If there were specific players that Cowboys and Vikings fans could underline in permanent marker and write, “Don’t mess around with this guy’s contract,” wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson would almost certainly be the choices.
The young stars’ stellar play has set the path for the next group of elite, game-changing NFL wideouts. Both players are also set to receive huge pay raises and new contracts. But with negotiations ongoing as NFL training camps draw near, there is some cause for concern on the 2023 outlook and it’ll leave fans a bit on edge.
While both Lamb and Jefferson had their fifth-year options picked up, which offer them pay bumps to $17.9 million and $19.7 million in 2024, respectively, the obvious hope is that the future of the two players is secured with their teams sooner than later. Thanks to recent history, though, fans may want to strap in for the potential of another full season and potentially another offseason of negotiations for Lamb and Jefferson.
As Pro Football Rumors' Sam Robinson pointed out, since the 2011 CBA added a fifth-year option to the mix, not a single wide receiver has signed a contract extension prior to their contract year. For Lamb and Jefferson, this means if history continues in that direction, neither player would put pen to paper this offseason or through the ’23 NFL season.
The Athletic's Jon Machota reported that Cowboys’ vice president Stephen Jones revealed the team “touched base” with Lamb, among others, about contract extensions. Jones specifically noted that the “timing has got to be right” when it comes to contract discussions.
“The timing has got to be right for those guys and it’s gotta be right for us,” Jones said. “Our goal would be to hopefully start to chip away at this. Our focus is also on winning in 2023. No specific order. It’s just kind of when opportunity arises. They gotta be motivated to want to do it. It seems like more and more guys want to wait, and I understand why, because usually the price goes up from one year to the next. People don’t seem to be as in that type of hurry, but if the opportunity is there we sure would like to get 1-2-3 of these guys signed. We’d love to do more than one.”
While the Cowboys and Vikings have been in discussions with Lamb and Jefferson on a new deal, history points to an outlook that could leave fans feeling a bit uneasy throughout the upcoming season. In a perfect world, the two rising NFL stars would sign new deals this offseason, meaning arguably two of the league’s best up-and-coming wide receivers won’t leave town anytime soon, but that doesn’t appear likely.
On the other hand, there’ll always be a team or two that takes the road less traveled, so maybe the Cowboys and/or Vikings will take that route. Unfortunately, it seems the likely outcome will be fans sweating the future of Lamb and Jefferson for the foreseeable future.
