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CeeDee Lamb might one day be one of the NFL’s best wideouts on a pure talent basis. But while the former first-round pick has shown much progress since a 2020 rookie campaign, he can still leave a lot to be desired. A year after a 1,102-yard season in 2021, expectations were high for Lamb.
Those are expectations the young playmaker has yet to meet. With Dez Bryant watching, we saw the latest example of Lamb’s early-year struggles during the Cowboys and Giants’ (+1.5) matchup on Monday night.
Dallas was driving on a promising late second-half possession when they decided to take a shot. Cooper Rush unleashed a perfect deep shot play to Lamb downfield, with the nearest defender around the wideout five yards away.
And he dropped it:
Come on CeeDee… pic.twitter.com/SwLOND8dUA
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) September 27, 2022
Oof. That’s not a way to help an offense that scored just two touchdowns all year and is missing an injured Dak Prescott.
On the Manningcast, the Manning brothers weren’t necessarily kind to Lamb after his drop:
Peyton & Eli are not letting CeeDee Lamb off the hook for this drop 😂 pic.twitter.com/slivo3pIPm
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 27, 2022
To be fair to Lamb, part of his early struggles are undoubtedly connected to playing without his star quarterback.
But still. When a play comes your way — especially what looked like a straightforward big chunk play — you’ve got to make it.
NFL fans started questioning Lamb's ceiling as a WR1 after his big drop
Na after the 17 slow mo replays that Ceedee Lamb drop one of the worst drops I’ve ever seen from an nfl player
— Eddie Gonzalez (@bansky) September 27, 2022
CeeDee man what’s goin on
— Brad Spielberger, Esq. (@PFF_Brad) September 27, 2022
That is as bad a drop as you can have in the NFL by CeeDee Lamb.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 27, 2022
What on earth did CeeDee Lamb just do. Wow.
That's a horrendous drop.
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) September 27, 2022
I know this might be controversial, but Ceedee Lamb is not an elite WR in this league. He's a good WR, he's athletic, he has a little bit of flash, but ELITE?? Nope.
Elite WRs don't drop passes like that
— RG | Toofpete (@JoshBeardRadio) September 27, 2022
WR1’s don’t drop passes at the rate that CeeDee Lamb does.
— Chase Williams (@chasepwilliams) September 27, 2022
CeeDee Lamb will make all the wild catches, then drop the easy bunnies. I don’t understand.
— yes. ✭ (@iAmTerrace) September 27, 2022
Ceedee Lamb just can't drop that. It's time to start playing like a WR1.
— Premal Bhatt (@prem_brulee) September 27, 2022
Oh boy. That’s a bad drop for CeeDee Lamb.
— Chris Rosvoglou (@RosvoglouReport) September 27, 2022