Cowboys exercise option on star player, still aiming for extension

The Dallas Cowboys reportedly exercised the fifth-year option on star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s contract Thursday, roughly two weeks before the deadline.

Lamb is among the first players from the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft to have his option picked up. Said decision will cost the Cowboys a total of $17.99 million for the 2024 season should the two sides fail to come to terms on an extension beforehand.

Teams have the capability of adding a fifth-year option to typical four-year contracts for first-round picks. In the Cowboys’ case, this was pretty much a no-brainer.

The No. 17 overall pick of Dallas out of Oklahoma, Lamb has morphed into one of the best young receivers in the game. His breakout performance catching passes from Dak Prescott a season ago has led to Dallas’ brass looking to extend the 24-year-old wide receiver.

“As we move forward that’ll become a bigger priority here as we move past the draft. We’ve historically signed a lot of guys during that training camp period to extensions. But guys like CeeDee Lamb and (Trevon) Diggs are certainly on our radar in terms of guys that we’d love to have around here for another five, six years, whatever that turns out to be,” Dallas Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones said recently.