Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Cowboys' Mike McCarthy sends firm message about CeeDee Lamb amid minicamp holdout
Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed during Tuesday's press conference that star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was not in attendance on the first day of mandatory minicamp.
And according to several reports, Lamb is expected to miss the entirety of the Cowboys' mandatory minicamp as he seeks a lucrative contract extension.
Lamb was also not present during voluntary OTAs.
McCarthy would not go into detail, but he did confirm that Lamb has been "engaged" with the team outside of attending voluntary and mandatory offseason practices and that he has zero worries.
"CeeDee’s in a business situation but everybody’s engaged,” McCarthy told reporters at the start of mandatory minicamp. “I’ve got no qualms about our best being ready.”
McCarthy repeated, "He's been engaged. I can just tell ya that. He's been engaged."
Jerry Jones's Last Leaf Has Fallen
Lamb is on tap to play out the fifth-year option of his rookie contract, which is worth $17.99 million. However, his production says he's worth much more than that and the Cowboys are well aware.
"I think CeeDee's one of the best players in the NFL," Jerry Jones said in April, via The Athletic. "I think he's very instrumental because of his position to quarterback success, personally. I think if you look at complementary football, he does it all there for you. He's multifaceted in where we can line him up, the type things we can use him for. He's dedicated in his practice and he's sound physically. That puts him really right there at the top as far as a player. I'm trying to answer your question. I guess the answer is without saying anymore, I think he's one of the top players in the NFL."
The former 2019 first-round pick of the Cowboys hauled in a league-high 135 catches for 1,749 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns last fall.
So why haven't the Cowboys paid up? According to Jones, he has been waiting for more leaves to fall.
Well, Jones has now seen many trees shake their leaves since he said that on April, 23.
The latest "leaf" and likely that last for Jones is the Minnesota Vikings, who just signed star receiver Justin Jefferson to a four-year, $140 million contract on Monday. That means Jefferson gets $35 million annually.
Jefferson's new deal now makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league and resets the wide receiver market.
While Lamb's overall production doesn't look exactly like Jefferson's, it's close enough, so you can expect the Cowboys and Lamb to agree to a similar deal in the coming days.
