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.
WR CeeDee Lamb is not participating in the Cowboys offseason program.
Per a source with knowledge of the negotiations or lack there of on a contract extension, “why would he”— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) April 15, 2024
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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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