Cowboys-CeeDee Lamb Contract Extension Talks Clear Huge Hurdle

The moment Cowboys fans have been waiting (fearing?) for has arrived: Justin Jefferson got his contract extension and, as expected, has reset the wide receiver contract market. CeeDee Lamb was reportedly waiting for that before signing an extension with the Cowboys, so the hope in Dallas this morning was that talks would now pick up.

According to NFL insider Josina Anderson, that is exactly what has happened.

One way or another, this is a huge update. Are the Cowboys going to give Lamb the record-setting money he's going to want? If they do, there's now a number they can start to work around. And if they dont'? Well at least now the two sides can figure that out definitively and then sort out what the future looks like instead.

Whether you want to call this shrewd negotiating by Lamb's agents or a big blunder by Jerry Jones, Dallas is in an incredibly difficult spot. The wide receiver market was totally transformed this offseason.

Until the 2024 offseason, the biggest wide receiver contracts signed recently had been Davante Adams ($28 million per year), Cooper Kupp ($26.7 million per year) and Tyreek Hill ($30 million per year). Those averages now rank just 6th, 7th and 4th among wide receivers. Six of the top nine contracts at the position were signed this offseason:

• Justin Jefferson ($35 million per year)
• AJ Brown ($32 million)
• Amon-Ra St. Brown ($30 million)
• Jaylen Waddle ($28.3 million)
• DeVonta Smith ($25 million)
• Niko Collins ($24.3 million)

Lamb is set to make just shy of $18 million on his fifth-year option in 2024. That's obviously not going to cut it when there's only one player on that list who could even debatably deserve more money than Lamb.

So now we're staring down a wide receiver who is going to want to set a new record as the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. We also have a quarterback ready to break the bank after Jared Goff reset the quarterback market with a 4-year, $212 million deal (making him the NFL's second highest-paid quarterback on a per-year basis). And let's not forget an EDGE defender who just saw Brian Burns ($28.2 million per year) and Josh Allen ($28.3 million per year) establish that position's value.

Jerry Jones played with fire by waiting to extend all of his top talent, and now it's looking almost inevitable that he gets burned in a big way.

But at least now there is room for some concrete progress. Whether Jones figures it out and manages to keep the Cowboys' top talent in Dallas or not, at least this painful waiting game will be over soon.

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