It is feeling inevitable that the Cowboys will deal with a holdout - or two
It feels sort of inevitable that the Cowboys will deal with at least one holdout.
If you are getting tired of seeing articles about the dysfunction of the Dallas Cowboys, you are not alone. But it also is a big story as the team faces a year of uncertainty with an entire coaching staff facing a possible end to their time in Dallas, a dearth of draft capital, and mostly the same old same old about so many things.
One of the few positive things to point to is that they have some very talented players already on the team. Now, however, even that is at a bit of risk. The latest bit of evidence is the expectation that CeeDee Lamb is not going to be participating in offseason activities as he and the team are in negotiations about an extension.
This is one of the biggest no-brainers facing the team, or at least that is the perception from the outside. Lamb is finishing up his rookie contract. The team has exercised the fifth-year option for him, which would cost $17.9 million if he played on it. It makes all the sense in the world that they want to retain him. His targets, receptions, total yards, and touchdowns have gone up every year since he entered the league, and at 24 years old, he should have many more productive seasons ahead. He already has been named to three Pro Bowls and received All-Pro recognition. The problem is that he has not been shy about stating that he wants to be the highest paid player at his position. The current benchmark is the $30 million per year commanded by Tyreek Hill.
Currently, the negotiations are proceeding exactly as we should expect, with Stephen Jones showing a sense of complacency.
“Everybody goes about it a different way,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said last month at the annual league meeting in Orlando, Fla. “We’ve had guys who have been around. [Ezekiel Elliott] was never around when he was wanting a contract. So, we’ve dealt with both.
“We respect Zeke, but you prefer that they’re around when they’re under contract. It’s part of the business. You don’t love it, but it’s part of the business.”
It may be part of business as usual, but that is a choice by the team, not a necessity forced on them. The Cowboys are hardly the only team to face players not participating in the offseason activities, but many other teams are able to get deals done with their stars. Further, there is a good argument to be made for getting the deal done without unnecessary delay. For top-tier talents, like Lamb, there is a next man up factor. Someone else, like Justin Jefferson or Amon-Ra St Brown, could beat him to that $30 million number, or close to it. That would just increase the need to pay Lamb more to get his signature inked.
But based on history, Jones is going to slow roll this, probably with some negotiation via the media thrown in. That is the preferred way to try and put pressure on players to agree to a “favorable” deal for the team.
It just never seems to work. And the longer this goes, the greater the odds that Lamb and his representation will bring out the big gun in their arsenal: a holdout for the start of training camp. That is clearly undesirable, since it will hamper the team in getting ready for the regular season as long as it might continue.
There is an additional factor this year. As you are probably very well aware, Dak Prescott is also up for an extension. All signs point to the ownership not doing anything on that front until after the Lamb situation is resolved. At the moment it does not appear that Prescott and his reps are terribly worried about things. But you can be assured they will be paying close attention to how things go with Lamb.
Again, we can forecast how that will play out by looking at recent history. When that deadline to make a deal rolls around, it is almost certain that it will be the management that blinks first. That will just embolden Prescott’s agents to milk Jerry Jones amd family for every cent they can. Cap pie will undoubtedly be cited during the negotiations with the quarterback, but that is just another reason to get something done with Lamb, because his contract can be structured to help find the necessary space for Prescott’s.
It’s a pretty dismal outlook, but it is hard to see why it will go any differently. The supposedly hard-nosed negotiating stance of the team keeps backfiring, but they refuse to make any adjustments to prevent it happening again. And if they go into 2025 without a new deal for Prescott, they will have Micah Parsons’ contract up next. A new deal with Prescott will be huge. And it could well involve all the issues they now face with Lamb, only worse.
It is, to coin a phrase, another fine mess they have gotten themselves into.
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