the dropoff for Lamb that many fans would expect at first blush. The 30-year-old quarterback out of Central Michigan has started six games as a Cowboy, and Lamb’s receiving numbers in that relatively small sample size are… actually… just fine.

Tgt Rec Yds TD
2021 at MIN 8 6 112 0
2022 vs CIN 11 7 75 0
2022 at NYG 12 8 87 1
2022 vs WAS 8 6 97 1
2022 at LAR 8 5 53 0
2022 at PHI 10 5 68 0

In Rush’s six starts, Lamb has averaged six catches on 11 targets for 82 yards per outing.

Over 74 career games, Lamb has averaged six catches on nine targets for 78 yards per outing.

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If Lamb is to play this Sunday when the Eagles come to Arlington, he’ll likely need a positive week of rehab work with the Cowboys training staff and at least one full practice under his belt by the weekend.

“It hurts, no need to shortchange it,” Lamb said of his right shoulder. “But that’s no excuse for my performance. I could have played better overall, and I’ll be better. I’m not going to put so much emphasis on it as far as me catching the ball because overall, that’s my job, but yeah, it definitely hurt.”

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How will CeeDee Lamb do today in fantasy football? Projections for Cowboys WR

A look at CeeDee Lamb’s historical production under these circumstances, how outlets feel he’ll do and a projection for Week 6. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys are going to have trouble fielding a competitive defense in Week 6 when they take on the Detroit Lions. The Cowboys are going to be missing several key members of that unit, starting with superstar edge rusher Micah Parsons and All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland. Also missing will be starting middle linebacker Eric Kendricks, Pro Bowl edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence and his two backups, Sam Williams and rookie Marshawn Kneeland.

So while corralling Jared Goff and the Ben Johnson offense will be left to Trevon Diggs and a bunch of guys, the Dallas offense will need to find a way to keep pace. That starts with the connection between quarterback Dak Prescott and wideout CeeDee Lamb. The two must establish a dominant nature and then continue to exploit an average Detroit secondary throughout the contest.

So what does that mean for fantasy lineups?

Pro Football Focus says that this is an average matchup for Lamb, rating it a 55.2 out of 100, but also naming him the No. 1 wideout play for the week.

Yahoo! Sports ranks him the No. 1 wideout in full-point PPR leagues as well and their FantasyPros projects 6.5 catches, 85.3 yards and 0.5 touchdowns.

CBS Sports rates Lamb as a 9.8 out of 10 on their Must Start RTG factor.

What does history say about his performance from various perspectives?

Last season Lamb caught 12 of 13 targets for 227 receiving yards and a score. The year prior he had four receptions for 70 yards. So his small-sample size average against Detroit projects the following stat line:

8 receptions, 148 yards, 0.5 touchdowns

In two home games this season, Lamb has the following averages:

4 receptions, 78 yards, 0.5 touchdowns

In four previous Week 6 games over his career, Lamb has the following averages:

7 receptions, 99.5 yards, 0.5 touchdowns

Our projection based on these numbers is as follows:

6 receptions, 109 yards, 0.5 touchdowns, or 19.9 points in full-point PPR leagues.

Here’s why Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb drew 2 different fines from NFL front office this week

From @ToddBrock24f7: Lamb will be docked for taunting as well as making a violent gesture. That’s 3 fines in the past two games for the All-Pro wideout.

Through the first four weeks of the NFL season, exactly 111 plays have resulted in a monetary fine for a player in violation of some infraction. Almost three percent of them have involved CeeDee Lamb.

The Cowboys wide receiver was fined for two separate plays in the team’s Week 4 win over the New York Giants, it was announced Saturday. Combined, the fines will dock Lamb $25,324, just a week after an unnecessary roughness call (that was not considered a penalty during the Week 3 loss to Baltimore) cost him $22,511.

The first incident from last Thursday’s 20-15 win to draw the league’s ire came after a first-quarter catch by Lamb that gained ten yards. After being tackled at the Giants’ 30, Lamb motioned for a first down with a double-handed gesture that mimicked shooting guns. The league office called it unsportsmanlike conduct involving a violent gesture and imposed a fine of $14,069.

