The Dallas Cowboys were pinching pennies all offseason after an inactive free agency period and quiet summer across the board.
Until Monday rolled around. Dallas started to empty out their piggy bank by re-signing 2023 First Team All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to a four-year, $136 million extension with $100 million guaranteed and a $38 million signing bonus, the highest ever for a wide receiver. Now that they made Lamb, who led the NFL with 135 catches while ranking second in receiving yards (1,749) and third in receiving touchdowns (12), the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in terms of average per year salary ($34 million) along with San Francisco 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa, the expectation is that the massive production from 2023 becomes the standard. As for his run game participation, Lamb totaled career highs in rushing yards (113), rushing touchdowns (two) and carries (14) in 2023.
"I think he's going to touch the ball a ton," Stephen Jones said, per Yahoo Sports. "For what we're going to have to pay him, he better. I told [head coach] Mike [McCarthy] things can't change. He's got to be targeted 12 to 15 times a game, you got to hand it to him a couple more times. So I don't see that changing in the least bit. "When you pay receivers that kind of money, they got to catch the ball eight to 12 times a game, 15 times, an occasional 15. He's our No. 1 go-to guy."
McCarthy confirmed on a conference call on Monday just hours after the signing that Lamb's role will not change: he will be Dallas' "premier receiver."
"CeeDee's role will not change," McCarthy said 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. ... Last year's numbers are, that's a high bar, no question. I think the biggest thing you know he's capable of [it]. We want to win every week, and we want to be in a position at the end of this regular season where everybody is playing their best football. So as long as that lines up with big numbers, I think we'll all be happy."
Dallas' head coach and play-caller may vary Lamb's pre-snap alignment even more in 2023 now that the rest of the league will be treating him like one of the NFL's top-five wide receivers from Week 1 on in 2024. He has been used more and more in the slot in recent years.
"High value," McCarthy said when asked of Lamb's versatility and what value that has to him as the offensive play-caller. "We've always preached the opportunity to have receivers that can play all three spots, the X, Z and the F, but CeeDee and Randall [Cobb] are really the only two that I've ever been able to put in the backfield. I think it gives you a complete weapon because when you can line them up in any spot clear across the board in the perimeter, it definitely gives you flexibility for targeting from the defense."
CeeDee Lamb career offensive snap alignment
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Wide | 8.4% | 62.6% | 46.4% | 45.5% |
Slot | 91.2% | 36% | 52.7% | 53.2% |
Inline | 0.1% | 0% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
Backfield | 0.3% | 1.4% | 0.6% | 1% |
*Data according to Pro Football Focus
Lamb led the NFL in 2023 with 181 targets, six more than Las Vegas Raiders All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams. Perhaps that number climbs up even closer to 200 in 2024. If it does, the Cowboys top targets would become only the fifth player since 1992, when targets became an officially tracked stat, to rack up 200 targets in a season. The last time someone was that heavily featured in a team's passing offense was during the prime years of the Matt Ryan-Julio Jones era of the Atlanta Falcons when Jones was targeted 203 times in 2015, nearly a decade ago. Now that the Jones' family is banking on Lamb, bank on the 25-year-old wideout to close in on becoming the sixth player to join the 200-target club.
