The Dallas Cowboys are reporting to coaching camp this week. We made it. Quickly sufficient the California solar will probably be shining down whereas your pet cat is justifying the idea that you just bestowed upon them. It’s the greatest.
Skilled soccer followers are nicely conscious of the optimism that this time of yr presents. The canvas is clean, the slate is clear and our hearts have mended from final yr’s breaking. As soon as motion will get underway in Oxnard it’s full steam forward and all techniques go.
However when all the things begins up it’s nonetheless unknown whether or not or not a sure broad receiver goes to be there. CeeDee Lamb has but to participate in any official Dallas Cowboys exercise all through the offseason, however not displaying as much as coaching camp is a distinct form of assertion.
It feels extra possible than not that CeeDee Lamb will maintain out
It’s actually troublesome to check CeeDee Lamb being part of the constitution to Oxnard when the Dallas Cowboys board it this week. We have now but to see Lamb in any official group capability amid his contract negotiations with the group. If he was keen to overlook voluntary stuff, OTAs and all the “necessary” minicamp, why would he immediately blink simply because coaching camp is about to begin?
Past typical logic making use of right here there’s additionally current historical past telling Lamb to maintain up what he has happening. The 2 extra notable holdouts in Dallas Cowboys coaching camp historical past featured gamers who’re at present each lively in Ezekiel Elliott and Zack Martin.
Zeke could also be on his second go together with the Cowboys however held out throughout his first within the lead as much as his fourth coaching camp. On the time Elliott was eligible for a contract extension for the primary time and leveraged that time. There was a good bit of drama, shocker there, all through the method together with Jerry Jones toying with the media saying “Zeke who?” at one level (which he later offered t-shirts to advertise after the deal was executed), however finally the operating again received with the group blinking to the tune of a record-setting $90M deal.
That holdout was considerably predictable the place Zack Martin’s was a little bit of a shock. Final yr noticed the long run Corridor of Famer decline to point out as much as coaching camp initially as he was in search of a brand new deal. Martin didn’t even miss all of camp and efficiently negotiated an $8.5M elevate for himself in assured cash. Gamers are two for 2 within the final 5 years.
So if you’re CeeDee Lamb and you realize that you haven’t proven as much as something to this point and that the final two gamers who put the group in a nook efficiently got here out on high, why on earth would you present up? All due respect to Elliott and Martin, Lamb has much more leverage than both did at their specific junctures.
Whereas Zeke was coming off of main the league in speeding in 2019 (his second speeding crown by his first three seasons), the last word actuality was nonetheless that he was a operating again. That time was confirmed by the group releasing him final yr because of the deal.
Martin will someday have a bust in Canton however was hardly within the prime of his profession final yr, even when he did flip in one other world-class season. In contrast to Elliott and Martin, Lamb is, in truth, within the prime of issues. Shoot, he might not have even reached that but. He performs one of the crucial essential positions of the sport on high of that and he’s coming off of actually probably the most statistically profitable season {that a} broad receiver has ever had in group historical past.
Based mostly on all that, it’s onerous to consider that Lamb will report back to coaching camp with no new deal, however what do you all suppose?