In the second quarter, Lamb caught a Dak Prescott pass of about 17 yards and then raced another 38 for a touchdown. On his way to the end zone, Lamb turned to stare down New York cornerback Deonte Banks and then flipped the ball toward him once he had scored. That was also deemed unsportsmanlike conduct- taunting, this time- and will cost Lamb $11,255.

As in Week 3, neither moment drew a flag from officials in the moment.

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The NFL seems to be making a concerted effort to crack down on the recent trend of players pantomiming shooting guns; five players across the league were fined for it in Week 4 and hit with fines totaling nearly $60,000.

Any violations resulting in a fine may be appealed by players, but the decisions are then binding. Collected fines are donated to the Professional Athletes Foundation to support NFL legends in need as well as the NFL Foundation to support the health, safety, and wellness of players across all levels of the sport.

Lamb has single-handedly contributed over $47,000 so far this season.

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Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb fined over $20,000 for this heady play

From @ToddBrock24f7: Lamb’s rough Week 3 game got even costlier; the NFL handed down a fine for a seemingly innocuous play that didn’t even warrant a penalty.

CeeDee Lamb had a rough outing back on Sept. 22 in the Cowboys’ loss to the Ravens. His costly fumble in the red zone contributed significantly to an overall collapse that eventually had the team down by 22 points before they were able to stop the bleeding. Lamb all but checked out entirely after the miscue and was even seen having heated exchanges on the sideline with teammates and coaches.

Thursday night’s win over the Giants, in which Lamb posted seven catches for 98 yards and a score, certainly helped put the previous weekend behind him (he also apologized for his behavior), but it turns out he’s not done paying for his Week 3 performance.

Per NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, the NFL has fined Lamb $22,511 for unnecessary roughness on a play that didn’t draw much attention when it happened.

On the final play of the first quarter, Lamb hauled in a short pass from quarterback Dak Prescott at about the Baltimore 20. He spun away from cornerback Nate Wiggins and broke for the end zone. At the 10, as linebacker Trenton Simpson wrapped him up from behind, Lamb met safety Kyle Hamilton head-on.

Literally.

The league has determined that Lamb used his helmet illegally on the play, even though the moment didn’t draw a penalty flag from the officials on the field. The hit doesn’t seem particularly noteworthy, even when viewed in replay.

Yet the official rulebook specifies: “It is a foul if a player: lowers his head and makes forcible contact with his helmet against an opponent; or uses any part of his helmet or facemask to butt or make forcible contact to an opponent’s head or neck.”

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Cowboys safety Markquese Bell was also fined- $5,500- for unnecessarily rough use of his own helmet in the same game.

League officials were on a bit of a rampage after Week 3, with 34 plays from across the league drawing fines totaling over $394,000. Several players were docked even more than Lamb; Packers running back Josh Jacobs was hit with a $45,020 fine and Chargers defensive back Derwin James was dealt a one-game suspension, both for roughness (helmet) incidents.

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Prescott, Lamb with opportunity to get Cowboys back on track vs depleted Giants CB corps

From @ToddBrock24f7: Lamb and the Cowboys need to pull out of a serious funk. A Giants CB corps possibly without 2 of its stars on Thursday may be the ticket.

After getting taken to the woodshed in back-to-back weeks, the Cowboys are looking for something- anything- to feel encouraged about heading into a suddenly-very-important Week 4 game.

They may have found it in the Giants secondary.

Third-round rookie Dru Phillips and veteran Adoree’ Jackson, two of New York’s top cornerbacks, sat out the team’s Tuesday walkthrough- the second straight DNP for both- with calf injuries per the Giants website, and head coach Brian Daboll didn’t sound overly optimistic that either would be ready to suit up Thursday night.

“We’ll see. Go all the way to the end like we normally do,” Daboll told New York media on Tuesday. “We’ve got a couple more days; we’ll see where everybody’s at tomorrow night, Thursday morning.”

Jackson played just 17 defensive snaps in Week 3, while Phillips logged seven.

Daboll said he doesn’t believe either player will have to go on injured reserve, but that will be of little solace as Dak Prescott comes to town.

The Cowboys quarterback enters the game as the NFL’s passing yards leader through three games. Granted, a significant chunk of his 851 yards have come as the offense played from way behind against both the Saints and the Ravens, but Prescott won’t complain about facing a depleted secondary as Dallas looks to get back on track in their first divisional tilt of the season.

