OXNARD, Calif. — On a day when the Dallas Cowboys' on-field action against the Los Angeles Rams in a rare joint practice for the organization was expected to take the big headlines, things quickly shifted following an impromptu press availability with Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
Speaking on the training camp holdout of All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb has become standard for Jones since arriving in Oxnard in his handful of availabilities, but his comments this time around warranted a response from Lamb for the first time.
Here was the exchange, in its entirety, between two reporters and Jones:
Question from Reporter 1: "Week three [of training camp] is winding down, can you envision September 8th coming and CeeDee Lamb not being ready to go?"
Answer from Jones: "Well I don't know about that, but I know that we're getting great work [done], making real progress and I don't think [we're] losing a step where we are now."
Question from Reporter 2: "Is there a sense of urgency as you begin the preseason to get CeeDee done?"
Answer from Jones: "No."
Question from Reporter 2: "Why do you say that?"
Answer from Jones: "Just uh (long pause)... I went to high school. I went to college. I don't know why I said it. I'm just saying… I don't know… (laughing) I don't have a sense of urgency about getting it done. Pick any reason you want. I was at Nobu two days ago, give that as a reason. Whatever you want, put it out there."
The excerpt of Jones saying he did not have any urgency quickly made the rounds on social media, which prompted a response from Lamb – his first public comment in any form during his holdout.
Shortly after, quarterback Dak Prescott took the podium for his weekly press conference and walked off the stage joking with reporters about the situation.
"I know y'all want to ask, I got urgency for it to happen," Prescott said.
A reporter then said that what Lamb saw had more meaning than what Jones had said, to which Prescott responded that he would need to communicate that to Lamb. Whether that was Jones' intentional dialogue or not, the game of telephone will lead to a conclusion in Lamb's mind that only Lamb will know of.
Sure, his silence on his contract extension negotiations is somewhat broken, but it only leaves more questions than answers about where the two sides really do stand going into the first week of the preseason. On one hand, Jones says that "great work" and "real progress" is being made, but did that all go out the window with the "sense of urgency" comment?
That will be for Jerry Jones to answer when he talks to the media again in Oxnard on a situation that has seemingly grown more complicated.
