CeeDee Lamb is still getting used to his new place in the Cowboys locker room, both figuratively and literally.
The wideout, entering his third year and fresh off his first Pro Bowl nod, is now the unquestioned No. 1 receiver in Dallas following the offseason trade of Amari Cooper. Many of his teammates will now be looking to him to step up and be a different kind of leader now.
But they may have to look in a different spot just to find him.
That’s because Lamb has a new locker within the players’ facility. It’s a prime piece of real estate, too: right next to Dak Prescott.
So who requested the move?
“Actually, Dak did,” Lamb admitted to media members following Wednesday’s OTA practice session.
Lamb says he previously camped out next to 2021 UDFA Brandon Smith. Now he’s within whispering distance of the face of the franchise at all times. Suffice it to say his new place in the pecking order couldn’t be more obvious.
The quarterback confirmed that he may have pulled a few strings to relocate the 23-year-old.
“My two other locker mates left, so I was a little lonely and decided he’s the guy,” Prescott grinned. “Obviously, just being young, knowing that hopefully he’s my receiver until I’m done playing. Just being able to bring him closer, more conversations since he’s right there, accessible to talk, and just communicate.”
“Yeah, we came together and I kind of need to be next to him,” Lamb continued. “We’ve got to get this ball rolling.”
Lamb looks to build off career-best numbers in 2021: in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns. As Rob Phillips points out on the team website, the Oklahoma product has more receiving yards in his first two seasons than any Cowboys receiver except Hall of Famer and Ring of Honor resident Bob Hayes.
It’s that kind of production- and promise- that made Cooper expendable in Dallas. And now Lamb looks to slide into his friend’s former role, both on and off the field.
“Obviously I wasn’t young too long ago, and I was all in Amari’s ear,” he explained. “I’m sure he was tired of me asking questions, but he gave me an answer for every question I needed. So therefore, I want to pass the buck. If those guys need me, I’m already there. They know that.”
Head coach Mike McCarthy acknowledges that a new locker may seem like a trivial detail in the grand scheme of things, but it actually makes a huge statement to the rest of the team.
“So important,” he called it. “Just the fact that Dak and the leadership group are thinking about that thing shows you where we are in the locker room. To me, the locker room connection and brotherhood, that’s all part of the fabric of winning a championship. And so those things are happening. I think it’s great, and if I was CeeDee I think you definitely look at your quarterback a little bit stronger that way, too. So I think that shows the connection that is definitely needed between the receiver and the quarterback, especially between Dak and CeeDee.”
A stronger connection with Prescott should lead to bigger things for Lamb in 2022. Ranked in the top 20 for catches and yards among the league’s wide receivers last season, he stands to finish even higher as the undisputed WR1 within the Cowboys’ high-octane offense.
“This is a great opportunity for him personally,” McCarthy said. “He’s doing all of the little things that are needed to get him ready to be the number one guy.”
A new locker is just one of those little things. But Lamb, Prescott, and the rest of the Cowboys believe that it’s doing enough of those little things that will ultimately be the big thing that puts this team over the hump toward a sixth championship.
And if that happens, Lamb’s relocation- just a few feet within the Dallas locker room, really- could end up actually being the biggest move of their offseason.
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