The Giants’ CB shuffle could put extra pressure on Deonte Banks, their 2023 first-round pick out of Maryland. This past Sunday, the 23-year-old was tasked with covering a five-time Pro Bowler.

It did not go well.

Banks got “torched by Amari Cooper and looked lost on the field” versus the Browns, according to Giants Wire. Cooper caught seven balls and scored twice in a game the Giants ended up winning.

It’s the kind of game film, though, that could have Cowboys star receiver CeeDee Lamb salivating in anticipation after a very frustrating day last week.

Lamb sits one spot outside the league’s top 10 in receiving yards but was mostly stymied last Sunday after a costly red-zone fumble early in the game. Him returning to form (and quickly) will be absolutely critical if the Cowboys are to have any long-term success this season.

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Daboll admitted that finding a scheme to shut down Lamb has already been a focus for his staff during this short week.

“Tough opponent, really good player, CeeDee,” the coach said. “They’ve got a lot of really good players. So we’re burning it pretty good here.”

Giants cornerback Nick McCloud may also provide some relief for after missing Weeks 2 and 3 with a knee injury. He was listed as limited both Monday and Tuesday, but Daboll expressed “hope” that McCloud would be able to go Thursday.

Cor’Dale Flott, Tre Hawkins, and Art Green could also figure into the mix for the New York defensive backfield. They have one career interception among them.

Given the early struggles from the Cowboys’ run game, Mike McCarthy may be asking his running backs to help the offensive line with pass protection, letting Prescott and Lamb go to work on turning things around against a Giants CB corps already on the short end of the injury stick.

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CeeDee Lamb shockingly underused in Cowboys offense in 2024

The Cowboys are doing a poor job of flowing through CeeDee Lamb this season. | From @ReidDHanson

It’s no secret the Cowboys offense runs through star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb these days. Dallas’ $136 million man boasts the NFL’s second-highest annual salary for a non-quarterback (tied with Joey Bosa) and is coming off an All-Pro season where he led the league in receptions (135).

Splitting time outside, inside and even out of the backfield, Lamb has been a weapon on short routes, deep routes and as a ball carrier. While he’s only run the ball three times for 25 yards, he’s managed two first downs, just one shy of running back Ezekiel Elliott’s first down total this season. As a pass catcher Lamb ranks 15th in the NFL with 151 receiving yards, and 28th with nine receptions. Those totals are certainly respectable through two weeks, but they are not what anyone has come to expect from the Cowboys’ top weapon.

sam hoppen

With a target share just under 23%, only seven teams have a No. 1 WR with a smaller share than Lamb’s. In fact, multiple teams have secondary WRs with larger target shares than Lamb and one team, the Jets, even has their No. 3, Allen Lazard, with a larger target share than Lamb.

Lamb’s modest target rate isn’t by design but likely an accidental byproduct of the intended design. The Cowboys want to target him a ton but unlike many top teams, Dallas doesn’t have a clear WR2 on their roster.

Brandin Cooks plays the role, but he’s struggled to live up to true No. 2 status since joining Dallas a season ago. There’s hope Jalen Tolbert can take the next step and lock down the WR3 spot, but his gains have been slow, and his snaps have been split up to this point.

The Cowboys don’t have a great secondary option and that’s allowing opponents to focus in on Lamb and force Dak Prescott to spread the ball elsewhere. So, the offense is designed to flow through Lamb but since not enough was done over the offseason to keep defenses honest, the Cowboys’ top-heavy WR corps is getting keyed on.

There’s still a lot of season left and plenty of time for players like Cooks and Tolbert to hit their stride as complementary WRs. Getting Jake Feguson back from injury will help as well since, in many ways, he’s the No. 3 option on offense and a player whose work underneath opens things up for Lamb over the top.

At this point it is just something to monitor. The Cowboys’ offense goes as Lamb goes so Lamb’s slow start somewhat explains Dallas’ 24th ranked offense (EPA) through two weeks.

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Here’s how CeeDee Lamb’s extension impacts the Cowboys’ salary cap

A quirky move in the handling of CeeDee Lamb’s contract holdout changes the way his extension impacts the salary cap. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys entered the day with approximately $29 million in salary cap space and unlike if it had happened in July, extending CeeDee Lamb ate up some of that wiggle room going into the 2024 season. Allow a minute to explain the difference.

