Since the Dallas Cowboys’ last Super Bowl win 29 seasons ago, many careers have ended without a title in Dallas.
The more prominent names are well known. Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Dez Bryant, Marion Barber III, Roy Williams, Terrence Newman and the list goes on.
At least DeMarcus Ware managed to roll the dice and land on a Super Bowl team in Denver before his career ended.
DeMarcus Lawrence, is coming perilously close to adding his name to that shameful roll call.
CeeDee Lamb is in peril of joining that list as well. If he does eventually do so, at least he’ll have a hefty bank account to soften the blow.
Lamb signed a $136 million contract extension back in August.
He’ll definitely be in a Dallas uniform through the end of the 2027 season, as the Cowboys have an out that would only charge the cap $7.6 million in 2028 if he is cut after 2027.
But that’s three seasons down the road. Three years to avoid joining a group no one wants to join.
When Lamb was drafted in 2020, he was awarded the coveted 88 jersey in Dallas.
That number should have been unofficially retired, along with the 12 jersey, after Drew Pearson retired and definitely after Michael Irvin retired.
But that’s another post for me to cuss out Jerry Jones. Today, we will talk about Lamb.
Lamb’s Numbers Have Shined
The rookie found himself in a trio of receivers along with Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup.
Dak Prescott was coming off his best season statistically and Mike McCarthy was the new head coach.
Lamb had 935 yards on 74 receptions and five touchdowns, adding another score rushing. Unfortunately, Prescott only played five games and Dallas had a down year.
The 2021 season was a better year for Lamb.
Prescott only missed one start and had a solid year. Lamb was the top receiver with 1,102 yards and Cooper added 865.
Gallup, however, went down with an injury and was never the same when he came back in 2022.
Because Jones is a bad GM, he decided to extend the receiver recovering from a leg injury and traded Cooper for basically a bag of peanuts.
In 2022, Lamb would have 1.359 yards, followed by 1,749 yards in 2023, and 1,194 yards last season, with Prescott missing half the year.
The one common denominator in Lamb’s first five years?
The Dallas Cowboys have missed the playoffs twice in those five years. The other three years they are a combined 1-3 with the lone win coming in the wild card round.
That’s a resume shared by far too many Dallas Cowboys since the 1995 season.
Roster Review 2025: CeeDee Lamb. This is Part 9 of a series. Click here for a list of all related articles.
Outlook For 2025
Lamb will be back. Prescott should return as well, but the question hanging over his head is how well will he return from his second major right leg injury?
Gallup never returned to his pre-injury form and did not play in the NFL in 2024 after Dallas released him at the end of the 2023 season.
After starting his career with two quality receivers in the line-up, Lamb now faces double-teams and opponents’ top defenders weekly. He had little to no help in 2024, even when Prescott played.
Barring some major moves in the draft and free agency, that won’t change in 2025.
Brandin Cooks was okay when healthy, but he’s now a free agent and unlikely to return in 2025, plus he didn’t scare defenses. Neither do Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks, Ryan Flournoy or any other receiver currently on the roster.
Lamb will likely break 1,000 yards again this season.
But unless he gets a solid WR2 opposite of him on the line of scrimmage, he’s going to have to earn every inch of it.
Long-Term Outlook
It seems like Dallas has set up the big contracts to all expire, or to exercise outs, after the 2027 season.
If that is indeed the long-term plan, and your guess is as good as mine on that score, then Lamb has three years to win a title in Dallas.
Otherwise, he’ll join that infamous list above. That’s just not a club anyone wants to be a member of.