Category: CeeDee Lamb

Amon-Ra St. Brown’s record deal blows up in Cowboys’ faces; Lamb’s price to soar

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Lions WR scored an extension making him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL. The Cowboys will have to pay even more to keep Lamb.

During Tuesday’s pre-draft press conference at The Star in Frisco, Jerry and Stephen Jones blamed- in part- a lack of information for why superstar wide receiver CeeDee Lamb has not been granted a contract extension yet.

“Your actual question is: why don’t you have something done and negotiated and put in the drawer? Well, we’d like to see some more leaves fall. We’d like to see some more action,” Jerry explained.

“I want to see a few more cards play, candidly.”

Well, a big card just got played. And the price to stay all-in on Lamb just went way up.

The Detroit Lions announced a record-setting extension for wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown on Wednesday, giving him another four years with the club and over $120 million, with $77 million of it guaranteed. The deal makes the 24-year-old the highest-paid receiver in the NFL… and resets the market for everyone else.

Speaking with reporters the day prior, the top two men in the Cowboys brain trust tried to explain that talks with Lamb- currently set to play the final year of his contract for a guaranteed $17.99 million- haven’t even begun because they didn’t know the number it would take to get Lamb signed.

“I can assure you, if we felt like we could get a number that was a good number…?” Stephen asked rhetorically. “Unfortunately, these- as we all know- representatives talk to each other. You don’t think the representatives of [Justin] Jefferson and CeeDee and [Ja’Marr] Chase aren’t talking? And you don’t think they’ve got their eye on something really big? Please. Same thing with Micah, same thing with Dak. It’s cat-and-mouse.”

But now a new cat has pounced, and he just caught a whopper of a mouse.

Lamb was drafted in 2020, one year ahead of St. Brown. Lamb was the 17th overall pick; St. Brown was 112th. Both were named to the Pro Bowl and awarded All-Pro honors last season, but Lamb was the head-to-head leader in receptions, yards, touchdowns, and even rushing.

Yet Lamb is now set to make a full $12 million less than St. Brown’s new average annual salary.

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“You don’t know what those big numbers might be,” Stephen claimed Tuesday. “If your gut feel was- if Jerry’s gut feel was- that was a good number, then you might would do it.”

Lamb was already expected to surpass Tyreek Hill’s $30 million-per-year figure with an extension that the Joneses called an offseason priority. Jefferson and Chase were also demanding new deals that would top that amount. (And they could happen at any time.) But now that St. Brown has unexpectedly joined the club, Lamb’s asking price will certainly rocket well past $30 million.

“One reason you’re not doing it is you may not have the answer,” Jerry said Tuesday. “You may really need to see if there’s more cap room. You might need to see if you’re going to get somebody else signed. Or you really, right then, might not even have the money. Under the cap, of course. I guess what I’m trying to say is: timing is obviously as important as the principal amount.”

Jerry absolutely blew the timing on a Lamb extension. Now he’ll have to come up with a lot more principal if Lamb is to stay in the star.

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‘We’ll get work in’: Cowboys players not worried about CeeDee Lamb’s absence

From @ToddBrock24f7: KaVontae Turpin says the WR is in touch with teammates, and Dak Prescott promises he and Lamb will find time this summer to work together.

Monday will mark one week since the Cowboys kicked off their offseason program. Of course, participation is strictly voluntary at this stage, but fans are nevertheless concerned when the biggest playmakers choose to stay away rather than get in and get the earliest possible start with their teammates.

After etching his name in the franchise’s record books in 2023, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb remains a no-show at The Star in Frisco. And while the front office’s inactivity on his contract extension adds to the nerves that plenty within Cowboys Nation are feeling about the coming season, Lamb’s locker room mates aren’t the least bit worried about what the three-time Pro Bowler is missing out on right now.

“We still stay in touch with CeeDee, just around the building,” fellow receiver and return man KaVontae Turpin told Bri Amaranthus of Sports Illustrated.

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The effort by Lamb to reach out and stay connected off the field demonstrates to his Cowboys teammates that his absence is simply a business decision, and once that gets taken care of, he’ll be back at it, right alongside them.