Lamb has been set to play the season under the fifth-year option. Based on his four-year career exploits to that point, that was worth $17.991 million of base salary. That money was accounted for in the team’s 2024 cap as the money was guaranteed and essentially a one-year deal. Even as Lamb stayed away from OTAs first, and then mandatory minicamp and then the start of training camp, that was still the case.

And when that was the case, any extension Lamb agreed to was going to lower the club’s cap number for the year.

That’s because second contracts for superstar players such as Lamb, contain large signing bonuses that account for (most of the time) almost all of their first-year cash. The original base salary is absorbed into that number. The NFL allows teams to spread out, or amortize, bonuses across five years of salary caps.

So when a player like Lamb signs for close to a $40 million signing bonus, which is what his bonus ($38 million) and new base salary (likely $1 million), his first-year cap hit goes down from $18 million to $8 million.

That would normally be a $10 million bump to the team’s cap space.

But as soon as the Cowboys, in early August, placed Lamb on the Reserved/Did Not Report list, things changed.

Lamb’s salary was no longer on the books because he was officially off the roster. So Dallas, which had around $11 million in cap space at the beginning of training camp, had $29 million in cap space this morning.

So with the agreement, Dallas’ cap space will actually shrink the approximately $8 million that Lamb will count against the cap this season and they have around $21 million left to go into the season with.

Also, even if the Cowboys are forgiving all of Lamb’s almost $4 million in fines accrued during his holdout, fines do not return to a team’s cap so that never figured in any of these calculations.

That is unless they extend quarterback Dak Prescott.

How much will CeeDee Lamb make under his Cowboys extension and what took so long?

CeeDee Lamb’s deal is hammered out, but what exactly took so long? A look in the early details and the difference in WR contracts. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Perhaps he just wanted the summer off after all. Perhaps they were just too stubborn to acquiesce until the entire summer had been wasted. Depending on whether a fan wants to side with a player or with ownership, that will all soon be water under the bridge as it appears the Dallas Cowboys and CeeDee Lamb have worked out their differences.

Clarence Hill, Jr. of ALLDLLS (formerly of Ft. Worth Star Telegram) is reporting that the extension is done, via his Twitter account.

The CeeDee Lamb deal is done, per source Cowboys got it done

ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting the deal if for four years, $136 million with $38 million in a signing bonus.

ESPN Sources: Cowboys and All-Pro WR CeeDee Lamb reached agreement today on a record four-year, $136 million deal that now makes him the second highest-paid non-QB in NFL history. The deal includes a $38 million signing bonus, the largest ever given to a wide receiver. Tory Dandy of CAA negotiated the deal with the Cowboys.

In reality, since Lamb plays eight or nine games in Texas every year and there are no state taxes, he likely is taking home more money than any non-QB in the NFL.

Lamb missed the entire Cowboys’ offseason while he angled for an extension, racking up over $3.7 million in fines, which are forgivable since the fifth-year option he was set to play under is considered part of his rookie contract.

The deal is just under the average annual salary of Minnesota Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson, who was also selected in the 2020 draft class. Jefferson is clocked in at $35 million per year. His deal contained $88.7 million in fully guaranteed compensation, so it will be interesting to see how close Lamb came to that amount.

The wide receiver market has recently been plagued by “a number of contracts where the team used “real but really fake” years to bloat the annual values of the contracts so that the contracts would seem larger than they really were,” per Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald.

While fans lamented over how long it took to reach the agreement, this was likely what all of the back and forth was about. Lamb’s representatives likely weren’t interested in a “show” money agreement and wanted the actual value to reflect the All-Pro’s worth to the organization.

Fitzgerald explains that while this has been the case across every position, wideout has seen a littany of these types of deals where the announced money isn’t anywhere near what is real.

Players such as the Eagles’ AJ Brown, Raiders’ Davante Adams and Miami’s Tyreek Hill all have deals where the announced APY was significantly higher than the Real APY.

Once all the details of Lamb’s extension become, the numbers will show just what each side relented on.

How much has CeeDee Lamb been fined, what happens if his holdout goes into Cowboys’ season?

