FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb have agreed to terms on a four-year, $136 million contract extension with $100 million guaranteed and a $38 million signing bonus, ending the franchise star's offseason-long holdout and allowing him to return to the team as early as Tuesday.
It was far from perfect timing. The Cowboys knew from the start that this would be the reality: Lamb holding out of team activities before a new deal could be finalized which included him missing voluntary spring workouts, the team's summer mini-camp and the entirety of training camp in Oxnard.
While Dak Prescott did say earlier in training camp that it would only take one or two practices to get back in the swing of things with Lamb, more preparation could have still benefited everyone involved towards getting a deal done. For Lamb, it would have been more time in an organized setting alongside his offensive teammates. For the team, an opportunity to establish an offensive groundwork going into the season with its most important offensive player.
But nevertheless, the deal gets done with 13 days to spare before the team takes the field against the Cleveland Browns to open the season. Will there still be some rust to kick off by then? It'd be foolish to think otherwise, but having a rusty Prescott-Lamb connection is much better than not having one at all.
As of Monday afternoon, Lamb is on his way back from South Florida where he had been training with specialists while the team was at training camp in order to arrive at The Star in Frisco on Tuesday to sign his contract and complete his physical before rejoining the team at practice on Tuesday night. The ramp-up period will begin as soon as that takes place, as the Cowboys will only have a handful of practices to reintegrate Lamb back into an offense that has had to work without him for the last three months.
For a talent like Lamb, it isn't the tallest task in the world to ask him to ramp up quick enough – and smart enough without risk of injury – in order to be ready by week one. It is an interesting task, however, given that Lamb's contract numbers seemed to win out in the end and an earlier resolution could have made this process a lot simpler. Regardless, it will be in his hands to be ready when the first ball is snapped in Ohio.
At least he will be one of the 11 lined up when that time does come – a reality that may have gotten a little murky to forecast as the days went by.