“He’s just showing the guys that he’s still here, he’s still going to be here,” Turpin said. “At the same time, the business, the contract stuff: that’s big-time. He’s just staying in touch, staying around, staying vocal. That’s what our leaders do.”

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The biggest of the Cowboys’ leaders agreed. Quarterback Dak Prescott, who is himself waiting on some movement regarding a new financial deal, expressed zero concern about not being in sync with Lamb due to his receiver not attending these early workouts.

The two traditionally spend a good deal of time together on their own, whether it’s working on routes and timing at Prescott’s backyard field or as part of a large-group retreat like the one Prescott and several of his pass-catchers took to a Georgia lake last summer.

Prescott hinted that such extra measures would be on the schedule again.

“We’ll get some work in,” Prescott told reporters Friday night. “I’ve been in communication with CeeDee. That’s there. We’ll get work in, whether it’s him getting into the facility… Maybe a deal gets done, and if it doesn’t, I guarantee that we still find a lot of time to make sure that we’re putting in the work that we feel comfortable [with].”

Lamb led the NFL last season with 135 receptions, compiling 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns. All but two of his catches came on throws from Prescott.

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Report: CeeDee Lamb a no-show as Cowboys’ voluntary offseason program begins

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Cowboys’ offseason program began on Monday, but wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was, as expected, missing as he awaits a contract extension.

It’s April 15, and just as Americans are filing their taxes to officially close the books on the past year of working and earning, the Dallas Cowboys are rolling in to The Star in Frisco to report for their first day at the office of the 2024 NFL season.

Well, some of them are. Because unlike submitting your tax returns, attendance at Phase One of the offseason program is strictly voluntary.

That won’t keep all of Cowboys Nation from paying particular attention to which superstars actually show up, though.

We already know of one who won’t.

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The next two weeks constitute the opening of the Cowboys’ offseason program and is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehab. Certain walk-through drills can begin as April turns to May, and OTA activities will kick off May 21.

The first mandatory date for any current Cowboys player is June 4, when the team’s minicamp begins.

So with several Cowboys playmakers currently in various stages of contract limbo with the club, expect some high-profile no-shows to grab a big chunk of the spotlight in the meantime.

Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb tops the list. The NFL’s receptions leader from 2023 and the franchise’s single-season catch and yardage king is already set to make $17.99 million in the fifth season of his current contract, but he’s been widely expected to earn an extension that would make him the highest-paid receiver in the sport’s history.

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He’s still waiting for that to happen, and showing up for voluntary meetings doesn’t exactly hold the front office’s feet to the fire to get going on a deal.

Lamb won’t take any sort of financial hit until that June minicamp; an unexcused absence then would amount to a fine of up to $101,716, or just a hair over half of one percent of his current annual salary.

Staying home now costs Lamb nothing. And while he’s been vocal in recent years about putting in the offseason work to get on the same page as quarterback Dak Prescott, the two have typically logged time together away from the facility.

Of course, Prescott’s attendance during the voluntary portion of the offseason program- as he awaits a long-term extension of his own- is no sure thing, either.

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Offseason holdout possible for Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb amid extension wait

From @ToddBrock24f7: With the Cowboys’ voluntary sessions set to kick off next week, Lamb may be sitting out until he gets his record-setting extension.

The Cowboys’ offseason program begins in one week, although all activities will be voluntary only. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb could be taking advantage of that important qualifier.

As Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News speculates, a holdout from the fifth-year superstar is a very real possibility as he waits for a contract extension.

Lamb is due $17.99 million in 2024 under the fifth-year option picked up by the club in April of 2023. But coming off a campaign in which he set the Cowboys’ all-time single-season receptions and receiving yards records, led the league in catches, earned his third Pro Bowl bid, and was named a first-team All-Pro, Lamb’s salary represents an absolute bargain.

Lamb’s next contract is expected to reset the market at the wide receiver position, catapulting him above Tyreek Hill and the $30 million per year he makes in Miami.