Lamb hasn’t worked with the team since the playoff loss and despite a clear market set for his services, he remains AWOL. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Not many people had an Energizer bunny reference in mind when it came to CeeDee Lamb’s absence from the Cowboys, but it has kept going and going and going.  Dallas’ top receiver continues to hold out from the club, and with their final exhibition game of the season scheduled for Saturday, has completely missed out on every team activity since the club was eliminated from the playoffs in the wild-card round against Green Bay.

He had nine catches for 110 yards in that game, but hasn’t been with the club since they had their exit interviews. He didn’t report to the club’s voluntary OTAs, mandatory minicamps or super-mandatory training camp in an effort to get a new contract. Throughout the process Jerry Jones has attempted to put public pressure on him through media responses and though that has swayed some fans who align themselves with management over labor, Lamb continues to stand his ground.

Placed on the Reserved/Did Not Report list in early August, Lamb isn’t currently taking up space on the Cowboys’ roster. And because he’s missed events he’s under contract to attend, he’s been fined a ridiculous amount of money. As of Saturday that total will be just under $3.8 million.

Here’s how it got to be so much, so quick.

Lamb, and every NFL player, is subject to escalating fines per day of mandatory minicamp, and those totaled just over $101,000. Once training camp began, he is being fined $40,000 for each mandatory activity, which to this point is 10 practices, with Thursday’s scrimmage and Friday’s practice making it 12.

There had been some misreports that fifth-year option players, of which Lamb is one, are subject to the second-contract amounts of $50,000 per day, but that is not correct. There’s simply a section in the CBA dedicated to fifth-year players for all contract circumstances, and the fine amounts are outlined there, but are the same as all other players under the provisions of their rookie contracts.

This is detailed in 2020 CBA, Article 7, Section 7(h), which reads (important parts in bold):

(h) Breach.

(i) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Article 42 or Article 4, after the Club has exercised its Fifth-Year Option for any player selected in the first 45 round of the 2016 or any subsequent Draft, any unexcused late reporting to or absence from preseason training camp by a player in the fifth League Year of his contract (the option year) shall subject the player to a fine of $40,000 per day for the 2020-2025 League Years and $45,000 per day for the 2026-2030 League Years, plus one week’s regular season salary for each preseason game missed. For purposes of this Subsection, Preseason Training Camp shall be defined as the period beginning with the mandatory reporting date for that player through the Sunday immediately preceding the first game of the NFL regular season. For the sake of clarity and the avoidance of doubt, the Progressive Discipline requirement set forth in Article 42, Section 1(a) shall not apply to any fine under this Subsection.

The last highlight, “plus one week’s regular season salary for each preseason game missed” is what has been taking place since the exhibition opener against the Rams, and which will become a three-time event once he’s not on the field against the Chargers.

Under Lamb’s fifth-year option, which is right-sized as a one-time original Pro Bowl roster member (replacement nominations don’t count),  his 2024 is $17,991,000.

That is scheduled as 18 equal payments (17 games plus the by week) of $999,500.

Game fine: $2,986,500
17 missed practices: $680,000
Minicamp fines: $101,716

Making his total fines as of Sunday’s game, $3,768,216.

If the two camp practices at The Ford Center next week are included in the calculation and Lamb remains AWOL, add another $80,000 to the total.

There could be a way out of the fines, or at least some of it. CBS correspondent and former agent Joel Corry points out rookies who hold out are an exception to the rule. The NFL now forbids teams from forgiving fines for the players; in fact fines are executed by the league now to remove this from team hands. But rookies can negotiate lowering or dismissal of some of their fines when a new contract is negotiated.

If Lamb’s holdout continues into the regular season, he will be lose $999,500 in game checks each week he misses. The club can continue to fine him for missed practices and games, per CBA guidelines. If he stays away from the team for the first six weeks of the season, things get even more interesting.

NFL contracts toll at that point, meaning the parameters of his 2024 option would be in place for the 2025 season. If he and the club worked out an agreement at that point, then the current contract goes away, but if not, the team retains his rights. They could hold him to the deal, trade him to another team or release him, with the latter option not being a feasible one.

Even if he reported, whether it be Week 7 or Week 17, his contract still tolls to 2025.