‘I haven’t done enough’: Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb looks to warrant focus of opposing schemes
It shouldn’t be any ground quaking or glass shattering when it’s acknowledged that the Dallas Cowboys aerial attack’s success will hinge on CeeDee Lamb. No longer will the Cowboys have a three-headed receiving monster as they have for the last two seasons. With the trade of Amari Cooper and the status of an torn-ACL-recovering Michael Gallup still up in the air, Lamb is Dak Prescott’s only established field stretcher.
With over 2,000 receiving yards in his first two seasons, Lamb is clearly the man now. If fans are being honest, though, he already was last season but now he’ll have to be that with even less support. Lamb recently sat down with The Volume’s Mike Silver on his Open Mike podcast and answered a few questions about how things have changed for him compared to the past two seasons.
What changes for you as the No. 1 receiver?
“Honestly it just, in a sense, raises the standard.” That’s how Lamb responded when asked what changes for him as the No. 1 receiver. The then second-year receiver led the club in targets (120), receptions (79), and receiving yards (1,102) in 2021 and was third in receiving scores with six touchdowns.
His 13.9 yards per reception also led a group of six pass catchers who all averaged over 12 per pop. However Lamb’s average depth of target was just third on the team at 10.9 behind Gallup (12.2) and Cooper (11.7). This shows two things. One, that Lamb is a yards-after-catch monster and two that he’ll now need to thrive in an offense that may not provide him the same room to operate as he’s been used to in his first two seasons.
How things are going to change for him now
Things are going to be different. The expectation, with Dallas waiting until the third round to draft a receiver in South Alabama’s Jalen Tolbert and only signing a free-agent flyer in James Washington, is that Lamb will ascend to a much bigger target share.
With more targets and less downfield threats to compliment him, is Lamb looking for opponents to treat him any differently? Maybe it’s youthful naiveté, but Lamb seems to believe he’ll have time to prove to outsiders he’s worthy of double coverages and rotating safeties in order to contain him.
“At some point. In my opinion, I haven’t done enough to just have defensive coordinators wanna X me out. If I’ve grabbed that attention then we’ll figure it out [laughs].”
On no longer working with Cooper
“I was actually in a gym and I saw it on TV,” Lamb said when learning he was going to be the undisputed guy after Cooper was traded. “I was working out in Ft. Lauderdale in my offseason program and I was like ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’ and my phone started blowing up minutes after.”
While observers of the team saw the 2022 Cooper exodus coming from as early as when details of his contract emerged in 2020, or at the latest when Lamb was drafted two months later, Lamb said he was caught be surprise.
Lamb has never played a full game without the elite route-running compliment Cooper provides. Cooper has only missed two games in the last two seasons and Lamb was knocked out of one and missed the other. His presence, on the field and off is something Lamb has great appreciation for and soon after learning of the trade, the young cub reached out to the veteran.
“Just wanted to thank him for everything he’s done for me the first two years. Those are really important to me, and my direction and trying to find a place in this league where there’s a lot of great receivers. A lot of guys do a lot of things well in this position. So just giving him his roses for taking me under his wing to [help me in] being a better receiver.”
On Dak Prescott requesting Lamb's locker moved next to him
While Cooper’s departure will mean more targets and eventually more defensive attention, it also provides an opportunity to grow into one of the league’s top wideouts. For that to happen, Lamb and Prescott’s relationship and timing will have to ascend to the next level. The coaching staff reorganized the locker room to help facilitate that, putting the two next to each other this offseason.
“It’s a plus. It’s better to be by QB1. Building that foundation.. honestly I feel like me and him want to be in this together for the long haul. Going in day in and day out, any conversation we have after practice it’s easier to talk to him when he’s right there as my neighbor. I feel like it’s a great move. I wasn’t expecting that either, but a lot of things come unexpected.”
In order to reach those heights, Lamb is going to need to absorb a large percentage of Cooper’s vacated 104 targets. Lamb ranked just 24th in the league in targets in 2021, a full 71 looks behind league-leader Cooper Kupp (191).
Not everyone believes the offense, and the team as a result, can avoid taking a step back with the loss of Cooper, Cedrick Wilson, La’el Collins and Connor Williams from the offense and Randy Gregory on the opposite side. Many are predicting a regression for Dallas, much like NFL Network’s Adam Rank did in predicting just a 9-8 record for the Cowboys in 2022.
“It’s never gonna be as bad as it seems on the outside. I feel like the internet is an amplifier. Kinda want to go where everyone feels comfortable with their decision. We lost a lot of guys, yeah, but I feel like as a team the bond is still there. We still have a lot of guys from last year. Granted we miss all the guys that we let walk, but there’s growth at some point. This year, most definitely we took a lot of steps in our OTA season, minicamp, where we’re trying to build character, build the chemistry. In that department, we’re a lot better than we were last year. Considering obviously COVID and everything but now we’re more active and around each other more in the offseason.”
With the completion of last week’s mandatory minicamp, Lamb and his teammates are on their own for about a month before the team journeys to Oxnard. There they will assemble for training camp and begin their quest in earnest to improve on their 12-5 record as the Lamb era starts in earnest.
