On April 15, Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb opted out of the team’s first day of offseason workouts. Phase One was voluntary, after all, and the three-time Pro Bowler had been expecting a contract extension from the front office that would bring his payday more in line with his status as one of the game’s premier receiving threats. But the deal hadn’t come, so Lamb chose not to report for OTAs and work out on his own instead.
Now it’s June 4, the first day of minicamp at The Star. Attendance is mandatory. But for Lamb, it’s second verse, same as the first.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the former first-round draft pick has not been spotted at the team facility and is expected to stay away.
#Cowboys star WR CeeDee Lamb has not been spotted in Dallas for mandatory minicamp, sources say. Lamb has not been present for voluntary OTAs, but is not reporting to minicamp, which subjects a player to fines.
Lamb seeks a new contract extension. pic.twitter.com/gw2M4Q1Et8
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 4, 2024
Lamb’s absence now subjects him to possible fines for each day he misses. The cost of skipping Tuesday is $16,953, per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. If he misses Wednesday, the fine goes to $33,908; the fine for sitting out a third day would be $50,855.
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The $101,716 Lamb stands to lose if he skips all three days of minicamp is, obviously, a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the $17.99 million he’s already set to make for his fifth season. And it’s nothing when stacked against the record-breaking extension that Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson agreed to on Monday.
Jefferson, who was drafted five spots after Lamb in 2020 and has amassed strikingly similar stats over the same period of time, will earn a reported $140 million ($110 million of which is guaranteed) over the next four years. Lamb is widely considered to be in line for a deal in that same financial neighborhood.
CeeDee Lamb, who has been in discussions with the Cowboys about a new deal, is having himself a day. pic.twitter.com/dnkD4pHeD1
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 3, 2024
And while the Cowboys brass has said for months that it’s one of their offseason priorities, there has been no movement whatsoever on actually making it happen. Many assumed that Jerry and Stephen Jones were waiting for Jefferson’s bar-setting deal to get done.
Now it is. And mandatory minicamp has begun. And Lamb is nowhere to be found.
And the meter is running.
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