Ceedee Lamb agrees to 4-year, $136M deal with Cowboys | CBS Sports

Got some breaking news out of the NFL. Cowboys All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee lamb is getting paid, both he and the team agreeing on a four year extension worth $136 million. That's coming from multiple reports. The deal includes a $38 million signing bonus, a record for a wide receiver. He also goes with a $100 million guarantee. The agreement ends a long standoff between lamb and the Cowboys, less than two weeks before the Wrangler season begins in Cleveland for Dallas against the Browns. All right, let's bring in our Danny Kanell with reaction to this breaking news. So DK CeeDee lamb got paid. What do you think? Wow I guess I mean, every time we see these record breaking numbers from any position or player, the first reaction has to be, Holy cow, that's a lot of money. But I'm not surprised at all. I think that's been one constant that you've heard from pretty much anybody, especially around here at CBS sports HQ, has been it will most likely get done. I mean, he holds out, doesn't play, but he had his breakout year. He was drafted by the Cowboys. The one thing about Jerry Jones that he typically does is takes care of his own. He wants to, you know, wants to give himself a little pat pat on the back saying, look what I found. Look at this talent that we drafted. But he is loyal to a lot of his players. And so you felt like this was going to get done. It was just going to be a matter of time. And most importantly, you got it done in time where he can come in and get up to speed before the regular season starts. In a couple weeks. So again, just to clarify some of the numbers that you're seeing there, Justin Jefferson still has the edge in a AV, has about 10 million more in guaranteed money than CeeDee lamb. But Danny, the one thing I can say, I got paid more on a signing bonus by a million plus. So it's over a million. Yeah one point I know because we talked about 200,000. So 1.1. That's enough though for some bragging rights out there. But most importantly, you know, who cares about that more than any player. It's the agent. His representation wants to be able to say, hey, we got this record deal because that's typically how it works. Anytime we talk about this, it doesn't necessarily mean you're the best wide receiver in the NFL. It doesn't mean you're the best quarterback in the league. In the NFL, if you get the highest paid contract, it is about who is the latest, who got the latest contract, who just signed on the dotted line. So his agent wants to be able to tell KD, hey, this is where we broke the record. This is where you're the highest paid. Plus he's in the neighborhood, right? It's a nice neighborhood to live in that 35 mil a year range. Any concern getting KD back into the fold there for Dallas two weeks out of the season? No, I think it's plenty of time. You know, maybe ten years ago you'd fall behind somewhat from the other guys that were going through more rigorous training camps and more rigorous pre-seasons. But no one does hardly anything in the offseason anymore. And we've seen players skip the entire preseason saying, I don't need it. So CeeDee lamb, I'm sure he's working out. He's in shape. He'll be ready to go and by by the standards of a lot of NFL players, it's going to take a couple games for him to get up to full speed. So I wouldn't expect it to be anything significant that you would notice any sort of drop off. I would expect him to be Dak Prescott's favorite target, just the way he was last year, and to put up monster numbers just like he did last year as well. We've seen the wide receiver market reset in a big way. You know, before Justin Jefferson's deal that had only been three receivers to average 30 million a year. Now we've got about five. Danny and Jamar. Chase is also on deck, although the caveat with Jamaar is that he has two years left on his deal. That's what's going to be a little tricky, because that would set a precedent that we don't often see getting that with that two years left, you know, usually you see that final year of your rookie contract. Players get a little frustrated. They're getting closer to free agency. That does concern me somewhat with Jamar, but we were talking about this as well. 50 is the new market for quarterbacks. And it sure feels like 30 is the new market for wide receivers. And so I think we'll see this trend continue. You'll see another record deal most likely when Jamaar gets his opportunity to get paid, which he might have to wait an entire season because, Tommy, this is ultimately whatever player every player wants. Is that first mega deal because you're all getting a lot of money. A lot of these are first round draft picks. They're getting a lot of guarantees, but it's that first really mega deal that players can see that life changing guaranteed money up front, where it's truly generational money, more so than it's ever been. And you just want to be rewarded for your efforts and feel like, okay, now I've got that next deal. I can breathe a little bit more, go out there and just play, not have to worry about it every, you know, offseason while you're trying to get paid and you really feel like you've arrived in the NFL when you've got to this point. Last thing for you. Jamar Chase and Brandon Aiyuk are sort of high notable high profile hold ins. Yeah. And so I've heard from players before, you take care of your business I don't care what you do. Offseason preseason, training camp, but we're inching closer to the season. Danny, how much of that can start to bleed over some of the things you're trying to do? Week one players have a really good way of compartmentalizing things in general, whether it's family issues, off the field, contract issues off the field, whatever the case may be. So I would not expect it to impact their play. And we've only really seen one player and it was a while ago Le'Veon Bell sat out an entire season. We did see Chris Jones miss a game. That's always a way to really put your team in a bind and say, you know what? I am not coming until I get that new deal. That to me is when things get very interesting because the team will get antsy and you see them potentially fold. But those are probably the thing that's most interesting about Brandon Aiyuk and, and, and Jamaar Chase is those have probably been some of the more vocal contentious. I guess you could say, negotiations that have taken place. So it's something to keep an eye on. But I do think this puts the pressure on the team now because the market has been set. We're talking about this 35 now 30 plus $35 million area. They the players know their values. They're like yeah that's around where I should be. And so now it's up to the teams. Do they want to do it either a couple years early with Jamaar Chase or on a roster that's stacked and you have to spread out the money like the 40 Niners have. Are they willing to commit this much to Brandon Aiyuk? Yeah. It's interesting. Some of the receivers. No, I just want to be in the same subdivision, maybe be street neighbors. Wanted to be next door neighbors, which you certainly got. I would be any of their lawn men. Right. Like like just get me through the gates. Get me through the gates. I don't care where I am, Danny. Certainly appreciate it. Again. We're getting ready for week one of the NFL and it goes down September eighth on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Notable week one games on CBS. Arizona at