Dallas Cowboys superstar wide receiver CeeDee Lamb remains away from the team while his reps continue to iron out the details of a new contract extension with the Joneses that will put him among the top 2 highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL alongside Minnesota Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson, who signed a deal worth $35 million annually this offseason.
According to Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys met with Lamb's agents last week and offered a massive deal worth slightly under $33 million annually.
However, Jane Slater of the NFL Network reported Tuesday that 'no new proposals or conversations' have taken place between the two sides in the last 24 hours.
Despite that report, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones visited with the media following Tuesday's padded practice and said the two sides are having "promising talks."
Jones was asked if he is concerned about getting Lamb signed with the season opener against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 18 on the horizon.
“I don’t mean that to be insensitive to our fans or to CeeDee, but we’re in good shape there and we are having promising talks,” Jones said, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “You say, ‘Well, why do you keep talking? Why don’t you do something?’ Again, as in anything, it takes both of you there at the same time. But I believe it’s got the proper amount of everything — emphasis, importance — for everybody involved here, and we’ll see how it goes.
Asked if he is optimistic about getting a deal done, Jones said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic: "I think I am. And when I say that, it doesn’t sound too promising. The facts are that I believe we’ll come together. I don’t want to speak for him. That’s what I’m trying not to do. But we wouldn’t have offered him what we’ve offered him if we didn’t want him to be here.”
Earlier Tuesday, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport joined Shan and Bobby on 105.3 The Fan to discuss what might be holding up the negotiations with Lamb.
"I don't think there's a disagreement on how much he's worth," Rapoport said. "I think there's an understanding that he's an excellent receiver and probably will get paid as the second-highest-paid receiver in the NFL. I think they are okay there. Now there's a lot of other parts of the deal, there's the guaranteed money, which is incredibly important. There's the length of the deal, which I think they are sort of okay with.
"But I think the other issue is that Brandon Aiyuk [still doesn't have a deal done with the San Francisco 49ers]. Say Aiyuk gets $32 million from the 49ers, then that probably changes what CeeDee is going to ask for. So I think the hold up with CeeDee, if that's what you want to call it, is that the landscape has not full formed yet."