OXNARD, Calif. -- Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones created quite the stir on Thursday after the team's joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams when he said he didn't have a sense of urgency to re-sign 2023 NFL catches leader CeeDee Lamb (135) to a new contract, thus ending his holdout.
Dallas COO Stephen Jones provided more clarity than his father on Lamb's situation, saying the front office has "Zero. Zero. Zero thought process about CeeDee not being a Dallas Cowboy." Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott provided an opposite opinion to Jerry Jones on Thursday, saying "I've got the utmost urgency [for the Cowboys to re-sign Lamb]."
Naturally, head coach Mike McCarthy weighed in on Lamb's absence, but he declined to put any pressure on Jones to get a deal done with his 20223 First-Team All-Pro wideout. He instead expressed his admiration for Lamb.
"We miss CeeDee. We love CeeDee. He'll be great once he gets here. He's in the middle of a business situation," McCarthy said Friday. … "It's like whatever happens in fight club stays in fight club. Whatever happens in business is his business. Yeah, we have all the confidence in just the way he works that he's going to come in here ready to go and when that time comes will pick up like he never left."
Prescott feels like it won't take too much time to get back in synch with his top target, but McCarthy cautioned against running Lamb full throttle whenever he eventually returns to the team.
"We have to be smart when he gets here," McCarthy said. "We're going to ramp up and get the wrinkles, there's always going to be some new wrinkles that I'm sure he's in tune with from a communication standpoint, but he's going to need some reps. Yeah, we'll get that done."
Holdouts can be difficult for both front offices, coaching staff and locker rooms to deal with the NFL, but there may not be a head coach more equipped to deal with holdouts than McCarthy. He was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 2006 to 2018, meaning the start of his tenure involved the soap opera surrounding Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre and his retirements and unretirements. Favre was eventually traded to the New York Jets in the 2008 offseason to allow for Aaron Rodgers to become Green Bay's starter. Lamb's situation is a piece of cake in McCarthy's eyes in comparison to Favre's.
Favre's became so drawn out and such a year-to-year ordeal in Green Bay, but Lamb's holdout isn't personal, it's just business. He enters the final season of his rookie deal in 2024 after a 2023 in which he led the league in catches (135), ranked second in the NFL in receiving yards (1,749) and ranked third in receiving touchdowns (12). This is a 25-year-old simply trying to secure his long-term financial future after significantly outperforming his rookie deal.
"This is an individual going through a contract negotiation, and that's really it," McCarthy said. "They're all different whether we agree or disagree with it, every single one of these contract negotiations for people in CeeDee's position, that he's earned, they take time. I just learned that early part of my coaching career -- I really don't put any energy into it because I can't control it. I understand the importance of it. When I did see CeeDee and talked to him, I just said 'hey, this is business, we'll take care of the football when get here.' I don't want him to sweat that because he's a workout fanatic. None of us are concerned about what he's going to look like. He gets it. He's in a business situation right now."