Without that kind of money promised to him in writing, it’s hard to imagine Lamb showing up for meetings and strength and conditioning workouts. Live reps against a defense won’t start until May 24 (those are voluntary as well), and mandatory minicamp won’t kick off until June 4.

Gehlken also points out that Lamb traditionally gets together during the offseason with quarterback Dak Prescott and other Cowboys receivers for their own independent throwing sessions. Beyond that, Lamb could “hold in” once mandatory minicamp begins, attending sessions at the facility but sitting out of practices and other drills that might result in injury.

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The Cowboys have said that getting Lamb signed to an extension is a priority, but the front office has several other pressing contracts to work out, too; namely, for Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons.

Waiting- on any of them- only adds to the uncertainty that seems guaranteed to swirl around the Cowboys for the next 10 months.

The next move could be Lamb’s. And electing not to move at all may be the way he plays it come Monday.

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Cowboys roster ranks 3rd in value; Lamb, Bland make ‘best value’ team

From @ToddBrock24f7: CeeDee Lamb and DaRon Bland were the top values at their respective positions in 2023, while 8 other Cowboys made the top 10 at theirs.

The world-weary cynics within Cowboys Nation firmly believe that, at least to the Jones family, finishing the season strong in dollars and cents is way more important than wins and losses.

On the field, Dallas didn’t make it out of the wild-card round. But financially, the front office finished almost at the top of the league when it comes to the overall value they got out of their players this season.

Spotrac has determined their 2023 Team Value Rankings using scores calculated for each player on the league’s rosters. Individually, a player’s cumulative production is factored against his average annual salary, and the resulting score (out of 100) offers a look at how much bang a player provides for his buck.

Do that for everybody, and it becomes clear which teams make their money work the hardest come gametime.

San Francisco led the NFL with a “True Value Score” (TVS) of 99.56, while Baltimore came in second with 95.11. The Cowboys finished in third place with 91.38. No other team scored in the 90s. (Within the NFC East, Philadelphia finished 16th with 52.48, the Giants were 28th at 16.44, and Washington ended 31st with 6.11.)

Using players’ individual scores, Spotrac also assembled their “Best Value” roster, spotlighting the player with the highest TVS at each position. The Dallas was one of four teams to put two players in the hypothetical starting lineup; eight other Cowboys made the top 10 at their positions.

Here’s a look at who was named the absolute best value at their spot, as well as which players on the team still gave great production at a nice price.

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CeeDee Lamb moves way up the NFL record books

From @Cdburnett7: Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s hot streak continued in Week 18 as he moved up the NFL record books in single-season receiving yards.

The records keep coming for Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. After eclipsing Hall of Famer Michael Irvin’s single-season franchise marks for receptions and yards, he moved up the NFL records in Week 18.

Lamb came into the final regular season game with 1,651 receiving yards, which is No. 19 in league history. He proceeded to continue the season-long heater, making 13 catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns in the dominant 38-10 victory.

Sunday’s performance moves him up to 1,749 yards, which makes it the eighth-most receiving yards in a season in NFL history, according to Pro Football Reference. Some may put an asterisk since it came in 17 games, but it’s the new norm. And with the way the Cowboys have buried games early and often this season, the numbers could be higher.

On top of that impressive mark, Lamb added to the record books in other ways during the Dallas victory.

Lamb’s fourth season has proved to be his best, and there is no doubt that he’s one of the league’s finest receivers. The momentum continues for the Cowboys No. 1 receiver as the team awaits their wild card matchup in AT&T Stadium as the No. 2 seed.

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CeeDee Lamb selected for drug test after monster performance in Cowboys win

From @ToddBrock24f7: After a night that saw him break franchise records and set new career highs, the WR was ordered by the league to submit to a drug test.

Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb had a monster performance in Week 17, establishing two new franchise records and logging career-best numbers in multiple categories in a 20-19 Dallas win.

The NFL apparently wondered if there was more to it than Lamb’s natural talent.

Lamb took to social media late Saturday night to share a notice he received from the league immediately after the game, ordering the 24-year-old to submit to a supposedly-random test for performance-enhancing substances.

