CeeDee Lamb and Cowboys history of 5th-year options
The NFL lockout of 2010 brought about significant change to the league and it’s landscape. Not only did the owners collude against Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, fining them for taking advantage of the no-salary-cap year, but they curtailed the rookie salary explosion with the implementation of the rookie wage scale.
Rookie salaries were capped in 2020 and the length of contracts was limited to four seasons with the 2021 CBA. With that limit came the fifth-year option; a team option that allowed clubs to have a right of first refusal to keep first-round picks in house for an additional year before the player got access to the franchise and transition tag amounts. Players have to be in the league for at least three years before they can negotiate an extension but if that isn’t reached by the Monday after the draft, teams can exact the option. That’s the fate that appears to be coming for wideout CeeDee Lamb.
CeeDee Lamb's option
(Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
All teams have until May 1 to exercise the option on their 2020 first-round picks. A few years ago the NFLPA was able to receive a small win in that the option was altered to compensate players who had become integral to the success of their teams.
All fifth-year options are, at a minimum, the average of the 3rd through 25th highest-paid players at their positions.
Players who have appeared in at least 50% of their team’s offensive or defensive snaps (read: not including ST snaps), receive the average of the 3rd through 20th highest-paid at their position.
Players also qualify for this tier if they appeared in at least 75% of their team’s snaps in two of their first three years. This accounts for key contributors who had a year they suffered a significant injury.
Players who were nominated to one Pro Bowl are given that year’s transition tag amount, or the average of the top 10 salaries.
Players who were nominated to two Pro Bowls are given that year’s franchise tag amoung; the average of the top 5 salaries.
As Lamb was nominated to one Pro Bowl (he’s made two, but one as an alternate) he will get the transition tag amount for his 2024 salary.
That will be $17.99 million for wide receivers.
Cowboys History of using the option
2011: OT Tyron Smith
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The Cowboys used the option on Smith, which would have paid him $10.09 million in 2015, but later that summer worked out the infamous eight-year, $97.6 million extension that locked Smith in for 10 seasons. That contract is just now reaching it’s end in 2023.
2012: CB Morris Claiborne
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The Cowboys declined the fifth-year option on the oft-injured Claiborne as it would have paid him $11.08 million. Instead when his contract ended after the 2015 season they signed him to a one-year deal for $3 million.
2013: Center Travis Frederick
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The Cowboys exercised Frederick’s option following his third season, to the tune of $8.9 million for the 2017 season. It never got to that as later in the summer of 2016 they agreed to a six-year, $56.4 million extension.
2014: RG Zack Martin
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Dallas exercised the option on Martin in April of 2017 for $9.34 million. By June, they had worked out an extension for six years and an additional $84 million. Martin is signed through the 2024 season.
2015: CB Byron Jones
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Jones is the lone Cowboys’ first rounder who the club exercised the option on but didn’t work out a long-term deal with.
In April 2018 the club added the one year at $6.3 million, but they let him walk in 2020 to a top-of-market deal with the Miami Dolphins (five-year, $82.5 million). Jones is now a free agent with concerns on whether he will play again following a catastrophic leg injury he says he still hasn’t recovered from.
2016: RB Ezekiel Elliott
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Elliott had his option exercised in 2018 for the amount of $9.1 million for the 2019 season. After watching the club change direction from their prior healthy first-round picks and not extending Jones, Elliott famously exercised his leverage, staying away from training camp. The sides agreed to a six-year, $90 million extension that September.
Elliott was released this offseason when the guaranteed portion of the contract was no more.
2017: DE Taco Charlton
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Dallas’ most noteworthy draft bust, Charlton didn’t even make it through his third NFL season, getting released in September 2019.
2018: LB Leighton Vander Esch
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The Wolf Hunter has had the opposite Mo Claiborne experience. Dallas chose not to exercise the option on Vander Esch after several injury-plagued campaigns, declining the $9.1 million 2022 salary.
Instead after his contract expired he was brought back on a prove-it deal for $2 million in ’22 and he did just that. Vander Esch earned a new two-year deal this offseason for $8 million. Dallas of course came out ahead, paying just $1 million more than the option and getting an additional two years of control.
2019: No first round pick
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What this means for Lamb
The Cowboys are going to exercise Lamb’s option over the next three-plus weeks.
The only times they haven’t are when the players have been unable to stay on the field (Claiborne, Vander Esch) and that’s nowhere near the case here.
If a player plays, they still give the option as they did with Jones.
When it comes to players who have achieved met and exceeded expectations over their first three seasons (Smith, Frederick, Martin, Elliott), the team then works feverishly to extend the player before the start of the new season. The agreement is tacked on to the remaining two years, with at least five extra years to create at a minimum a seven-year pact.
The maximum was an eight-year addition for Smith’s 10-year deal.
Unless Dallas has drastically changed their course (which would betray Jerry Jones’ insistence Lamb don the 88 jersey), expect a similar process for the star receiver. Dallas is hot and heavy for receivers in the upcoming draft and perhaps there’s a chance if they use a first rounder on the position this year they’d look to avoid extending Lamb, but an $18 million one-year cap hit in 2024 will likely coincide with a franchise tag for corner Trevon Diggs.
Fans should anticipate an extension for Lamb to hit in July or August.
Various fifth-year option amounts for 2020 first rounders
Players Selected to 2+ Pro Bowls
Quarterback | $32.416 million
Running Back | $10.091 million
Wide Receiver | $19.743 million
Tight End | $11.345 million
Offensive Lineman | $18.244 million
Defensive End | $19.727 million
Defensive Tackle | $18.937 million
Linebacker | $20.926 million
Cornerback | $18.14 million
Safety | $14.46 million
Kicker/Punter | $5.393 million
Players Selected to 1 Pro Bowl
Quarterback | $29.504 million
Running Back | $8.429 million
Wide Receiver | $17.991 million
Tight End | $9.716 million
Offensive Lineman | $16.66 million
Defensive End | $17.452 million
Defensive Tackle | $16.068 million
Linebacker | $17.478 million
Cornerback | $15.791 million
Safety | $11.867 million
Kicker/Punter | $4.869 million
Players Who Achieve Playtime Criterion
Quarterback | $23.171 million
Running Back | $5.994 million
Wide Receiver | $14.124 million
Tight End | $7.228 million
Offensive Lineman | $14.175 million
Defensive End | $13.212 million
Defensive Tackle | $11.665 million
Linebacker | $12.722 million
Cornerback | $12.344 million
Safety | $8.367 million
Kicker/Punter | $3.978 million
All other first-round players
Quarterback | $20.272 million
Running Back | $5.461 million
Wide Receiver | $12.987 million
Tight End | $6.567 million
Offensive Lineman | $13.565 million
Defensive End | $12.141 million
Defensive Tackle | $10.455 million
Linebacker | $11.727 million
Cornerback | $11.514 million
Safety | $7.679 million
Kicker/Punter | $3.712 million
