What impact will first-round pick CeeDee Lamb have on the Dallas Cowboys this year?
The Dallas Cowboys didn’t go into the 2020 NFL draft looking to use their only first-round pick on a wide receiver.
Sure, they had a need for a slot receiver to replace Randall Cobb, who departed in free agency. But could that need have been something they addressed in the middle rounds, given that this wide receiver class is considered to be the deepest in NFL history?
With huge holes to fill on defense at cornerback and pass rusher, the Cowboys’ mission for Round 1 was clear — that is, until a gift from the heavens appeared before them like a flashing light, dressed in crimson and cream.
But Oklahoma receiver CeeDee Lamb was simply too good to pass up. We’re talking about the sixth-best player on their draft board — and remember the Cowboys weren’t picking until 17 — the top player at the position in the entire draft and a seemingly can’t-miss future NFL star.
Whatever the Cowboys hoped to get on defense with that 17th overall pick couldn’t match the potential impact of what the dynamic Lamb will bring to an offense that ranked No. 1 in the NFL last season.
“CeeDee was a blinking light up there coming at us,” said team vice president Stephen Jones. “It was surprising to us to see CeeDee sitting there. He was a top-10 player in this draft. We thought we would never see him. The right thing to do is always pick the best football player, and that’s what we did.”
The question now is what are they going to do with him.
How does he fit with an offense that already includes two 1,000-yard receivers in Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup, a 1,400-yard rusher in Ezekiel Elliott and expected expanded roles for rising tight end Blake Jarwin and running back Tony Pollard.
Coach Mike McCarthy said you can never have too many playmakers, so you simply make room for a potential alpha dog like Lamb.
A first-team All-American and a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, Lamb caught 62 passes for 1,327 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2019. His 21.4 yards per reception ranked third in FBS in 2019, and of his 62 receptions, 26 of them went for at least 20 yards.
“He is a dynamic football player,” McCarthy said. “I think the fact that he carries an alpha status, along with the ability to play what I would refer to as all four [wide receiver] positions, both inside and outside. He has the ability to move around and create favorable match-ups. He’s a dynamic player with the ball in his hands, his ability to go get the football and make plays. ... We just felt like we took the best player on our board. He will be very dynamic.”
At first blush, it appears that Lamb will start as the slot receiver in place of the departed Cobb, who had 55 catches for 828 yards and three touchdowns last season.
The slot is a natural fit for Lamb early in his career, said NFL analyst Greg Cosell. “What people may not realize is that 42 percent of Lamb’s receptions last year came out of the slot,” he said. “So he is a slot guy. I think he is in the perfect position. The Cowboys did not expect him to be there. And once he was there, they took the player they had rated highest. When you look at their offensive weapons, the Cowboys now are in a position where they could be really explosive.”
Unlike Cobb, whose entire career was a complementary, gadget guy, slot is just the beginning for Lamb. He is a future replacement for Cooper as the team’s top receiver. Never mind that Cooper just signed a five-year, $100 million contract, the Cowboys can get out of that deal after two years.
“CeeDee Lamb is not coming here to be just the third receiver,” said Michael Irvin, the Cowboys Hall of Fame receiver. “He has No. 1 receiver talent. He is coming to leave his mark and that pushes the entire room. He can play either position as he grooms to be the No. 1 receiver.”
Irvin said no receiver in the draft was as diverse as Lamb, who caught seven touchdown passes from the slot and seven from the outside position. But what makes him special is his dynamic ability to catch the ball and run after the catch like Arizona Cardinals star DeAndre Hopkins
“The greatest asset you can have at wide receiver is body control,” Irvin said. “He has that like DeAndre Hopkins. He has whatever Dez Bryant had, the ability to go up and high point the ball in traffic. He has the full complement of the route tree. There is no route that he can’t run. That makes him dangerous.”
The real danger comes after he gets the ball in his hands with his ability to run after the catch and make defenders miss. Lamb forced 31 missed tackles in 2019, the most by any FBS wide receiver, and his 11.1 yards after the catch also were the most of any receiver in the draft this season.
One of his most memorable moments came at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas last fall in the Red River Rivalry against the Texas Longhorns. Lamb caught a pass near the right sideline on a flea-flicker and quickly circled by five defenders, but after breaking a tackle, he made a few cuts, turned on the jets and then basically walked into the end zone leaving the entire stadium in awe.
NFL.com scout Bucky Brooks said Lamb’s run after the catch fits the mold of the type of receiver McCarthy likes to use, which dates back to his days with the Green Bay Packers.
“You look at the guys who have played well for him, they all were able to make things happen after they got the ball in their hands,” Brooks said. “The way McCarthy played was a lot of quick game, a lot of slants, sticks. The ball would come out out of spread and empty formations and those guys would make a guy miss and the big plays would happen.
“Now, in Dallas, they have the ability to do the same things,” he continued. “It’s a way to get your quarterback to play at an efficient level while still getting a lot off bang for your buck.”
Just imagine Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, coming off a season in which he set career highs in passing yards and touchdowns while leading the league’s No. 1 offense playing at an even more efficient level.
And we haven’t even discussed how Lamb’s presence will help take double teams off of Cooper and open up the box for Elliott on the ground, potentially making the Cowboys offense unstoppable.
And then there is this.
If there was one aspect where the Cowboys struggled at times last year, it was in the red zone where their ranking of 16th in the league isn’t consistent with their total production. Lamb, a proven touchdown scorer, should be able to help there, too.
“Since high school and college, CeeDee Lamb can put the ball in the can,” Brooks said. “He is a touchdown scorer. They had some empty yards last year. His ability to run after the catch will enable them to help with that.”
Although the Cowboys drafted cornerbacks in the second and fourth rounds, a defensive tackle in the third and a defensive end in the fifth, they didn’t get the top end defensive help that they were anticipating going into the draft.
But you could also say that the Lamb decision does help the defense by potentially making the offense even more potent and allowing it play with a lead.
Who knows? Maybe offense does win championships.
This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
