Jerry Jones is walking back the comments he made last week over the urgency – or lack thereof – to get a deal done with star receiver CeeDee Lamb.
Ahead of the Cowboys’ preseason game with the Los Angeles Rams, Jones appeared on a team-produced pregame show and addressed the comments that had created the stir days earlier.
Lamb is in the middle of a holdout as he attempts to get a new contract done ahead of this season, with the two sides seeming to be at an impasse at the moment.
Jones told reporters last week that he didn’t “have any urgency to get it done.”
But on Sunday, he was trying to smooth things over after Jones faced some backlash.
“No one appreciates CeeDee being on the field more than I do,” Jones said during the interview.
He then explained that because Lamb would not have been on the field for Sunday’s preseason game, that was part of where he was coming from with the comment.
“Now I understand completely the angst that’s happening when you’re anxious about and someone says anything about whether you’re missed or not. Well, CeeDee, you’re missed, OK?” Jones continued. “But you’re not missed out here competing and it doesn’t put any pressure any place on us.”
The original comment drew a swift response from Lamb. He took to social media and quickly quoted a post on X from a reporter and wrote “lol.”
Lamb removed a reference to the Cowboys in his social media bios and Micah Parsons reposted his response to Jones.
Sunday appeared to be an attempt by Jones to smooth some of the initial hurt from the comment out, but remain in a position of strength about not feeling a true sense of urgency to get a contract done.
“But let me say this, he wouldn’t be taking a snap out here today if he’d been here. You gotta use your head when you expose key players,” Jones said. “That gives the other younger players a chance to do it. We know exactly what CeeDee can do, and he’s worked out with Dak. So we wouldn’t have him out here. It has really not anything to do with his contract. … The bottom line is no, there’s not that urgency.”
Lamb and the Cowboys have been in talks about an extension that would make Lamb the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL.
He is coming off a season in which he led the NFL with 135 catches for 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns.
