Cowboys, CeeDee Lamb agree to terms on multi-year deal; end holdout over contract
CA’S OXNARD — It is becoming evident that CeeDee Lamb wants to stay with the Dallas Cowboys for a very long time. Just one day before the team gets into its first official practice of camp in Frisco, the two-time All-Pro receiver ended his summer holdout by agreeing in terms on a new multi-year contract that will keep him in North Texas. This puts him in the same tax bracket as the NFL’s top receivers.
With the Cowboys getting ready to play the Cleveland Browns in 13 days, he has limited time to ramp up and is now excited and ready to go to the facility.
According to several reports, including NFL.com, the deal has a four-year maximum value of $136 million, a signing bonus of $38 million, and a guaranteed $100 million.
In order to push Lamb’s extension to conclusion in Dallas, the team first decided to execute Lamb’s fifth-year option for 2024, but they will not need it now that Tyreek Hill and Justin Jefferson have signed megadeals this summer. Lamb responded with a digital chuckle shortly after owner and general manager Jerry Jones made waves for his response to the subject of “urgency” around closing the purchase.
Jones subsequently changed the tone of his remarks, and the assertion that there was always “zero idea of Lamb not being a Dallas Cowboy” according to executive vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones was the most accurate.
Micah Parsons promised that the All-Pro wide receiver will “be suiting up for the Dallas Cowboys” in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns after Dak Prescott said to Lamb that “you will get your money.”
Lamb made a declaration in early April that he had now formally fulfilled while training outside of the Cowboys’ building despite missing their voluntary offseason conditioning.
Lamb stated, “Winning — I am looking forward to winning and having another run at this thing, out there with my men.” “… Indeed, I will be in Dallas.
The Louisiana native, who moved to South Texas (after Hurricane Katrina), was a 17th-overall pick out of Oklahoma in 2020. He made an immediate impression as a rookie with the Cowboys and has not looked back.
In his three-year career, the 25-year-old has amassed 3,396 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns, averaging a strong 13.1 yards per reception. In addition to the previously mentioned All-Pro selections, he has earned two Pro Bowl awards.
In the post-Amari Cooper era, the 2022 season was the first to show Lamb’s rise to the position of wide receiver number one in Dallas. He set career highs in receiving yards (1,359) and touchdowns (9), and aside from running back Tony Pollard, he was the most explosive offensive playmaker of the season.
With the former in top form, the Cowboys’ offense overtook all others in terms of points per game after Dak Prescott returned from injury in Week 7.
The front office then traded for Brandin Cooks in the offseason to follow in tandem with Lamb and what they hoped would be a resurgent Michael Gallup, though the latter has since been released and it’s instead former third-round pick Jalen Tolbert being looked upon as the lead horse for the role in 2024.
That means the receivers’ room in Dallas has instantly gotten younger and less proven, with Cooks also entering a contract year, making it that much more important to ensure Lamb stays put in a Cowboys’ uniform.
This is especially true when also factoring in how Lamb blew his 2022 campaign out of the water in 2023—ssetting new career-highs in receiving yards (1,749), receiving touchdowns (12), average receiving yards per game (102.9), catch percentage (74.6%), first downs (80), yards per target (9.7), total targets (181), total receptions (135), receptions per game (7.9), rushing yards (113), and rushing touchdowns (2).
But wait, there’s more.
His 10 catches for more than 150 yards in three consecutive games set a new NFL record for most receptions and yards ever in a three-game stretch, while his 13-catch, 227-yard clinic in Week 17 against the Detroit Lions broke a single-game receptions and receiving yards record long held by Hall of Fame playmaker and fellow 88 Club resident Michael Irvin.
This isn’t the type of talent you allow to leave the organization, and the Cowboys’ front office never had any intention of doing so.
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