As was the case with Dak Prescott (the last time), DeMarcus Lawrence, Zeke Elliott, Zack Martin and, going back now, Dez Bryant, this was a public spat with a predictable ending. Dallas generally doesn’t let its stars walk in their prime. The Joneses also don’t mind going to the mat with those guys in negotiations.
In this particular situation, the Cowboys would tell you, and Stephen Jones said it to me explicitly last month, that Lamb simply wasn’t going to do a deal last year, when he was first eligible for one. Waiting made sense, too, since a bunch of receivers would likely do deals in 2024, and those deals were indeed done. The big one, of course, was for Justin Jefferson in Minnesota, and it’s no coincidence that as that deal got done, Lamb’s situation turned.
