FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys fans always bring the noise for the team’s first practice back home.
Each player got an introduction from the public address announcer on Tuesday night as their picture popped up on the massive screen in The Ford Center, the Cowboys’ indoor practice stadium. But when Lamb’s name was said and his picture popped up on screen, the Dallas fans in attendance roared for an extended amount of time. It simply felt different, for good reason.
Lamb put pen to paper earlier Tuesday afternoon to lock himself into his four-year, $136-million contract extension, which ended his holdout from the Cowboys’ offseason program that saw him miss all organized time activities, minicamp and training camp out in Oxnard, California. He became reflective about being a Dallas Cowboy, processing the entire experience and expressing gratitude to return to his football home for the foreseeable future.
“I can’t really put it into words,” Lamb said Tuesday night after practice. “I tell them I’m grateful to be here every moment of the day. This whole process was very crazy for me, as we all know. Very bittersweet. I enjoyed it all. Obviously, had plenty of time to revamp myself physically, to become more prepared for the season. Granted, I wish I would have had a [training] camp. It’s ok though. It will work out fitting back in, but very excited for the moment. Cherish every bit of it. Shoutout to my agent [Tory Dandy]. Grateful for the opportunity. Going back and forth, the phone calls we had, obviously thanking God every morning for the chance to get up and do what I do. Man, it was surreal. Loved it. Here we are.”
Earlier in the day when Lamb returned to the Cowboys’ facility, he generated a similar reaction among team employees that he did from the fans Tuesday night: cheers.
“We just heard a bunch of cheering, and we turn around, and he’s [Lamb] walking through things like ‘It’s great to be back,'” fellow wide receiver Jalen Tolbert said Tuesday night. “Everyone was like, ‘Hey Cee[Dee].’ Just having that moment with him after he got what he deserved. We know that he works hard for what he got. So it’s special to see a guy like that.”
Despite Dallas owner and general manager Jerry Jones at one point during the negotiation saying he didn’t have a sense of urgency to get Lamb re-signed before the season began, Lamb never doubted the talks being resolved with an agreed upon deal.
“I had no doubt,” Lamb said. “But I will say I was getting impatient.”
The 25-year-old wanted to reunite with his teammates and coaches and resume playing football together so badly, he once seriously considered breaking his holdout and returning to the team facility when driving by the surrounding area for a bite to eat.
“I’d look at it, tempted to come in, obviously,” Lamb said. “But then I’d go grab some food right across the street.”
Lamb heeded Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s advice all throughout the process. “Stay strong,” was the message Lamb said Prescott gave to him. “And be prepared.”
His resolve resulted in him earning a $34 million average per year salary, $100 million in guaranteed money and a $38 million signing bonus, the most all-time for a wide receiver contract. Lamb is now the tied as the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL along with San Francisco 49ers All-Pro edge rusher Nick Bosa with the $34 million average per year deal. Only 2020 draft classmate and Minnesota Vikings All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson earns more on a $35 million average per year. Lamb worked out in both Texas and the South Florida area — Fort Lauderdale and Davie to be specific — during his holdout, and he was told the news that a contract was finalized when he was in the Sunshine State.
“My agent FaceTimed me. it was actually kind of crazy,” Lamb said. “He hit me with a ‘Yeah, man, this is going south.'”
Lamb, who always wanted to remain a Cowboys, briefly panicked before his agent told him a deal was done.
“I was like what do you mean it’s going south?'” Lamb said before his agent got serious. “‘Yeah, they only try to pay you $34 [million] a year.”
That elicited an immediate response from Lamb as he hopped on a plane back to Texas to get the deal done.
“‘Well, where do i sign?'” he said he told Dandy. “As soon as I got off the phone, obviously I didn’t have anything to say immediately because I had to soak it all in. It didn’t feel real. But the next like two, three hours to be honest, the whole time I was on the plane, I was just like, well, ‘You’re going home for a reason.'”
Once he returned to sign the deal, Lamb was face-to-face Jones for the first time all offseason. At times he reacted to some of Jones’ public comments with “lol” or an unclear meme. The two moved on from the negotiation and are back in lockstep when it comes to Cowboys football.
“Obviously you got to separate your business likes from … something you grew up playing for fun,” Lamb said. “As for me, I was trying to send subliminal messages, like my love for the game has never vanished. The business side of it, is its own side. But then when I’m lining up, or get on this field, I’m ready to work. It was just like I saw both sides of it. It was very eye opening. I understand how it is now. Granted it’s my first time going through it, for my first veteran contract. I’m prepared for the next one.”