Lamb recorded 13 receptions for 227 yards, both new single-game highs for the fourth-year man out of Oklahoma. His 17 targets tied his single-outing best, a mark he set just a month prior in a win over Seattle.

And he did it while setting new Cowboys franchise records for most receptions (122) and most receiving yards (1,651) in a season. He outdid three-time Super Bowl champ and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin in both categories. Irvin, who set those marks during his 1995 campaign, was on hand at AT&T Stadium to help celebrate former coach Jimmy Johnson’s induction into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor.

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Numerous single-season records have fallen around the league since the regular season was expanded to 17 games in 2021, giving players one extra opportunity to compile stats. What makes Lamb’s record-setting season all the more impressive, though, is that he surpassed Irvin in 16 games, the same number of outings the Playmaker had in ’95.

“I told you I’d enjoy it more if we won,” Lamb told reporters after the game went final. “That we did.”

And Lamb no doubt went on to enjoy the thrilling record-setting win as promised. Even if it also meant producing a urine sample.

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Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb aiming for wins over best receiving stats of career

From @ToddBrock24f7: Despite nearing personal bests in most categories, Lamb says getting wins- this week in Buffalo and then beyond- is most important to him.

CeeDee Lamb is closing in on a career year. The Cowboys receiver currently ranks third in the league in receiving yards (1,253) and third in total receptions (96). He’s tied for seventh in targets (131) and tied for fourth in touchdowns (8). And he’s on the cusp of setting new personal-best marks in all four of those categories.

But ask the fifth-year vet which stat is most satisfying to him, and his answer is none of the above.

Despite doing enough so far this season to easily earn a third Pro Bowl nod, the former first-round draft pick is exponentially more focused on playing in the game after all-star weekend.

But in order for Lamb and the Cowboys to reach Super Bowl LVII, they’ll more than likely to have to pull off a series of difficult road wins in the postseason. So they’re treating this Sunday’s trip to Buffalo as a preparatory mission.

“I feel like we’ve got to bring our own music,” Lamb said this week of taking the team’s 9-3 record to Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park to face the Bills. “Obviously, we’re going to be in a hostile environment, so we’re not going to get as much praise for making big plays. But we kind of have got to make that the new norm, just being in an away format.”

Some away games, though, are about more than the plane ride and the hotel and the unfamiliar surroundings at the stadium. This Sunday, the Cowboys will also have to deal with Old Man Winter. And while the forecast isn’t calling for the heavy snows or sub-arctic temperatures that have beset many a team’s mid-December visit to “B-Lo,” the Cowboys are gearing up nonetheless for a very damp and wet afternoon.

“Obviously, the ball is going to be wet,” Lamb explained. “But just taking care of the ball is the main thing.”

To that end, some members of the Dallas offense were spotted doing wet ball drills at practice this week, dunking their hands in buckets of ice water and catching drippy, slippy passes.

“Mentally, it’s all about preparation,” said Lamb. “And physically, obviously, it’s just going out, doing it and executing the right way and not really being lackadaisical with our focus. Look the ball in, hold the ball high and tight, things of that nature.”

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Those are all things Lamb has done better this season than ever before. Having passed Miles Austin a couple weeks ago to take over the No. 8 spot on the franchise’s all-time receiving yardage list, Lamb is about to set a new slew of single-season highs for himself. He needs 26 more targets, 12 more catches, two more touchdowns, and 107 more receiving yards to establish new career marks in each of those categories, and he has four more games to get there.

But back to asking him to pick the stat that means the most to him.

“A win,” Lamb says simply. “That’s the most important to me, to be honest.”

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CeeDee Lamb’s gloves make Hall of Fame after record-setting performance vs Giants

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Cowboys WR’s third straight game with 10+ catches and 150+ yards earned some of his game-day gear a special spot in Canton.

CeeDee Lamb’s hands have been on an unprecedented hot streak. So hot, in fact, that the gloves he wore while setting an NFL record last Sunday have made their way to Canton for a special display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

With an 11-catch, 151-yard performance in Week 10 versus the Giants, the Cowboys wide receiver became the first player in league history to log double-digit receptions and 150-plus receiving yards in three consecutive games. He had previously tallied 12 catches for 158 yards in Week 8 against the Rams and 11 catches for 191 yards in the very next contest against the Eagles.

