National Football League

Jerry Jones, Cowboys playing dangerous game in CeeDee Lamb negotiations

Updated Aug. 20, 2024 1:27 p.m. ET

Jerry Jones has taken the same approach to CeeDee Lamb's contract that he seemingly has to everything this offseason. It's all been like a big shrug of his shoulders. Any movement is glacial. He does not "have a sense of urgency" to get it done.

But he should.

Whether the Dallas Cowboys owner likes it or not, time is running out to close a deal that will get Lamb back in time — and up to full speed — for Opening Day. They break training camp this Thursday. After that, there are just 17 days before their first game. Everyone around the league expects — or at least assumes — they'll get a deal done with the 27-year-old receiver before Week 1, because history shows that's what Jones does. He waits until the very last minute.

That's just a really dangerous game to play entering a season where the Cowboys need Lamb if they have any hopes of competing at all in the NFC.

Lamb really is that important to their offense. And it's not just that Lamb has averaged 121 catches for 1,554 yards and 10.5 touchdowns over the last two seasons — including the greatest season for a Cowboys receiver ever last year (135-1,749-12). It's more about the gap between him and the rest of the team's offensive weapons, which is dangerously large.

And the Cowboys know it. Or at least they should. Lamb was targeted on 30 percent of Dak Prescott's throws last season. He had three times as many catches as the Cowboys' No. 2 receiver last season (Brandin Cooks, 54) and nearly three times as many yards (Cooks, 657). He even nearly doubled the number of catches made by Prescott's second-favorite target, tight end Jake Ferguson (71).

There's no way they can close that gap because they're just not in Lamb's class. The same is clearly true for emerging third receiver Jalen Tolbert, who has 24 catches and 280 yards in his two NFL seasons. And if the Cowboys just wanted to run more without Lamb, as if that's somehow a feasible strategy, they'd have to rely on 29-year-old Ezekiel Elliott, who has seemingly been in decline for three years.

In other words, their offense prospects without Lamb look grim. That's the product of Jones' "all-in" offseason. He didn't improve the team. He didn't go find his quarterback another serious weapon. He decided to go "all-in" on the players he already had.

But he can't do that until they're actually all here.

"Honestly, it's great for the defense, not having CeeDee here," Cowboys Micah Parsons said last week. "When he's here, he's way more destructive towards us."

Parsons was talking about practice, and the challenges Lamb brings for the Cowboys defenders. But the same theory goes for the games, too. No opposing defensive coordinator is going to stay up late trying to figure out how to stop the rest of the Cowboys' offense. Their focus will always be on Lamb, and it's going to be a lot easier for them to stop the Cowboys without him.

Again, everyone seems to believe Lamb's deal will get done sooner than later. And Jones certainly appears as relaxed as a billionaire on a yacht. No one in the organization seems worried about rust for Lamb or chemistry issues with him and Prescott. They're convinced Lamb could just hop off the plane in Cleveland on Sept. 7 and catch eight passes for 120 yards in the opener the next day.

"CeeDee is going to be ready," offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said last week. "If the system were different, that always adds different challenges. (But) he knows what we do, he and Dak have 1,000 to 10,000 banked reps together."

Dak or CeeDee: More important deal for Cowboys to get done?

All true, but the closer the opener gets, the riskier Lamb's absence becomes. And it's really hard to understand why the Cowboys are letting this holdout continue. They have offered Lamb a deal worth a little less than $33 million per season, according to reports, which would make him the second-highest paid receiver in the NFL. Lamb, according to a league source, has always had his eyes on the top of that list, where Minnesota's Justin Jefferson signed a four-year, $140 million deal (with $110 million guaranteed) in June that pays him an average of $35 million per year.

He's got a good case for it, too. And considering the gap between his desire and the reported offer is only about $2 million, and the fact that he's reportedly willing to take a little less than Jefferson's benchmark, it sure does seem inevitable that he's going to get what he wants.

So what's this all about? Is it just so Jones can put on his businessman hat, act tough and draw a hard line in negotiations? He can't possibly be so cheap that he's really trying to save $2 million per year ($8 million total) while running a franchise that was recently valued at $10.32 billion — the richest in professional sports.

Maybe it's just because Jones seems intent on keeping the financial pressure up on his key players. He's going to let Mike McCarthy coach in the final year of his contract. It looks like he's going to let Prescott play out the final year of his deal, too. Parsons isn't going to get an early contract extension yet, either. So maybe it's just that Jones would prefer that Lamb see no other option than playing out the fifth-year option (worth $17.9 million) on his rookie deal.

Or maybe, when it comes to negotiations, Jones just wants to win.

And if that's the game he wants to play, that's fine. But again, it's a really dangerous one. And Lamb called his bluff. He sat home and collected about $4 million in rescindable fines, while all along, a short pathway to a deal has been clear.

Now, time is almost up and, more importantly, the Cowboys really need him. McCarthy needs him if he's going to win and earn another contract. Prescott really needs him if he has any hope of convincing the Cowboys to sign him to an extension. Their fates are all tied to Lamb in a way. That might be true of the entire Cowboys organization if they don't want to spend 2025 looking to rebuild.

Because if Jones really is setting this season up as a win-or-else season for his key players, then without Lamb, they are on the fast track to "or else." Maybe that thought will give the 81-year-old Jones the sense of "urgency" he needs.

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.