The two had the entire gathering of team officials and others clear the conference room, so the two could have a one-on-one conversation to return to being on the same page.
“We had a businessman conversation,” Lamb said. “Just had to clear the room. Everything is behind us. I’m not worried about nothing. We got what we needed to get done. Now it’s time for me to go ball.”
Returning to football
Even though Lamb missed key practice installs and team meetings, obviously no one expects anything to change regarding his role as Dallas’ top target in their offense. Head coach and offensive play caller Mike McCarthy indicated Lamb remained active with his film study all offseason.
“CeeDee’s role will not change,” McCarthy said on a conference call on Monday. “He was our premier receiver last year. Our approach with him will be similar. I don’t see that changing. … He stayed on top of that [offensive tweaks and adjustments in the offseason] through iPads and things. It’ll be great to get him out there and work.”
“Obviously, it’s just the verbiage that changed, and they tweaked a couple things,” Lamb said when addressing the things he is getting up to speed on. “I kept my iPad on. We go look at the hours, I’m pretty sure I’m one of the top [practice film watchers].”
Despite not physically being out at training camp, Lamb made sure to connect with teammates, which was much appreciated by those in attendance. Part of those messages were fulfilling his leadership duties while part of the reason for the connectivity was Lamb working through his fear of missing out.
“He was plugged in,” Tolbert said. “I woke up some mornings, and he texts me like ‘Good morning bro, have a great day.’ Or, he’ll tell me about something that happened on the field. Having a guy that’s still involved, watching film, trying to help and working on his own, we know he’s not missing a step. So we’re looking forward to getting back with him and getting to work.”
“I can’t put a number on it,” Lamb said when asked how often he texted teammates while holding out. “I’m not even going to lie to you, I just had like all the questions, ‘How we feeling? Like, ‘What are we thinking?’ Like, ‘What’s the situation? Y’all know when I get back I’m coming with energy, so obviously not with my mouth but with my play.”
The focus now shifts to ramping Lamb up to play in less than two weeks, in the Cowboys’ season opener against the Browns in Cleveland. For him, he said getting back into football shape is just a matter of getting “bumped a little bit. Not so much hit, but as I’m running a little nudge.”
“Obviously, I’m training on my own. Granted, I can be prepared, but like timing, you can’t teach that. You can’t coach that,” Lamb said. “The only thing you can do is rep that, and obviously avenues, bumps and alleyways of getting open and scoring touchdowns, you got to see it to believe it.”
In the eyes of his teammates, Lamb looks like the same guy who broke the Cowboys’ single-season records for catches (135) and receiving yards (1,749) last season. His ramp up caused him to sit out team drills Tuesday evening, but Lamb remains on track to play Week 1.
“He looks great as always,” Tolbert said of Lamb at practice Tuesday night. “He’s one of one in his nature, his aura, all over. It’s fun to have him back out there on the field. He emphasized today even, we were a little low on receivers. He was like, ‘Man, I’m sorry I can’t be out there with y’all.’ We all know it comes from the heart. He is a great guy, competitor. We can’t emphasize [that] enough. We’re looking forward to being able to get back on the field with him and get to work.”
Lamb said he put on 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, something he planned to do, regardless of when his contract was signed, in order to better position himself for an even bigger year in 2024. “I’ve got some body armor on me,” Lamb said. “I can take a couple of more hits. I’m prepared for my opportunities.”
And those opportunities will come, in part, because during his holdout Lamb visited Prescott and got in some work at the quarterback’s “Dakyard” at his house in Prosper. “We got our reps in for sure,” Lamb said. “The best thing about it, him having a field in his backyard. So anytime I came back home [from training in Florida], it was time [to throw with Prescott].”
It’s also time, in Lamb’s eyes, for Jones to do for Prescott what he just did for him: sign the Cowboys quarterback to an extension that removes the uncertainty of him playing out 2024 on the final year of his deal. Dallas and Prescott have had ongoing contract talks all offseason, but it’s critical for the two sides to come to a deal soon since the Cowboys can’t franchise tag him in the 2025 offseason and prevent him from hitting the open market.
“You look at our numbers together, they’re at the top of the charts,” Lamb said. “I have no doubt that they’re going to get a deal done. We all know that I want Dak here. Jerry wants Dak here, too, so let’s just get this under control and kill the speculation and let’s go win.”