Now his gloves and towel from the record-setting 49-17 win are on display in the Hall’s “Pro Football Today” gallery.

But getting Lamb a spot in the record books required special effort on the Cowboys’ part. Up 42-7 as the fourth quarter began, Dallas coaches made plans to start pulling their starters. But when word spread along the sideline that Lamb needed one more catch and eight more yards to make history, the first-round draft pick was allowed stay in the game long enough to hit the magic numbers.

“How many times are you in a position like that?” head coach Mike McCarthy said of the decision as he spoke with reporters afterward. “I’ll tell you what, you feel worse as a coach if I had would have walked in there and you’d be asking me, ‘Why the hell didn’t you leave him out there for nine yards?’ Because I’ve had it happen before. I think this league is so competitive, when you are in that position, I think it’s the respect that you should show to the player, to accomplish that record.”

According to the Hall of Fame, only eight other players have ever posted those receiving milestones in even back-to-back games. And despite the pass-happy style of play in today’s NFL, it’s happened just three times in the past 25 years, making this first-ever “three-fer” an even more impressive achievement.

“It’s very meaningful,” Lamb said about his recent record-setting run. “It obviously means I’m doing something correct and all of the hard work is paying off, but the hard work still isn’t done.”

The fourth-year receiver was correct to point out that the team still has eight games left in the regular season, and- hopefully- a deep playoff run after that. While Lamb obviously won’t be able to keep the streak going indefinitely, Cowboys coaches and players know that he has to remain a huge part of any success the offense hopes to have, even as opposing defenses scheme ways to shut him down.

“He’s just amazing,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said this week. “[The Giants] were trying to double him. And if you watch some of the things that he’s doing- at the line of scrimmage, releasing, and things like that- even when he’s doubled… We believe that even if a guy is doubled, it doesn’t mean they can cover him.”

Lately, they are not.

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Among the Cowboys’ all-time receivers, Lamb currently sits in ninth place in career receiving yards (4,371) and could overtake Miles Austin with 111 yards this weekend in Carolina. With 12 more catches, he’ll pass Jay Novacek for sole possession of ninth place in total receptions.

‘He’s scratching the surface in these last few games,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said following last week’s record-setting afternoon. “He’s special.”

Special enough for his gloves to be invited to Canton.

And if Lamb keeps this up, his bust will be there someday, too.

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Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb named NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week

From @ToddBrock24f7: Lamb caught 11 passes for 151 yards and added another score as a rusher. He’s the third Cowboy to win a weekly award this season.

When you do something that no player in the history of the National Football League has ever done, some extra recognition is appropriate.

After catching nearly everything that came his way in the Cowboys’ 49-17 rout of the Giants, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb has also caught a spiffy new award for his trophy case. Lamb was named the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week.

Lamb’s 11-catch, 151-yard outing on Sunday made him the first player to ever string together three consecutive games of over 10 receptions and 150-plus receiving yards. His receiving stats for that span are indeed eye-popping: 34 catches for 500 yards and three touchdowns, and that’s just since Oct. 29.

On the season, Lamb has put himself in the conversation for elite status. Here are his current statistical rankings in several key categories among all pass-catchers leaguewide:

Tgt Rec Yds 1stDwn Rec/Gm Yds/Gm
CeeDee Lamb 13th 6th 3rd 5th 5th 4th

Lamb added to his impressive showing versus New York last week by also rushing for a touchdown, his first since his rookie season of 2020.

The former first-round draft pick out of Oklahoma is on pace for 129 receptions, which would be a career-best. He’s also tracking toward 1,841 yards, a number that would rank as the NFL’s fifth-highest single-season total ever.

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This is the first time Lamb has received the weekly award, and the first time a Cowboy has been so honored since Amari Cooper won it twice in a three-week span in 2018.

Linebacker Micah Parsons won Defensive Player of the Week for Week 2; kicker Brandon Aubrey took home the Special Teams Player of the Week prize for Week 9.

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