This story was originally published by Dead Spin
It almost seems like Jerry Jones wants to see the Dallas Cowboys enter a rebuild.
This offseason, the word “negligence” comes to mind when describing the Cowboys. They lost longtime left tackle Tyron Smith to the New York Jets. Tony Pollard went to the Tennessee Titans. Center Tyler Biadasz went to the Washington Commanders. And the list goes on.
Most outrageously, the Cowboys did not extend quarterback Dak Prescott or stud receiver CeeDee Lamb.
Entering his ninth season in Dallas, Jones is still hesitant to commit to Prescott for whatever reason. This offseason, we’ve seen the quarterback market explode with massive deals for Jordan Love, Tua Tagovailoa and Trevor Lawrence. But Prescott still waits, and he will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
The same thing applies to his No. 1 weapon, Lamb, who was Dalllas’s first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. In his first four years in the league, he’s solidified himself as one of the best pass catchers in football.
Jones still won’t commit to Lamb, either. On Thursday, he stated that he “doesn’t have any urgency” to get a deal done for his top wideout.
Maybe Jerry is bluffing. Maybe the Cowboys will make Lamb the highest-paid non-quarterback ever. Maybe for once, Dallas will get out of their way and do the right thing.
But for now, Lamb has every right to be mad at the situation. He has 5,145 receiving yards in four seasons with 32 touchdown catches. He’s only 25 years old.
Lamb’s response to Jones’s comments today was perfectly accurate.
Lamb has every reason to laugh out loud. This entire situation surrounding the Cowboys is laughable. His situation is outright insane. The Cowboys have an opportunity to lock up their own premium young receiver throughout their prime and won’t do it.
Again, maybe Jones has some sort of master plan here. Maybe he’s not sold on Mike McCarthy as the team’s head coach. But why wouldn’t you want to keep your superstar player around?
There are at least 20 other NFL teams that would love Lamb on their roster. Sure, if the Cowboys have a sloppy start to the season, they could trade Lamb for a king’s ransom at the NFL trade deadline. But even if Dallas heads toward a rebuild, I’d imagine Jones would like to have at least one marketable star.
The longer this drags out, he’s not getting any cheaper. And he’s scheduled to play on his fifth-year option. Jones should probably start feeling some urgency because his star receiver is publicly laughing at him. And so is everybody else.
